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.<\/p>\n
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!).<\/p>\n
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\u2019s (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\u2019s a daily reality.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s not something I\u2019ve thought much about since dealing with remote learning during COVID. I appreciated the opportunity to dig into it deeper.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of facets to the digital divide. Digital divides \u201care embedded in social economic, and cultural contexts, and intersect with categories of race, class, gender, and age\u201d (Brisson-Boivin, 2021, para. 32). In my research, I found the e-book From Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion<\/em> which discusses \u201cthe lack of proper ICT literacy, the lack of access to high-speed Internet, and the still unsatisfactory level of e-services\u201d (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.<\/p>\n The authors identified three specific aspects of the digital divide: the access gap, the usage gap, and a divide in the quality of use.<\/p>\n The access gap<\/strong>: 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 M\u00e9ndez et al., 2024, p. 519). In addition, some disabilities make devices difficult to use without adaptations (p. 536).<\/p>\n The usage gap: <\/strong>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).<\/p>\n Divide in quality of use: <\/strong>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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Resta says the \u201cknowledge divide\u201d is more critical than the \u201cdigital divide\u201d\u00a0 because providing access to devices and the Internet is not enough for digital inclusion. He names 5 factors essential for digital inclusion:<\/p>\n Basic literacy skills<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n Computer hardware, software and connectivity to the Internet<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n Meaningful, high quality, culturally relevant content in local languages<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n Creating, sharing, and exchanging digital content<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n Educators who know how to use digital tools and resources in pedagogically sound, culturally responsive ways (qtd in Fryer, 2007)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n 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\u2019t necessarily have continuity. They recommended \u201cdepolitization\u201d of training (Gabarda M\u00e9ndez et al., 2024, p. 522) so that teachers don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n References:<\/strong><\/p>\n Brisson-Boivin, K. (2021, March 3). Digital and Media Literacy in Changing Times: What MediaSmarts Wants Us to Know<\/em> [Interview]. Canadian School Libraries Journal. https:\/\/journal.canadianschoollibraries.ca\/digital-and-media-literacy-in-changing-times-what-mediasmarts-wants-us-to-know\/<\/p>\n Fryer, W. (2007, March 29). The Changing Landscape of the Global Digital Divide by Paul Resta. Moving at the Speed of Creativity<\/em>. https:\/\/www.speedofcreativity.org\/2007\/03\/29\/the-changing-landscape-of-the-global-digital-divide-by-paul-resta\/<\/p>\n Gabarda M\u00e9ndez, V., S\u00e1nchez 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<\/em>. Springer Singapore. https:\/\/doi.org\/https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-981-99-7645-4<\/p>\n Tomczyk, \u0141., Guill\u00e9n-G\u00e1mez, 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<\/em>. Springer Nature. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-981-99-7645-4<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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). … <\/p>\n\n
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