objectives that integrate learning and technology innovations to advance the respective fields (e.g., learning sciences, discipline-based education research, computer and information sciences, engineering, and/or social, cognitive, and behavioral sciences). Focus on the design or refinement of new and emerging learning technology innovations.

​

Technology can give rural students a way to discover ideas on their own, possibly gain exposure to a diverse network of people, and act as a navigational tool if it is accessible, well implemented, and understood.

Through sites like Google, online classes, and educational games, rural students can be explorers of knowledge. This benefits rural students specifically because we tend to have less access to books, tutoring programs, and other resources.

​

Rural students with pressing economic circumstances may need the extra time to care for siblings or work and online instruction can adjust instruction to circumvent challenges students face. These classes can bridge the gap when a student is required to be absent from school for a long period of time.

​

Digitization of learning makes it easier for students to view their own data and gain valuable insights into where they can improve. It also allows teachers to monitor multiple students on the same criteria and judge each student fairly, avoiding any human biases.

Rural students benefit from the connectedness of technology. By allowing for an online network of people from almost anywhere in the world, technology opens up a world of potential for students to network and gain valuable friendships.

Technology is integral in navigating today’s world, but students need technological literacy. By literacy, I do not only mean an understanding of how to use a computer, but rather an understanding of how phones, computers, and other devices play a role in allowing us to better understand ourselves and others as well as interact with the world around us in an active manner. An understanding of technology is crucial for rural students, especially those who may enter technical jobs or pursue any kind of postsecondary education.

When students have access to technology and are instructed properly on it’s use, it can provide a liberation from physical and cultural boundaries. Technology allows rural students to be advocates for themselves in their own education, following their interests and developing a network of, potentially, other students! According to Technology in Rural Education published by The Rural Opportunities Consortium of Idaho:

“Teachers of the lowest-income students are more than twice as likely as teachers of the highest-income students (56 percent versus 21 percent) to cite lack of access to digital technologies as a ‘major challenge.”