Equity

Technology has the ability to positively impact education, but there are consequences to those who do not have access because of a lower socio-economic status. There have been many efforts to bridge this inequality, but studies have found that simply introducing computer and Internet technology to underserved classrooms is insufficient. Instead of narrowing the digital divide, it has had the opposite effect. Data on newer, mobile technology suggests, however, that newer research is needed in applying the most modern technologies to the classroom.

Twenty years ago, there was a noticeable digital divide in classrooms. In the former definition, the digital divide referred to the growing amount of technology in school districts that served populations with a higher aggregate socioeconomic status (SES), while underserved areas lacked in funding to purchase computers and other modern technologies. Within ten years many of these schools had acquired much of the technology afforded to schools of a higher SES, leading many to think that the divide had been bridged and underserved schools would catch up. Acquiring similar technologies did not, however, end the digital divide. Many issues surfaced in the use of these technologies in lower-SES schools. Even though the technologies were present, teachers remained untrained in their appropriate pedagogical usage. Teachers were left to use the technology in its most simple usage instead of strategic utilization to promote inquiry and critical thought. And students themselves, while having limited access at school, would not necessarily have the continued access at home like their peers at higher-SES schools. Better-funded schools did not have these issues to the degree of the underfunded, so the divide actually widened (Warschauer, Knobel & Stone, 2004).

Now it is ten years later and technology is even more ubiquitous throughout society. While Warschauer, et al suggested in 2004 that the digital divide was widening, does more recent research suggest otherwise? Warschauer and Matuchniak looked at the issue again in 2010 and found that what was considered the digital divide is “largely resolved,” but a new one has emerged. While almost every young person has access to computers and the Internet, the way they access it is largely determined by environment. The jobs most in demand require “expert thinking and complex communication,” but the irregular access, restrictive forces of high stakes testing, a lack of cultural emphasis on technology and scarcity of research on the topic of technology and equity all contribute to underserved students not developing these skills to the degree of middle and upper-SES students. Again, it was found that even though the falling costs of technology bridged the digital divide physically, vast cultural, pedagogical and psychological gulches remain (Warschauer & Matuchniak, 2010).

If the ubiquity of mobile technology change the some of the access and societal issues remains to be seen, but there are certainly changes coming. 55% of lower-SES cell phone users access the Internet from their phones, compared to 63% of all users. But, of those users, 45% of the lowest SES uses that as their main access to the Internet, compared to 34% of all users. Cell phone usage for the Internet is steadily growing among all levels of the population, especially in the lower income brackets, and for many of those households, it will be their exclusive access to the Internet (Duggan & Smith, 2013). Perhaps if the cultural access is important, more research is needed in using what is available to poorer children: the cheaper mobile technology. This will not remove the impediments of teacher training, which also needs to be addressed, but perhaps will change the cultural emphasis on large monitors and wires, shifting to a pedagogy that emphasizes mobility and interconnectedness. 

References 

Duggan, M. & Smith, A. (2013). Cell internet use 2013. Pew Research Internet Project. Retrieved February, 28, 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/09/16/cell-internet-use-2013/. 

Warschauer, M., Knobel, M., & Stone, L. (2004). Technology and equity in schooling: Deconstructing the digital divide. Educational Policy, 18(4), 562-588.

Warschauer, M., & Matuchniak, T. (2010). New technology and digital worlds: Analyzing evidence of equity in access, use, and outcomes. Review of Research in Education, 34(1), 179-225.