1. Bridging the digital divide in low
socioeconomic schools.
• The teacher says I need to use the net in my house to
access the content on the web?!?!?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/2124673642/
Hajnalka Molloy 2013
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AKite-net-2.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvistan/7049825399/>.
3. Households with home internet access, by equivalised household income quintile(a), 2010-11
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4E4D83E02F39FC32CA25796600152BF4?opendocument
11. Encourage use of local public library.
• expom2uk's Salisbury South Australia The Len Beadell Library This photo was taken on May 4, 2008 .
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/57768042@N00/2491772098/sizes/o/
12. Our students, their future.
http://www.kenfolios.com/uncategorized/virtual-retinal-display-the-future-of-graphical-interface-for-electronic-devices/51/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cynergy/2659264056/in/set-72157616133787802
13. Questions for us to consider.
• How could you better integrate the teaching of digital
skills into your teaching program?
• As a school what systems could we develop to optimize
student use of the computer room, laptops, PC pods,
iPads, digital cameras, web cams etc?
• Bearing in mind that as the classroom teacher you will
need to undertake 15 hours of professional
development provided by the OLPC program and the
cost of $100 per child, would you consider participating
in the program and how do you believe that would
benefit your students?
14. References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Household Internet and Computer Access. Retrieved April 20, 2013, from:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4E4D83E02F39FC32CA25796600152BF4?opendocument
Black, R ., & Atkinson, R. (2007) Addressing the Digital Divide in Rural Australia.
Conference name: Sic erat in fatis (So it was fated) Retrieved from:
http://bilby.unilinc.edu.au:1801/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1367234625809~994&locale=en_US&VIEWER_URL=/
view/action/singleViewer.do?&DELIVERY_RULE_ID=10&application=DIGITOOL-3&frameId=1&usePid1=true&usePid2=true
City of Salisbury (n.d) Library services>computers and internet access.
Retrieved from http://www.salisbury.sa.gov.au/Services/Libraries/Library_Services/Computers_and_Internet_Access
Henderson, R. (2011). Classroom pedagogies, digital literacies and the home-school digital divide. International Journal of
Pedagogies & Learning, 6(2), 152+. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA2816
82530&v=2.1&u=csu_auit=r&p=EAIM&sw=w
Honan, E. (2012). A whole new literacy': teachers' understanding of students’ digital learning at home. Australian Journal of
Language and Literacy, 35(1), 82+. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA2798
89956&v=2.1&u=csu_au&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w
Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Cummins, M. (2012).NMC Horizon Report: 2012 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media
Consortium.
Kenney, B. (2011, May). Not just the lucky ones: tech survey reveals vast inequities in our nation's libraries. School Library
Journal, 57(5), 9. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA2554
93708&v=2.1&u=csu_au&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w
McLaren, J., & Zappala, G. (2002). The 'Digital Divide' Among Financially
15. References continued
McShane, I. (2011), Public libraries, digital literacy and participatory culture, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of
Education, 32:3, 383-397.DOI:10.1080/01596306.2011.573254
Mills, K. A. (2010), Shrek Meets Vygotsky: Rethinking Adolescents' Multimodal Literacy Practices in Schools. Journal of Adolescent
& Adult Literacy, 54: 35–45. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.54.1.4
One Laptop Per Child (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.laptop.org.au/about
Salt, B. (2012, October 4) Ages and Aborigines miss out on internet in wired brown land. The Australian. Retrieved from
http://www.theaustralian.com.au
Shah, N (2010-2011) A blurry vision: Reconsidering the failure of the One Laptop Per Child Initiative. Boston University, Boston.
Stripling, B. (2010). Teaching Students to Think in the Digital Environment: Digital Literacy and Digital Inquiry. School Library
Monthly, 26(8), 16-19.
West, J. (2011) Without a net: Librarians bridging the digital divide. California: Libraries Unlimited
Young, J. R. (2013). The Bandwidth Divide. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 59(26). Retrieved from
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16. References images
Australian Coat of Arms 1912 (2006), illustration, Wikimedia commons, accessed 27 April 2013, <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki File:Australian_coat_of_arms_1912_edit.jpg>.
CALI.org, O (2007) Get Smart, Flickr, accessed 25 April 2013, <http://www.flickr.com/photos/caliorg/6059229217/>.
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Karnen, H (2006) Fichier: Question mark, graphic, Wikimedia Commons, accessed 27 April 2013, <http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Question_mark_3d.png>.
Lai, R (2009), Me teaching class, photograph, Flickr, accessed 26 April 2013, http://www.flickr.com/photos/laihiu/4012099556/
*Kieren, K. (2009) A modern butterfly net, Photograph, Wikimedia Commons, accessed 27 April 2013,
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AKite-net-2.jpg>.
*Marosi, P (2013), Bridges of Budapest, Photograph, none, accessed 25 April 2013, <http://www.bridgesofbudapest.com/satellite.php>.
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*Schultz, J (n.d.), Making money online, Illustration, WordPress, accessed 27 April 2013, <http://jordanschultz.com/network-markeitng
*Shankbone, D (2008), Children computing, photograph, Wikimedia commons, accessed 26 April 2013, <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Children_computing_by_David_Shankbone.jpg>.
*Stein, J (2008), Online test = Open Cheat, Photograph, Flickr, accessed 27 April 2013, <http://www.flickr.com/photos/5tein/2348649408/in/ set-72157606879984572>.
*Pack, K. (2008) A Sad Child, Photograph, Flickr, accessed 27 April 2013, <http://www.flickr.com/photos/cynergy/2659264056/in/set-72157616133787802>.
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Editor's Notes
Is this one of your students? Do all of the students in your class have access to digital technologies? Internet? Do they have the skills to make the best possible use of digital devices?
The digital divide is much like Budapest. It takes more than one bridge and more than one approach to bring together the old (Buda or offline existence) with the new (Pest and online savviness). There areeight factors that result in the existence of the divide. These factors are: income, education, age, location, disability, opinion, gender and culture. To bridge this gap librarians need to know why their clients are offline and work with them to develop their skills, allay their fears, boost their confidence or simply to provide physical access to the technology. As Teachers we are in the position to engineer strong and effective bridges to help our students move from a position of disadvantage to mastery of 21st century skills and technology. Opinion is also a significant factor, 20% of people dislike using teachnology.
For most middle class urban people the use of the internet and technology in general is almost automatic. We have a question, problem, are curious or wish to connect with others we reach into our pockets for our smart phone and touch the right icons. The 2011 Australian Census shows us that only 55% of low income earners have access to the internet at home whilst 95% of the highest income earners have access. It has been suggested that this is the new “haves” and “have nots”, much like the telephone was in the 1970’s. However this is overly simplistic. The quality of access, download limits, speed, reliability of connection are also factors to consider. . In Aust this means location as well – rural vs urban, remote area vs rural. The national broadband won’t ever reach many areas – too expensive, remote ruaral run on satellite – very expensive
This is a screenshot of a friend’s facebook post from the school holidaysused with her permission. It is the type of lament we hear often. Download limits, having enough “credit” for access, speed of access. Physical access is not simply a matter of do or don’t have access to the internet at home but rather the level of access and when considering children, do they have permission to use the internet at home?
Let’s assume that the student does have internet access at home. Do they have the required levels of skill to make the most of it? Our students need the variety of digital literacy skills required to fully participate with social media, Web 2.0 encourages the use of digital literacy skills through a participatory culture. The skills needed to make the best use of digital technologies are vast. Keyboarding, to internet searching from transferring knowledge of icons from one piece of software to another to evaluating the quality of information found during researching are some of the skills required. However the skills needed for digital literacy are constantly evolving, just as the technologies are constantly evolving. It is a challenge for schools to keep up with the rate of change but it is the “teaching of digital literacy skillsthat are the greatest concern.
What if your understanding of a “smart phone” is this?Is dated technology your only access point?A 1960s style gadget or are your skills comparable with Maxwell Smart’s spy skills. Although a school or school library may have computers those computers are often old and no longer work well. The cost of new technologies and the variety of new technologies makes it impossible for schools to provide every type of new digital technology, nor should this be the main focus. But to develop their digital skills our students do need some access to ICTs that are at least reasonably current. A lot of things are now web-based which means that if you have access to the Internet you can teach skills. The OPAC or public access terminal for the library catalogue is also an under utilised resource – searching the catalogue uses the same skills as searching the Web
Why do our students need these skills? There are 4 main reasons that our students need access to these skills and in particular to the internet. They are economic participation, education & life long learning, access to services, political participation and social inclusion. In 2013 people need access to the internet to apply for a job, search for jobs and many jobs now require ICT skills. Online learning is becoming more commonplace and is essential for people in remote areas. It has been shown that “computers and internet at home are strongly and positively associated with the academic outcomes of school children, particularly children from disadvantaged backgrounds”. This is perhaps the strongest argument for us as educators. A report was written in 2002, it refers to access to services, political participation and social inclusion. I wonder if these authors could have predicted the role of Facebook in the gay marriage debate in 2013 or the role of social media in social protests, riots, political movements or the reporting of news as it happens by anyone with a mobile phone. Government services, including Centrelink and Australian Taxation Office encourage the use of the internet to access their services. Online banking and paying bills online is commonplace. Research has suggested that people who used online services saved up to four hours per week on running errands and up to $30 per week . Aside form all of the adult reasons for developing our student’s literacy skills, lets not forget FUN! The use of digital devices for most children is highly engaging and simply fun.
Now that we know what the problem is and why it is important to address this problem, what can we do about it? One of the core things that we can do within schools is to provide students with access to technologies to be used in the context of the whole teaching and learning program. We can look at systems to make better use of the technologies such as PCs, iPads and laptops that we already have in our school and consider other ways to provide greater access such as implementing BYOD programs. The NMC Horizon report 2012 considers Bring Your Own Device policies to be a useful strategy in schools. In a low socioeconomic school most children simply do not have a device to bring, however some will. Perhaps this could free up the use of limited school resources. Of course if this approach was considered it would need to be done very carefully and delicately so that students were not further socially isolated by the peers for not owning the latest device. Whilst BYOD initiatives may be of limited value in low SES schools there are other programs that may support with the provision of digital technologies in our school.
One of these programs is the One Laptop Per Child program. Eligible schools can buy one laptop per child for up to 100 children for $100 each. To qualify participating teachers must undertake 15 hours of training and development provided by the program which focuses on ways of making the most of the laptops in the school. In many countries this program has been considered a failure, butmuch of this failure is due to social and cultural issues, some of which would not be relevant in an Urban Australian school. Redundancy and sustainability of by products of technology are environmentally toxic. Research has consistently shown that technology does not make a different to student learning outcomes unless the teacher is heavily supported (technical and PD) and is fully engaged in using the technology in the classroom and even then, the differences are negligible
As discussed earlier one of the causes of the digital divide is not just lack of physical access but lack of skills to make the most of access. As teachers this is where our role is imperative. We must “identify and teach the digital literacy and inquiry skills that will enable all students to be effective digital learners”.
Our schools local public library, Len Beadell library provides patrons with free internet access. This service is free to our students, however internet access is unfiltered and unsupervised as such parental supervision would be required.
Think back to the technologies you used 20 years ago. Compare that to today. With the current pace of technological change is it even possible to imagine the technologies our students will have access to in 20 years time? Our students are already in a position of social disadvantage due to poverty and growing up in a low socio economic environment. If we don’t optimize their access to technologies through the provision of digital devices and the skills they need to navigate and master the digital world we are placing them in further social and educational disadvantage. We have a moral obligation to provide our students with the best possible digital opportunities.
