K02: Invited Speaker S. Craig Watkins: The Digital Edge: What Educators Should Know about The Digital Lives of Multi-Cultural Youth

His recently published book The Digital Edge: How Black and Latino Youth Navigate Digital Inequality examines how the digital and social-media lives of low-income youth; especially youth of color; have evolved amidst rapid social and technological change. Relying on nearly three hundred in-depth interviews with students; teachers; and parents; and hundreds of hours of observation in technology classes and after school programs; The Digital Edge carefully documents some of the emergent challenges for creating a more equitable digital and educational future. Focusing on the complex interactions between race; class; gender; geography and social inequality; the book explores the educational perils and possibilities of the expansion of digital media into the lives and learning environments of low-income youth. Ultimately; the book addresses how schools can support the ability of students to develop the social; technological; and educational skills required to navigate twenty-first century life.