The e-Learning Foundation
Eliminating the 'digital divide'
Established in 2001, the 
e-Learning
Foundation
[External Site] is an educational charity that focuses on helping children get
access to technology, notably a computer and the internet, to support their
learning both at school and at home.
Research shows that children with access to a home computer and the internet do
much better at school than those who do not. As children spend only about 15
per cent of their lives in the classroom, it is extremely important that this
access to technology is made available to as many as possible.
Research also shows that children from middle-class families are four times as
likely to go to university than those from working-class backgrounds. The top
three income groups show an 85 per cent home computer ownership level and 75
per cent internet connection, while the bottom three groups are just 23 and 16
per cent respectively. Although the presence of children in a household boosts
the computer ownership level, figures show that single-parent families are
significantly less likely to have ownership of a computer. These statistics
show what has come to be known as the digital divide, which further affects
disadvantaged children's educational prospects.
It is the aim of the Foundation to work with both schools and families to
ensure that all children have the chance to do well in their education, and not
just those with good resources at home. The Foundation helps schools and
parents to fund portable computers that are used at school during the day but
then taken home for the pupil and their family to use in the evening, at
weekends and during the holidays.
In order to fund this extension of access to technology, the Foundation relies
largely on donations from parents. The annual report from 2003-2004 suggests
the scheme has been working extremely well - for example, secondary
schools with an active e-Learning programme own an average of 323
laptops compared to a national average of just 28, and 68 per cent of
schools let their pupils take the laptops home, with many others planning
to do so in the future. However, the number of computers in schools
remains extremely low in the context of whole class learning and the allocation
of funding per pupil is not yet adequate to cater for 'wherever,
whenever' access.
For just a few pounds a week, you can continue to make this worthwhile project
possible. In addition to this, if you make a donation in the form of a Gift
Aid Declaration
[External Site], for every £1 donated the Foundation can
recoup the basic tax rate paid (28p) from the Inland Revenue. More
information is available from the e-Learning Foundation's
website where you can also make an online
donation
[External Site].
