Many school districts across the nation expanded efforts to provide devices like laptops and tablets to students during the global pandemic in an effort to close the homework gap and address inequities in technology access. Part of this shift included the introduction of student activity monitoring software and other digital tools aimed in part at facilitating remote classroom management and driving student engagement. However, these tools can also be used in ways that are unduly intrusive. In this report, we examine whether students who receive school-issued devices are subject to more monitoring than their peers who have their own devices. We also examine local education agencies’ motivations in implementing monitoring and how they communicate about it with parents and students. Building on recent CDT guidance on how schools could address privacy gaps in the implementation of remote education technology (Quay-de la Vallee & Venzke, 2020), this report presents findings based on virtual semi-structured interviews with nine individuals from five local education agencies (LEAs), including district level administrators and information technology (IT) directors.
This study investigates the role of the ICT ecosystem within the informal business sectors of rural and urban Jamaica, relying on an exploratory collective case study methodology to highlight the differences in how the use of mobile phones have facilitated and enhanced entrepreneurial opportunities for business operators existing in the informal economy. The findings of the study confirm existing research about the socio-economic benefits of ICTs but also highlight specific characteristics related to informal ICT ecosystems. For example, we found that there was a close-knit set of entrepreneurs who were motivated by competition between one another but who would still engage in mutual learning and information sharing. These ecosystems also entail a system of social hierarchy among the actors, although there is potential for mobility. Finally, we note that our findings suggest a potential reconsideration of definitions of the informal sector that emphasize low-skilled labour.
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