Chapter 10: Teaching #Miamitech: A Case Study of the Public Interest Technology Fellowship at Florida International University

Prior to the advent of the coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19), with the disruption that it caused beginning in early 2020, the global community’s reliance on modern technology like the internet and smartphones had already reached an event horizon. It seemed that we had already reached the outer limits of technological reliance, but the pandemic brought us way past what we had thought to be the limits of use and thrust us into a new digital era.

During the post-COVID-19 lockdowns, quarantines and the other “new normal” changes to our lives that followed, we zoomed past that proverbial point of no return (pun intended) as our dependence on technology was heightened even further. The proliferation of technology and its penetration into almost every facet of modern life also illuminated a digital divide, the deep-seated inequalities that persist in terms of access to resources, training, support, and connectivity. For instance, many students in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods did not have access to compatible technological devices, or if they did, they had limited access to high-speed internet at home. With schools and libraries closed, students of all ages were severely handicapped when school was only available online without adequate support for home learning. To address these inequalities, the capacity for technology to benefit the public interest must involve the public, private, and nonprofit sectors alike. This increased interconnectedness, the new digital era, calls for collaborative multi-sector partnerships to maximize the public good.