Digital Equity

Featured

Digital equity is fair and just access to the information technology capacity needed for full participation in society, democracy, and the economy. RAND research has explored the digital divide that separates low-income students and their more-advantaged peers—a disparity made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. Other RAND research examines access to telemedicine; being able to work remotely; the global digital skills gap; refugees' technology needs; and limited internet access in autocracies and developing countries.

Report
How Technology Could Better Serve Refugees and Those Who Help Them
Millions of refugees and the agencies that assist them have turned to technology as a vital resource, but gaps remain. How can tech be developed and used more strategically in humanitarian settings?
Dec 17, 2019
Report
The Digital Divide and COVID-19
Findings from a survey of U.S. teachers reveal how limited home internet access has been a barrier to providing instruction amid pandemic-related school closures. The problem is particularly acute among high-poverty schools.
Sep 24, 2020

Explore Digital Equity

Report
The Metaverse and Homeland Security: Opportunities and Risks of Persistent Virtual Environments
This Perspective provides an initial review of the metaverse concept and its relevance to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The authors map department objectives to key metaverse characteristics and identify areas for proactive efforts.
May 22, 2023
Journal Article
Many Clinicians Implement Digital Equity Strategies To Treat Opioid Use Disorder
Clinicians who treated patients with opioid use disorder reported less use of telemedicine in 2022 than in 2020. More than three-quarters of survey respondents used digital equity strategies to help patients overcome barriers to video visits.
Feb 22, 2023
Report
Defining and Measuring Civic Infrastructure
Is the United States in a civic crisis? Or is American democracy simply evolving? A framework for defining and measuring civic infrastructure can help answer these questions—and preserve a healthy democracy.
Nov 30, 2022
Commentary
Telemedicine Abortion? It's Not as Easy as It Sounds
The Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has providers and health advocates strategizing about how to provide more abortions where it is still legal. Expanding virtual medical visits is one popular idea. Policymakers and clinics could take steps to make telemedicine better understood, easier to use, and more equitable.
Aug 19, 2022
Journal Article
Ongoing Disparities in Digital and In-Person Access to Child Psychiatric Services in the United States
Although telehealth holds promise for promoting access to child and adolescent psychiatric services, large disparities in overall access to services persists in rural and low-income communities.
Mar 24, 2022
Multimedia
The Global Digital Skills Gap
Increasing digitalisation has changed the nature of work, making digital skills an essential attribute for the modern workforce. However, the demand for digital skills is outpacing the supply, creating a global digital skills 'gap'. RAND Europe researchers Salil Gunashekar and Carolina Feijao discuss what is driving the digital skills gap and how organisations could address the issue.
Jan 14, 2022
Report
The global digital skills gap: Current trends and future directions
The overarching aim of the research was to better understand at a macro level whether and why the digital skills gap is widening, its implications for digital and social inequalities, and what various stakeholders are doing in response.
Dec 15, 2021
Project
Crossing the Digital Divide: How Refugees Use Mobile Technology
Morcos Key's second visualization for RAND Art + Data explores how millions of refugees around the world rely on technology—particularly mobile phones—for survival, to connect to the past, and for a chance at a better future.
Oct 13, 2021
Commentary
Inequality in Opportunity to Work from Home an Underlying Condition Likely Aggravated by the Pandemic
Building a safe, healthy workforce where success, productivity, and financial security are available to all segments of American society could provide resilience against inevitable future shockwaves. Since working from home is a key part of such resilience, policymakers could focus on supporting the advantages, remediating the downsides, and expanding access to this form of work.
May 14, 2021
Commentary
No Patient Left Behind: Considering Equitable Distribution of Telehealth
The pandemic has revealed telemedicine's potential to improve health care delivery and access. Telemedicine could help reach patients who would normally be excluded or alienated by the traditional structure of the health system.
Apr 20, 2021
Commentary
Satellite Internet Services—Fostering the Dictator's Dilemma?
The ability to provide relatively low cost internet access outside of government control is both a challenge for authoritarian states and an opportunity for democracies. What are low-altitude, low-latency satellites and why are authoritarian states so concerned?
Apr 12, 2021
Journal Article
Inequality in Household Adaptation to Schooling Shocks: Covid-induced Online Learning Engagement in Real Time
Using internet searches, we study real-time demand for online learning resources. Internet searches for online learning resources doubled during the pandemic. Increases were larger in are as with higher income and better internet access. The pandemic will likely widen achievement gaps along these dimensions.
Feb 3, 2021
Multimedia
COVID-19 and the Digital Divide: Inequities in Online Learning
RAND senior policy researcher Julia Kaufman explains how the digital divide impacted teaching and learning when schools closed last spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oct 16, 2020
Report
Schools Weren't Prepared for a Crisis Like COVID-19
Before COVID-19, less than half of U.S. public schools had a written plan for dealing with a pandemic. And only 38 states had publicly available school health emergency plans. How did schools' preparation affect their transitions to remote learning and principals' confidence in student achievement?
Sep 29, 2020
Q&A
Schools Pivot Online in Wake of COVID-19: Q&A with RAND Experts
Nearly all school-age children in the United States are no longer in the classroom as districts shut down to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus. RAND education researchers discuss how this situation might exacerbate educational inequities, how districts and teachers are innovating and what they need, and what parents can do.
Apr 2, 2020
Report
Identifying an Adequate Technology Infrastructure for Early Childhood Education
Infrastructure (devices, software, and connectivity) should support technology's potential to improve learning and build digital literacy among young kids. But many factors make “adequate infrastructure” a moving target, such as the myriad of choices on the market.
Oct 20, 2014
Report
Identifying Goals for Technology Use in Early Childhood Education
Technology use among young children is increasingly a fact of life. Establishing a clear set of goals that are broadly accepted by stakeholders is critical to planning for the successful integration of technology into early childhood education.
Sep 22, 2014
Project
“T” Is for Technology: Early Childhood Education and the Digital Divide
Despite the central and growing role of digital technology for knowledge-based work, children in low-income families have relatively limited access to computer-based devices, software applications, and the Internet. “T” Is for Technology explored the potential for early childhood education to help narrow this digital divide.
Mar 3, 2014

Digital Equity

Featured

Explore Digital Equity

Research conducted by