Upon hearing the term, ‘digital divide’ I imagine most people, like myself (until recently) thinks of it in terms of people who have access and people who do not. Obviously things like socio-economics, cultural factors and geography are the main factors, right? If this were true, to solve the problem then we just need to make sure everyone has a device and everyone has access to reliable internet. In a country like Australia with low population density and many people living in remote areas, this task is easier said than done.
According to Schradie (2013) the digital divide is about far more than just access. We can give someone a laptop, iPad and phone with the best internet access and they still wont use it. Why? Because access to the physical devices is only one part of the problem – absence of the skills needed to utilise the technology is the second layer of the divide.
For many users, online access is limited to consumption, rather than creation. This issue was not apparent to me until recently but made me think of the world not so long ago when only male authors were published. This created a gender gap in authorship and now we have another type of gap in authorship, created by a lack of digital access and skills. This means that the views and ideas of cultural and socio-economic groups are largely under-represented in digital conversation and creation.
As a society and even a world, everything is moving more and more online. Once the transition is complete how do people on the other side of the divide access basic services? The impact of the digital divide is only going to become more severe as time goes by. We need to look at this at both a community and government level to ensure that people are not digitally disadvantaged and it is going to to take more than giving someone a modem and a laptop.
What does it mean for educators? The simple answer is to give students the skills they need so that they can utilise digital tools to access, evaluate and create digital content. Unfortunately, the answer in how to achieve this is anything but simple. We need to have teachers adept in 21st Century pedagogies (not just using technology as expensive replacements for 20th century teaching), along with the resources and departmental support to create real and meaningful learning experiences for students. Students can then develop their digital literacy skills and become adept and critical digital users/creators who are also ‘good’ digital citizens.
Written in response to ETL523 Module 2.3 and: Schradie, J. (2013, April 26). 7 myths of the digital divide. http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2013/04/26/7-myths-of-the-digital-divide/.