Academy Award®-nominated director Rory Kennedy’s newest documentary, Without A Net: The Digital Divide in America is narrated by Academy Award® winner Jaime Foxx, and shows that millions of students are being denied access to technology in school and their futures are in jeopardy.
At a time when American students from economically deprived schools are often ill-prepared for the global, digital economy, Without a Net: The Digital Divide in America, explores how technology can provide opportunities for learning and can help level the playing field. Further still – if greater parity in education can be achieved, what are the critical factors in determining that success?
The one-hour film focuses on digital inequities in public school classrooms, examine the challenges of providing connectivity, technology and computer learning in public schools, as well as the transformative potential of fully equipping all students for the digital world.
The narrative is built, in part, around profiles of schools, educators and students that face extraordinary challenges with connectivity, access, hardware, and teacher training, but are nevertheless achieving remarkable success. These stories illustrate the complexity of the problems faced by the nation’s poorest school districts, and the need for multi-faceted solutions to the technology gap; combining reliable internet at school and at home with up-to-date, relevant devices, as well as innovative teacher training, custom-designed, educational apps and visionary leadership.
Without A Net: The Digital Divide in America is an official selection of the New York Film Festival and is debuting on National Geographic on September 26th at 10pm ET.