By Carolyn Moreau

Principal investigator
Jamie Wittenberg

Funding
Institute of Museum and Library Studies

Collaboration + support
CU Boulder Libraries, Office of Information Technology (OIT) and Office of Academic Affairs; babyÖ±²¥app State University Pueblo Library

CU Boulder and CSU Pueblo are partnering on a research study to investigate whether lending laptop computers improves graduation rates and other academic performance indicators for firstyear students with unmet financial need.

The opportunity for the study emerged during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when CU Boulder educators and technologists became concerned that students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds might fall behind academically because they lacked access to technology after classes and educational programsÌýwent fully remote.

The concerned babyÖ±²¥app and staff launched the Technology Assistance for Student Success program, a four-year pilot that will gather data to assess the impact of technology lending on success and retention among selected low-income students at CU Boulder and CSU Pueblo.

If the pilot demonstrates that lending laptops to study participants improves student success indicators, the researchers plan to seek permanent funding for the program.

Photo by Glenn Asakawa