The timing of this post is interesting for me. I am not working on this at home, because our power and Internet have been out for nearly two days now (we had a series of significant storms recently, and Manitoba Hydro has had their hands full with repairs to power lines all over southern Manitoba). So as I write this, my access to the Internet is more restricted than usual.
This situation, while inconvenient, has me reflecting on my privilege when it comes to the digital divide: I have access to multiple devices and generally reliable high-speed Internet, and my partner has significant technical knowledge (plus a collection of backup batteries). I live in an urban setting with friends, family, and a public library nearby, so even with my power out, I have somewhere to go to do my homework (thanks Mom!).
This morning I was thinking about the mental load that gets added when our power goes out. I was planning out what I wanted to look up when I got to my mom’s (Power restoration estimate? Is the cheese in my fridge still edible? Should we buy a generator?) and collecting devices and backup batteries for charging. For me, this is an unusual inconvenience, but for folks without regular access to technology, it’s a daily reality.
That was my initial understanding of the digital divide: lack of access to devices and Internet. Given my position of privilege and the fact that we have devices at school for students, it’s not something I’ve thought much about since dealing with remote learning during COVID. I appreciated the opportunity to dig into it deeper.
There are a lot of facets to the digital divide. Digital divides “are embedded in social economic, and cultural contexts, and intersect with categories of race, class, gender, and age” (Brisson-Boivin, 2021, para. 32). In my research, I found the e-book From Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion which discusses “the lack of proper ICT literacy, the lack of access to high-speed Internet, and the still unsatisfactory level of e-services” (Tomczyk et al., 2023, p. 1) in different countries around the world. Each chapter is an analysis of academic literature on digital inclusion in a different country. While I would have loved to spend time reading more of it, for the purposes of this post I focused on the chapter on Spain, which looked specifically at the digital divide in education.
The authors identified three specific aspects of the digital divide: the access gap, the usage gap, and a divide in the quality of use.
The access gap: lack of access of devices, Internet, or both. This is affected by geography (for example, rural areas may have less access) and/or socio-economic status (Gabarda Méndez et al., 2024, p. 519). In addition, some disabilities make devices difficult to use without adaptations (p. 536).
The usage gap: lack of skills. This is related to age, with older adults less likely to have the needed skills. In some cases, it is also related to gender (p. 519-520).
Divide in quality of use: this is where someone has both skills and access but does not take advantage of the options available. The authors discussed how teachers may have skills and access to EdTech, but may not use it, while others do take advantage (p. 520). This can lead to a gap between students from different classes or schools.
This last one is the divide that I see most often in my school division. We do have access to devices for students, and most teachers have at least basic tech skills (email, Microsoft Office tools, etc). However, there are some teachers who shy away from technology even when it could make their teaching more accessible and inclusive to more students. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some teachers who use every new tech tool they find, without taking time to evaluate its usefulness and effectiveness for their goals.
Resta says the “knowledge divide” is more critical than the “digital divide” because providing access to devices and the Internet is not enough for digital inclusion. He names 5 factors essential for digital inclusion:
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Basic literacy skills
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Computer hardware, software and connectivity to the Internet
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Meaningful, high quality, culturally relevant content in local languages
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Creating, sharing, and exchanging digital content
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Educators who know how to use digital tools and resources in pedagogically sound, culturally responsive ways (qtd in Fryer, 2007)
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The first and last of these are aspects that teachers can directly influence. The authors reviewing the situation in Spain said that while teacher education does happen, there are many new projects that don’t necessarily have continuity. They recommended “depolitization” of training (Gabarda Méndez et al., 2024, p. 522) so that teachers don’t have to jump from one tool to another. I believe that teacher librarians can have a significant role in this, using many of the strategies we discussed in our last blog posts. We can support our teachers in tools, strategies and skills that can last through the ups and downs of what is trendy in the moment. Addressing this part of the digital divide with educators will result in skill modeling in classrooms, as well as more opportunities for students to use technology that is relevant and helpful, building their digital literacy skills.
References:
Brisson-Boivin, K. (2021, March 3). Digital and Media Literacy in Changing Times: What MediaSmarts Wants Us to Know [Interview]. Canadian School Libraries Journal. https://journal.canadianschoollibraries.ca/digital-and-media-literacy-in-changing-times-what-mediasmarts-wants-us-to-know/
Fryer, W. (2007, March 29). The Changing Landscape of the Global Digital Divide by Paul Resta. Moving at the Speed of Creativity. https://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/03/29/the-changing-landscape-of-the-global-digital-divide-by-paul-resta/
Gabarda Méndez, V., Sánchez Rivas, E., Rubio-Gragera, M., & Ruiz-Palmero, J. (2024). Analysing the Digital Inclusion in Spain from a Systematic Literature Review. In From Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion: Challenges, Perspectives and Trends in the Development of Digital Competences. Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-7645-4
Tomczyk, Ł., Guillén-Gámez, F. D., Ruiz-Palmero, J., & Habibi, A. (Eds.). (2023). From Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion: Challenges, Perspectives and Trends in the Development of Digital Competences. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-7645-4
I really enjoyed reading this post! Your final point about the divide in quality of use and differences in teachers’ readiness to use tech with their students reminded me of some of the readings I did for this module as they also mentioned the importance of teacher education in bridging the digital divide. I thought back to my own teacher ed program (2014-2015) and realized that we didn’t touch at all on using digital technology to teach, though that was 10+ years ago and edtech has changed drastically since then. I wonder if edtech is a part of most teacher education programs now. I hope it is!
Kerong, thinking back I don’t remember much if any edtech in my teacher ed program either. I have noticed some of the newer teachers in my building are very open to using new technology with their students. I don’t know if that is because it was included in their program, or if it is just a generational thing. I’ll have to ask!
Your post is rich and reflective. The opening of your post grounds your inquiry in lived experience and effectively draws your reader in. How tricky it must be for you to stay on top of everything right now! I appreciate how you extend beyond access to consider the knowledge divide. Your synthesis of research alongside your observations of teacher practice adds meaningful depth to your analysis. As you describe, it is important that teachers (and SLLC teachers) understand that we might inadvertently widen inequities by inconsistent, hesitant or misaligned integration of technology and by doing so limit opportunities for students to build meaningful digital skills.
You mentioned that some of the teachers “shy away from technology even when it could make their teaching more accessible and inclusive to more students”. Is their reasoning ever shared with you? I used to be really up on using tech with my first graders, and I know how inclusive it can make content, but working with children who are not experiencing the “digital divide” (ie they have an abundance of access and devices), I have scaled back. Reading your post has made me rethink my position, as I do not want to increase the divide of tech experiences in comparison to other classes and cause a compounding problem down the road! I will follow your advice and tap in my TL for some tech collab next year!
I think sometimes it is just too overwhelming; teachers have so much to do already. I don’t think scaling back is necessarily a mistake! We’ve been hearing lots lately about too much screen time. I think we just need to be really careful and deliberate about which tools we need, and make sure they are teaching a skill or making content more accessible. It would be interesting to talk to some of the second and third grade teachers to see what they are using and what skills they would like their students have in the future. But I definitely think that students also need the practice of engaging with learning activities that don’t involve tech, to build some of that stamina too.
I think you’ve brought up such an interesting point about how the digital divide can be further divided through the quality of use between different teachers in the same school. I think this means the role of the teacher librarian as tech expert and digital literacy teacher is even more important to fill these gaps or at least provide a knowledge base that is sequenced throughout the entire school.
I’m kind of looking at this concept through my role as a music/band teacher. Even though I play all the instruments, with my main instrument being trombone, I have a tendency to be more comfortable and confident at teaching brass than woodwinds. Because I know this about myself, I will often prioritize bringing in guest musicians to hold master classes with woodwinds or percussion instruments over brass. I think it’s important for teachers to be reflective about their strengths and weaknesses and to use this as an opportunity for personal growth. In terms of teachers being shy around technology use, this is a great opportunity for collaboration with a teacher librarians who can provide great resources to help address this issue.
I’m curious if there have been any discussions among current teacher librarians (PSA’s) around the wording used in the BC curriculum regarding how and when digital literacies are taught. There is a lot of flexibility and autonomy within the current structure (which can be very empowering) but I’m curious about how that flexibility may be effecting the differences in student experiences.
The music comparison is such a good one. I think it’s impressive that you recognize your strengths and weaknesses, but also that you can play all the band instruments!
Here in Manitoba, we don’t currently have an explicit digital literacy curriculum. At the divisional level, there are people working on it, and we’ve heard that there will be something provincial coming out this year, so we’re kind of in limbo. It’s tricky because I think it’s urgently needed, but at the same time we need to take time to do it well.
I really enjoyed your post and love your personal narrative at the start – I really relate! Your thoughts actually made me think about a small island in the gulf islands in BC called Saturna Island that our family has a cabin on. It is slightly remote and the power and internet goes out often, sometimes for days at a time and this made me think of digital access on the island. We love the island immensely and it makes me want to explore digital equity and access for students and for citizens alike (some live on Saturna because they actually don’t have interest in being part of a digital world). I like you, am reflecting on my own digital privilege! I really enjoyed reading about digital access/equity in Spain and found the 5 factors needed for digital inclusion as connected to the knowledge divide by Resta interesting.