The Digital Divide

Living in a rural community provides many challenges as well as opportunities. In my county we have a high number of students with special needs (English language learners) and those who are economically disadvantaged. While there can be no strong argument against using technology, many of these students either do not have a computer at home or internet access. What use is having a vast number of resources on the internet if only half of our student population can access it from home? An informal survey of my students gave credence to the Digital Divide: out of my nearly seventy students, only about 20 had computers, while 10 had access to high speed internet. Conversely, each student in my class had either their own personal cell phone or had access to one in their home. Forget all of the high speed hardware heavy computers that are advertized, most users only need very basic devices to connect to the internet and perform every day productivity tasks. For our communities, and in a broader sense people who are disadvantaged throughout the world, our emphasis should be on providing access to mobile devices and wireless networks. I recently read about a program provided by UNESCO to bring literacy to women in Pakistan. The simplicity and low cost is what really struck me—a modest investment in a cell phone and SMS created an opportunity for a population that may not ever have the luxury of attending school.

As a current and future leader in educational technology, I can ensure equal access by making sound decisions about the types of technology we use in the classroom. Rather than purchase proprietary operating systems and expensive site licenses, we can opt for an open-source alternative. Grants may provide some resources, but must be approached cautiously as the long term cost may outweigh the short term benefits. Additionally, I can strongly advocate for the integration of mobile devices into our curriculum as both the functionality and price are ideal for students of all ages and grade levels. Part of this advocacy may include developing a curriculum for pilot program that uses mobile devices in a classroom setting.

The Digital Divide exists throughout the modern world and it is unrealistic to expect access to the internet and other resources will be equal; however, schools can make better use of their resources by developing technology plans that utilize the free open-source resources that are available and saving the bulk of their technology budgets to create programs to introduce mobile computing to students.