Barrier to Digital Equity

C. Candace Chou

University of St.Thomas

Definition of Digital Equity

“Digital equity in education means ensuring that every student, regardless of socioeconomic status, language, race, geography, physical restrictions, cultural background, gender, or other attribute historically associated with inequities, has equitable access to advanced technologies, communication and information resources, and the learning experiences they provide.”

Definition (continued)

“Digital equity also means that all learners have opportunities to develop the means and capacity to be full participants in the digital age, including being designers and producers (not only users) of current and future technologies and communication and information resources.” (Solomon, Allen, & Resta, 2003, p. xiii)

Four Critical Components

Access to up-to-date hardware, software, and connectivityAccess to meaningful, high-quality, and culturally responsive content along with the opportunity to contribute to the knowledge based represented in online contentAccess to educators who know how to use digital tools and resources effectivelyAccess to systems sustained by leaders with vision and support for change through technology (Fulton & Sibley, 2003)

Barrier I. Access to up-to-date hardware, software, and connectivity

Published statistics measuring student-to-computer ratios and school Internet access do not differentiate between a ten-year-old computer attached to a 28K modem in a principal’s office and a multimedia workstation with a dedicated high-speed broadband Internet connection getting constant use in an active classroom

Fact 1

In the year 2000 households with less than $15,000 in income had a 12.7% Internet penetration rate, as compared with 77.7 percent rate for those households with incomes over $75,000 (NTIA, 1999)

Fact 2

Schools at the 90th percentile of school funding spend nearly ten times more than schools at the 10th percentile. (Darling-Hammond, 1997)

Issues

Access to computers and the Internet at home is still considered a consumer choice, not a basic educational right.

Should it be a policy to make Internet access affordable to all citizens, regardless of location?

Barrier II: Access to Meaningful Content and the Opportunity to Contribute

High quality online content remains a barrier to digital equity– expensive commercial materials– Not enough cultural representation of minority

groups– The majority of Internet content is written at an

average or advanced literacy level, meaning more than 44 million adult Americans (22 percent of adult population) are not able to benefit from these resources (Lazarus & Lipper, 2000).

– Those who do not have the opportunity are marginalized even further.

Barrier 3: Access to Educator Who Know How to Digital

Educational BeliefsCulturalPedagogy: Constructivist teachers use computer in more varied waysSES:teachers in low SES-schools use computers with students in more traditional ways than do teachers in high-SES schools (Center for Research on Information Technology and Organization, 1998).

Barrier III continued

High-poverty schools unable to attract well-qualified teachers

Children in highest-poverty, highest-minority and lowest-achieving schools are roughly five times more likely to be taught by teachers who failed at least one teacher certification test than children in the lowest-poverty, lowest-minority, highest-achieving schools (Grossman, Beaupre, & Rossi, 2001)

Barrier 4: Access to Visionary Leaders and Support

“lack of vision and understanding regarding the link between technology and learning” (Fulton & Sibley, 2001)

Discussion

What factors hinder the achievement of digital equity in education?

Which barriers do you see as being the most difficult to address and why?