We challenge the Kaggle community to explore (1) the state of digital learning in 2020 and (2) how the engagement of digital learning relates to factors such as district demographics, broadband access, and state/national level policies and events.
Nelson Mandela believed education was the most powerful weapon to change the world. But not every student has equal opportunities to learn. Effective policies and plans need to be enacted in order to make education more equitable—and perhaps your innovative data analysis will help reveal the solution.
Current research shows educational outcomes are far from equitable. The imbalance was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s an urgent need to better understand and measure the scope and impact of the pandemic on these inequities.
Education technology company LearnPlatform was founded in 2014 with a mission to expand equitable access to education technology for all students and teachers. LearnPlatform’s comprehensive edtech effectiveness system is used by districts and states to continuously improve the safety, equity, and effectiveness of their educational technology. LearnPlatform does so by generating an evidence basis for what’s working and enacting it to benefit students, teachers, and budgets.
In this analytics competition, you’ll work to uncover trends in digital learning. Accomplish this with data analysis about how engagement with digital learning relates to factors like district demographics, broadband access, and state/national level policies and events. Then, submit a Kaggle Notebook to propose your best solution to these educational inequities.
Your submissions will inform policies and practices that close the digital divide. With a better understanding of digital learning trends, you may help reverse the long-term learning loss among America’s most vulnerable, making education more equitable.
Problem Statement
The COVID-19 Pandemic has disrupted learning for more than 56 million students in the United States. In the Spring of 2020, most states and local governments across the U.S. closed educational institutions to stop the spread of the virus. In response, schools and teachers have attempted to reach students remotely through distance learning tools and digital platforms. Until today, concerns of the exacaberting digital divide and long-term learning loss among America’s most vulnerable learners continue to grow.
We encourage you to guide the analysis with questions that are related to the themes that are described above (in bold font). Below are some examples of questions that relate to our problem statement:
- What is the picture of digital connectivity and engagement in 2020?
- What is the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on online and distance learning, and how might this also evolve in the future?
- How does student engagement with different types of education technology change over the course of the pandemic?
- How does student engagement with online learning platforms relate to different geography? Demographic context (e.g., race/ethnicity, ESL, learning disability)? Learning context? Socioeconomic status?
- Do certain state interventions, practices or policies (e.g., stimulus, reopening, eviction moratorium) correlate with the increase or decrease online engagement?
Awards:- Five (5) Winners – $4,000 each
