In our increasingly digitized society, where technology use is ubiquitous, nearly all activities require access to and proficiency using digital tools. Proficient internet use may lead to the pursuit of higher education, launching a fulfilling career, or part of habits and healthy lifestyles where education is lifelong and life-wide. This study…

The purpose of this study is to explore teachers' experiences promoting equity and building student-teacher relationships in K-12 online and virtual classrooms. Research studies exploring and addressing equity in education are ample within the body of research, but there is limited research conducted in or about the K-12 virtual learning…

To teach composition in this era means to engage students with technology; it is all but an unspoken requirement at the majority of universities. This dissertation theorizes, however, that the imbricated use of technology in first-year writing (FYW) classrooms places rural students at an inherent disadvantage, with issues of inadequate…

This case study explored how the digital divide in educational technology access and usage evolved due to the instructional shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital divide has been researched for decades, yet inequities continue to exist in the technological experiences of varying school settings. Some scholars suggested that the…

This dissertation examines the role of writing assessment in college composition courses, and how issues including learning aversion, access to technology, and white-language supremacy can harm our assessment practices and pedagogy. Writing assessment is one of the most important aspects of teaching and is a significant factor in shaping students'…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and develop a detailed description of how digital inequities in rural Alabama contribute to the underrepresentation of African Americans in STEM careers. The participants' unique lived experiences with digital inequities related to understanding the intersection of attributes such as rurality,…

This quantitative correlational study accessed publicly available Oklahoma archival data to analyze the strength of the relationship between one dependent variable, the 1:1 technology score of 203 school districts, and four independent variables (socioeconomic status, community type, school district size, and school district funding sources) and…

An Ethnohistorical Exploration of Educational Technology Implementation in Metropolitan Omaha Area Public Schools is a written account of the evolution of 1:1 program in five public school districts. These metropolitan Omaha area districts share their journey in developing programs that provide equity in accessing educational technology to all…

Digital accessibility practices are becoming standardized in higher education as institutions seek to meet compliance with federal and state equal access laws. Students with disabilities have equal rights to access university programs and services in digital format. The widespread use of assistive technology, artificial intelligence, and content…

Inequity in public education has remained constant throughout history with disadvantaged students being left behind. The obstacles faced by minority students often cause them to lag behind their White counterparts in a persistent decline that leads to lower academic achievement. The problem addressed in this study was lower academic achievement in…

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted education systems worldwide, exacerbating longstanding educational disparities, particularly concerning technology access and utilization. This qualitative study explores amplified technology inequities in rural New Mexico education, capturing students' experiences through the lens of teachers. Using a…

The problem of the study involved the pandemic exasperating the learning conditions for students of economic disadvantage and teacher turnover rates. Before the pandemic, educators of students of economic disadvantage worked in conditions that did not offer them the same experiences as educators in schools with fewer low-socioeconomic status.…

This causal comparative mixed-methods study details if students in Grades 4 and 5 from Title I schools, who had access to one-to-one devices in school prior to the COVID-19 pandemic had an academic advantage over students who did not have access to one-to-one devices. Specifically, Arizona state assessment scores from three elementary schools from…

Online schooling was implemented as an emergency, and it may have forever tainted our understanding of what online schooling could be, yet despite this harried, often underfunded, under supported, underdeveloped implementation of online schooling improvement occurred and some, perhaps a very small minority, were better served than in traditional,…

The digital divide and digital equity have long been a concern for educators, and public schools. In 2020 when the COVID-19 global pandemic swept across the country, public schools closed for in person classes and moved to a new paradigm of online only classes, issues of digital equity and the digital divide became a critical focus for families…