Student access to the Internet in K-12 schools has grown rapidly over the past five years. Based on data from the EducationSuperHighway, more than 44 million students have high-speed Internet connections in their learning environments today compared to 4 million just five years ago. As mentioned in the recently published 2018 State of the States report report, a call to action from President Obama in 2013 for all public schools in the U.S. to have broadband connectivity has been a driver of this major increase. From there, the FCC updated the E-rate program, providing schools with money to help pay for connectivity. In addition to E-rate, matching funds were provided by select states, and some telecommunications groups helped to give schools deals on their connectivity packages.

In a recent blog post by ABC news station WXYZ Detroit, Dr. Langen out of Baker College Online shared her thoughts on the top five myths of online learning in higher education. Although in general terms online learning is more advanced in post-secondary education than in K-12 education, these myths apply to K-12 education as well in ways that we explore below.

Today we are pleased to announce that we are going live with the website of the Digital Learning Collaborative (DLC).

The DLC exists for two main reasons. First, we seek to fill a gap in available information about online, blended, and digital learning. We know that online, blended, and digital learning in U.S. K–12 schools are on the rise. Yet despite the growth, emerging practices, and examples of success, countless basic questions remain about policy and practice. The DLC exists to fill the information gap. Whether you are an educator, school board member, reporter, researcher, policymaker, or concerned citizen, the DLC can help you better understand the K–12 digital learning field and apply that knowledge to your work.