Helping to Bridge the Digital Divide November 22, 2009

As a leader in educational technology, helping to close the digital divide is one of my top priorities. I have been a bilingual teacher for the past 22 years, and I am focusing my efforts in this pursuit on English language learners, a subgroup that has been historically underrepresented in technology courses and careers, and lacking in resources to help them be academically and professionally successful in the 21^st century. Many of our students’ parents have never used a computer before, and classes that teach computer skills in Spanish are rare. Therefore, I have taught parent computer skills classes in our school’s lab after school. Some of our new students speak very little English, so I use my Spanish skills when necessary to clarify a concept. I feel that I have an excellent niche in the field of educational technology, one that is not close to being saturated with research, because of my bilingual abilities, my knowledge of second language acquisition theory, and my years of experience with English language learners.

The concept of the digital divide, introduced in the mid 1990s, has been described as unequal access to the Internet provided to different cultural and socioeconomic groups (Banerjee & Hodge, 2007, p. 229, ¶2). This limited description may be strengthened by including the disparity in access among social groups to technology resources such as computers and to learning experiences that develop technology skills and knowledge. Banerjee and Hodge introduced the idea of a second digital divide as a disparity in patterns of technology usage among various cultural groups, indicating that an increase in funding for technology to provide more hardware, software, and training does not guarantee increased or critical use of technology. While they noted that the digital divide, understood in the traditional sense as a disparity in access to physical resources, appears to be closing, they contended that focus should shift to patterns of usage and the factors that influence the development of these patterns (p.242, ¶5). Bell, Judge, & Puckett (2006) discussed the term, digital equity, as a more all-encompassing term including “equal access to technology resources, effective use of technology for teaching and learning, access to high quality, culturally relevant content, and opportunities to create new content” (p. 52, ¶2).

Another aspect of the digital divide focusing on usage was the determination that large quantities of time using technology did not necessarily indicate high quality use in terms of critical thinking and creative work. Although young non-white Internet users without GEDs or high school diplomas were reported to use the Internet often, they used it most often for playing online games, while users with higher levels of education used it mostly for doing research, making purchases, and communicating with others (Bell, Judge, & Puckett, 2006, p. 242, ¶3). Differences were demonstrated within cultural groups as well as between them, indicating significant gender divide in all racial categories, with females using the Internet more for active pursuits such as communication and research, while males were shown to use it more often in passive ways such as gaming and accessing news and sports information (Bell, Judge, & Puckett , 2006, p. 243, ¶1).

These studies demonstrate that it is not enough for us to focus on distributing technology resources equitably. We must look closer, talk to people, understand their cultures and the challenges that they face, in order to help them use technology resources in ways that empower them.

Banerjee, S., & Hodge, A. (2007). Internet usage: A within race analysis. Race, Gender, and Class, 14(3/4), 228-246.

Bell, S. M., Judge, S., & Puckett, K. (2006). Closing the digital divide: Update from the early childhood longitudinal study. The Journal of Educational Research, 100(1), 52-60.

Thomas, D. (2008). The digital divide: What schools in low socioeconomic areas must teach. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin.