1. Pondering the Digital Divide
Across the Globe
Hiller A. Spires, Ph.D.
Professor & Senior Research Fellow
North Carolina State University
October 24, 2012
World View Global Education Symposium
2. A Question for You
What are the implications of not
having access to the Internet in 2012?
• Personally?
• Professionally?
3. • Overview of Internet Usage
• What is the Digital Divide?
• How Are NC Students &
Teachers Affected?
4. Checking the Facts
Which country has the highest internet usage?
a) China
b) U.S.
c) Iceland
d) Finland
10. Top 15 Countries
Country Name 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Iceland 88.90 89.07 92.14 95.63 96.62
Norway 87.17 90.77 92.18 93.27 93.45
Netherlands 86.14 87.73 89.79 90.71 92.13
Sweden 82.13 90.17 91.12 90.01 90.88
Luxembourg 78.22 81.92 87.28 90.71 90.70
Denmark 85.15 85.08 86.87 88.76 89.98
Finland 80.81 83.72 82.53 86.91 89.33
Bermuda 74.93 82.89 83.77 85.13 88.85
Qatar 37.00 44.30 53.10 81.60 86.20
New Zealand 69.83 72.18 79.83 83.01 86.18
Liechtenstein 65.08 70.00 75.00 80.00 85.00
Germany 75.39 78.35 79.49 82.53 83.44
Switzerland 76.90 78.43 80.01 82.17 82.99
Canada 73.31 76.72 80.17 80.04 82.68
Antigua and Barbuda 70.06 75.03 74.20 80.00 82.00
World 20.58 23.19 25.74 29.52 32.77
The World Bank :http://data.worldbank.org
11. U.S., China, & the UK
2011 Internet users (per 100 people)
• 38 out of 100 people in China were internet
users
• 78 out of 100 people in the U.S. were internet
users
• 81 out of 100 people in the UK were internet
users
14. Rural America
Rural America lags behind the rest of the
country in Internet usage, making rural
schools an important center of connectivity
in the communities. In 2010, 57 percent of
rural households had broadband Internet
access, compared to 72 percent in urban
areas.
U.S. Department of Commerce, 2011
15. How Does NC Rank?
• According to the US Department of
Commerce, NC ranked 36 out of 50 for
Computer and Internet Use in 2010.
• 64% in urban NC use broadband
internet
• 58% in rural NC use broadband internet
17. A Summary of Divides
According to the Economic Intelligence
Unit (2012), the following is the summary
of divides found around the world
• Ability • Access • Age
• Broadband • Content • Culture
• Education • Gender • Income
• Language • Location • Measurement
• Mobile • Skills • Usage
19. Why is it important to bridge the gap?
• According to the Information Communications
Technologies (ICT) and the 50x15 Initiative,
there are 4 important elements:
• Economic equality
• Social Mobility
• Democracy
• Economic Growth (Internet World Stats,
2012)
24. Second Digital Divide
• “The digital divide in education goes beyond the
issue of access to technology. A second digital
divide separates those with the competencies
and skills to benefit from computer use from
those without.” (Trucano, 2010)
• Second digital divide lies at the core of the
educational challenge faced by many countries
today (Trucano, 2010).
25. Second Digital Divide
“Policy decisions must take into consideration the necessary
investment in training and support as well. Like education in
general, it is not enough to give people a book, we also have
to teach them how to read for them to gain any use from it.”
“It is not enough to wire all communities and declare that
everyone now has equal access to the Internet. They may still
continue to lack effective access in that they may not know
how to extract information for their needs from the material
available on the Web.”
“Although providing Internet access may help alleviate some
problems of the digital divide, a second-level digital divide
remains when it comes to people’s ability to effectively use
the medium.” (Hargittai, n.d.).
27. Having Our Say: Middle Grade Student Perceptions
of School, Technologies, and Academic
Engagement
Results from a study conducted with 4,000 NC middle
grade students
•Students demonstrate an increased passion for &
reliance on technologies for entertainment &
communication.
•In many cases, out of school technology use had
“lapped” in school technology use, even in rural
and underserved schools.
•Students demonstrated a sophisticated knowledge
about what they want to do in school and what
activities interested them.
Spires, Lee, Turner, & Johnson, 2008
35. Participants
# of Teachers
Survey Total Participants 452
Gender Males 74
Females 378
% of Teachers
Ethnicity American Indian 1%
Asian 1%
African American 7%
Caucasian 88%
Hispanic 1%
Other 2%
Education Bachelor’s Degree 62%
Master’s Degree 37%
Doctoral Degree 1%
Years Teaching Less than 5 years 21%
5-9 years 27%
10-20 years 33%
More than 20 years 19%
37. Focus Group Session Results
(1) Today’s students need 21st century skills (e.g.,
problem solving, collaboration, critical thinking,
creativity).
“They don’t read it. They find a picture and read the caption.
If it is not quick or flashing they can’t find it. They need to
know how to read, how to find it on the internet and know if
it is valuable or not.”
(2) Teachers’ roles are changing.
“Sometimes students learn better from their peers. Todays’
teachers need to be willing to work outside of their comfort
zone and to be open to learning from their students.”
38. Focus Group Session Results
(3) We need technology and professional development in
order to be technology savvy.
“Once a school buys a program, we are required to learn the
program on our own. It would be more helpful if the content
was presented when the technology was introduced.”
(4) We have challenges implementing digital technology
in the classroom.
“We have used students cell phones for Google searches,
taking pictures and even as a stopwatch (we don’t even have
stopwatches in school).”
39. Research Summary
• 12% of NC teachers fully integrated digital tools and
resources in a learner-centered approach (levels 4b –
6), placing an emphasis on student action and
higher-level thinking.
• There appears to be a disconnect between what
teachers believe to be the most important school
priority and the level of support they are receiving.
• Technology is evolving at a fast pace; school
infrastructure and teacher capacity are lagging.
45. References
• Hargittai (n.d.). Second digital divide: Differences in people’s online skills. Retrieved from
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/hargittai
• Hitch, C. (n.d.). Improving your technology utilization: A quick review can help you determine whether your school is
making the most of its technology budget. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/638?ref=search
• James, E. (2000). Learning to bridge the digital divide: Computers alone are not enough to join the e-economy. Digital
literacy is too essential too. Centre for Educational Research and Innovation.
• Internet World Stats (2012). The digital divide, ITC and the 50x15 Initiative.
• Lenhart, A. (2012). Digital divides and bridges: Technology use among youth. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/digital-divides-and-bridges-technology-use-among-youth
• Spires, H., Bartlett, M., & Garry, A. (2012). Digital Literacies and Learning: Designing a Path Forward. White paper
funded by the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation: NCSU
• Spires, H., Lee, J., Turner, K., & Johnson, J. (2008). Having our say: Middle grades students' perspectives on school,
technologies, and academic engagement. Journal of Research in Technology in Education. 40 (4), 497-515.
• Spires, H., Morris, G., & Zhang, J. (2012). New literacies and emerging technologies: Perspectives from middle grade
teachers in the US and China. Research in Middle Level Education, 35(10), 1-11.
• The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (2012). Smart policies to close the digital divide: Best practices from around
the world. Retrieved from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan049753.pdf
• Trucano, M. (2010). The Second Digital Divide. Retrieved from http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/the-second-
digital-divide
• U.S. Department of Commerce. (2011). Exploring the digital nation: Computer and Internet use at home. Retrieved from
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/exploring_the_digital_nation_computer_and_internet_use_at_home_
11092011.pdf.
• World Bank (2012)
• Zickuhr, K., & Smith, S. (2012) Digital differences. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
Editor's Notes
2010: 1.74 billion users world-wide
The 50x15 InitiativeThe Digital Divide can and should be made smaller. This idea has found eco in many private and public organizations. One of the organizations that has taken an active and leading role in this effort is the 50x15 Foundation, initiative that consists of support to empower 50 percent of the world’s population with Internet access by year 2015. Learning Labs from the 50x15 Initiative are already present in Brazil, China, the Caribbean, and in Africa (Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda) and many more are in the planning stage.
The 50x15 InitiativeThe Digital Divide can and should be made smaller. This idea has found eco in many private and public organizations. One of the organizations that has taken an active and leading role in this effort is the 50x15 Foundation, initiative that consists of support to empower 50 percent of the world’s population with Internet access by year 2015. Learning Labs from the 50x15 Initiative are already present in Brazil, China, the Caribbean, and in Africa (Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda) and many more are in the planning stage.
The lack of public-private partnership reportedly is one reason for the continual divide in Russia.
In China, three primary digital divide challenges are; Access, Skills, and Content.The government pays a lot of attention to Access and Skills but not Content.
German government has abandoned digital inclusion efforts and considers it a market choice.
“The most important challenge is to train local people and educate them, not only to be users but also citizens who can produce content and knowledge and understand how to use it in an entrepreneurial way to generate opportunities.” –Baggio – founder and president of Center for Digital Inclusion in Brazil.
1st Digital Divide : Much of the related dialogue, and certainly most of the action by governments in developing countries, has so far treated unequal access to ICTs (especially the Internet) as a largely technical challenge at the core of digital divide initiatives, and as a result technical solutions have been explored and implemented (usually led by very technical people) all over the world. At a practical level, the responsibility for bridging the first digital divide in the education sector, especially in developing countries, was (has been) delegated to the 'ICT people'.
Hargittai (n.d.).
A total of 12% teachers fully integrated digital tools and resources in a learner-centered approach (levels 4b – 6), placing an emphasis on student action and higher-level thinking. None of the teachers reached the level of Refinement (level 6), an entirely learner-centered technology approach where disconnects no longer exist between instruction and technology in the classroom.
