Bridging the Digital Divide

"The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential." Steve Ballmer

Before getting too far into this post, I have to admit that I really didn't know what the digital divide referred to until I read the wikipedia definition. I was under the false impression that it was more to do with the divide between digitally aware students and digitally unaware educators. Was I ever wrong! Although, I do believe it is possible that digitally unaware educators can contribute to the digital divide.

I really liked the simple, yet straightforward model that shows the "four levels of influence that take the form of 'digital divides' in schools" found at the AASLBlog Web 2.0 in Schools: Our Digital Divides Are Showing!














So, for this post, I am going to focus on this model and ways in which we can bridge the digital divide by addressing each level.

* Access - This seems to be one of the largest areas of the digital divide, and there was much information to mull over on this topic, as I began to think outside of my relatively urban community, and contemplate what ICT access or lack of access could mean for students who live in more rural and remote areas of Canada (I am going to narrow my focus to Canadian children, as the global digital divide is such a huge issue). The realization that came to me as I read the 2003 study The digital divide in Canadian schools: factors affecting student access to the use of information technology is that there is a difference between access to computers and access to the Internet. It hadn't really crossed my mind that there are still some schools that use computers as "glorified typewriters" because they are still unable to access the Internet. This clearly puts these students and teachers at a disadvantage in many aspects, in particular when it comes to all of the collaborative web tools available. However, upon further investigation, I had some hope that perhaps access was becoming less of an issue, as I came across Canadian Internet Use Survey completed in 2007. According to this study, the access to the Internet numbers are slightly higher than shown in the 2005 study, with "65% of residents living in small towns or rural areas access[ing] the Internet, well below the national average, while just over three-quarters (76%) of urban residents d[o] so." This study only looked at home access, so I would assume that students would have access at school.

Further to the access to technology issue is that of bandwidth which seems to be a constant battle that I am dealing with at my school. It seems that students' bandwidth is being constantly decreased, whereas teachers' bandwidth is at an "acceptable" size. The problems that arise are significant in that when a teacher investigates whether or not students can access a Web 2.0 site such as Animoto ,for example, she has no difficulty, but once students try to access it and upload pictures, the entire library lab moves at a snail's pace. The frustration level that results for both the students and teachers is imense, and discourages everyone from using web tools to enhance learning.

The key to bridging this aspect of the digital divide is for Federal and Provincial ministries to designate funding for ensuring that rural/remote schools have access to the Internet. We need to make it a priority that equal access at school is provided for all Canadian students. Not only is access essential, but adequate bandwidth is also a necessity for students and teachers in order to experience success with the many available web tools. (However, from what I understand of bandwidth, this may be closely linked to the issue of filtering.) If we deny teachers access to these essential elements of digital education, then we are not helping to prepare today's students for the jobs of the 21st Century. Educators need to lobby for easier access, and maybe this means inviting some of the members of school boards to spend a day in the computer lab so that they can witness first hand the frustration experienced by the users. The best thing that I can do in my own school is continue to be the "squeaky wheel.' I will continue to attempt to use Web 2.0 tools, and I will continue to be vocal when we can't upload pictures, videos and music.

* Skill - Another contributing factor to the digital divide is the skill or lack thereof of using Web 2.0 tools in education. There are many teachers who are not familiar with what is available to them through digital technology, and it is essential that time be alloted to educate the educators. In this week's discussion Joanie and Carol had some excellent suggestions about how this could be done by offering monthly sessions for teachers to learn a new Web 2.0 tool, as well as initiating a grassroots approach where Educational Assistants would be shown some of these tools which they could share with students. I believe that both of these would be excellent methods of bridging the digital divide. Further to this, it would be beneficial to have more professional development opportunities to increase awareness of Web 2.0. I have offered to give a little session in April on Voicethread and Blogging for the English Department at my school, and I have also spent some time with the Social Studies Department talking about Voicethread and how it can be used.

* Policy - This seems to be an issue that is becoming more prevalent as technology and its uses are increasing. It revolves around the issues of "technology policies that enforce slow hardware replacement cycles or restrictive use and filtering policies that block Web 2.0 applications" (AASLBlog). It is essential for school districts to allocate sufficient funding for replacement and updating of technology, but perhaps this could be done in a way that would be beneficial to teachers who do not want access to the Internet all of the time, but would like access to computers. Christine expressed frustration with teachers who book computer lab time in order to allow students to do simple word processing activities. However, I think that there are times when teachers need to do this, and unfortunately there are no other options available to them other than to use the school computer lab. I think it would be beneficial for schools to take some of their older computers and set them up to be used for word-processing. Also, I think that it is important that library labs be routinely outfitted with new computers, rather than receive the computers being taken out of the IT labs.

I keep reflecting on last week's discussion on filtering and I still believe that teacher-librarians need to advocate for filter-free environments in order to teach students how to be responsible web surfers. Esther Rosenfeld in blocking Web 2.0 tools in schools: creating a new digital divide argues that " [w]e now have a new digital divide-between, on one side, students and teachers who have access to the tools of 21st-century learning and, on the other, those who have that access blocked.

*Motivation - Finally, the idea of motivation contributing to the digital divide seems to be closely linked to Policy. The idea that students and educators have different "motivations to either adopt, ignore, or actively thwart learning innovation with Web 2.0 tools" is a new concept for me because I am so motivated to share all that I have learned about Web 2.0 with students and teachers. I think in order to bridge this aspect of the digital divide, it is important to have more professional development opportunities to allow educators to "play" with these tools, but also there needs to be some sharing of information that shows how motivated students are to learn using Web 2.0. I can think of a number of Women of Web 2.0 podcasts that could be easily used to inspire others to integrate digital technology into the classroom.

After looking at the 4 quadrants of the model, it is easy to see that each needs to be addressed in order to bridge the digital divide. It is essential that we find ways to overcome the digital divide so that our 21st century youth can be successful in their future careers. The way that I plan to help bridge this divide is by continually advocating for access to digital technology and more importantly Web 2.0, and to work on a grassroots approach by getting other educators interested and excited about these tools.