The ‘digital divide’ is a term I thought I was familiar with and understood. I quickly realised though that my thinking was still in line with the meaning from when Albert Hammond first coined the phrase in the early 1990s.
Woolfolk and Margetts (2013) suggest that academic problems due to students with academic problems can be due to lack of access to resources such as books and computers. Similarly, it was assumed that the cause of the digital divide was initially a lack of physical access to computers, and later, to the Internet (Rapaport, 2009).
Having read about the current status of the digital divide, I know that there are two distinct schools of thought. On one side is the group that believe the digital divide is naturally closing as low-income and minority families acquire computers in greater numbers (Rapaport, 2009; Trotter, 2007). Alternatively, there is the camp that believe a new digital divide is developing (Trotter, 2007). This new digital divide has four ingredients – access to physical resources (computers and connectivity), digital resources (content and language), human resources (literacy and education) and social resources (communities and institutions) (Warschauer, 2004).
With this new understanding, I have significantly developed my understanding of the importance of participation and the impact of this new definition of a digital divide. Howell (2012) observed that schools are asked to bridge the digital divide between what parents can afford and what they would like their children to experience. McLean (2014) makes the distinction between schools and classrooms where technologies are well integrated into the curriculum, and those where it isn’t. I believe this is the crux of where today’s digital divide is developing – between those students who are developing skills to create and design using technology as compared with students who are passive consumers of technology.
This understanding will be essential for me as a teacher. Part of my role will be to ensure my students are not “digitally disadvantaged” and that they are prepared to participate fully in the digital word (Adult Learning Australia, 2015).
References
Adult Learning Australia. (2015). Bridging the digital divide. Retrieved from https://ala.asn.au/bridging-the-digital-divide/
Howell, J. (2012). Teaching with ict: Digital pedagogies for collaboration & creativity: OUP Australia & New Zealand.
McLean, M. (2014). The new “digital divide”: Integrating tech into teaching | teaching commons. Retrieved from https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/teaching-talk/new-digital-divide-integrating-tech-teaching
Rapaport, R. (2009). A short history of the digital divide. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-divide-connectivity
Trotter, A. (2007). Digital divide 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2007/09/12/02divide.h01.html
Warschauer, M. (2004). Technology and social inclusion: Rethinking the digital divide. Massachusetts, US: MIT Press.
Woolfolk, A., & Margetts, K. (2013). Educational psychology (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson.
ICT in Education 