Modernity, mobility and the digital divides

The phrase ‘digital divide’ has been crucial over the last ten years in focusing attention and resources on the issues of access to and use of ICT, including e-learning, by a succession of excluded and marginal individuals and communities. This paper argues however that this is now a dangerously simplistic notion, especially in societies characterised by the postmodernity that has been catalysed by increasing mobility. The paper provides an introduction to some of the ideas and issues

How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms

A survey of Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers shows that digital tools are widely used in their classrooms and professional lives. Yet, many of these high school and middle school teachers worry about digital divides when it comes to their students' access to technology and those who teach low-income students face obstacles in bringing technology into their teaching

Bring your own devices classroom : issues of digital divides in teaching and learning contexts : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Technology at Massey University, Albany campus, New Zealand

Since the late 1990s, digital divide has gathered much attention from the research community and government organizations. The education sector has been an important area of inquiry for many researchers, as they strive to inform government initiatives on strategies to address digital divide issues prevalent here. This study reports on how existing and new digital divides have evolved with increased penetration of digital learning technologies into teaching and learning practices and the wide usage of enabling technologies by students across formal and informal learning spaces (i.e. both in- and out-of-school), within the context of a BYOD (bring your own device) classroom initiative. A five-year longitudinal investigation of a BYOD classroom initiative by a New Zealand school helped to gain insights into different nature of digital divides in the learning process. First, the BYOD classroom initiative did not end up accentuating existing gaps in access to digital devices and information, despite initial results indicating towards a potentially digitally divided classroom. Second, the study strongly indicated the presence of gaps in terms of information literacy and critical thinking ability, which was eventually bridged in the later stage, as students slowly adjusted to the classroom curricular structures in the BYOD classroom. Third, learner self-efficacy has been identified as the most influential determinant of learning outcomes among students. In earlier phases of investigation of BYOD classrooms initiative, learner self-efficacy was found to be influenced by digital capability, in combination with information literacy, critical thinking ability, and positive motivation. However subsequently, self-efficacy influences affordances in various aspects of social cognitive abilities related to individual’s learning activities affecting how learners engage and apply technology to shape their learning outcomes. The study findings will inform policy makers and education government agencies, in their ongoing quest for bringing about inclusive digital transformation and overall improvement in learning outcomes

The impact of openness on bridging educational digital divides

Openness has been a feature of higher education for many decades, particularly through the establishment of Open Universities, although there remain debates about what openness means in practice. Digital technologies, some based on open principles, and digital content, aided by open licences, have both recently contributed to an extension of what is deemed possible under the heading of openness. Nevertheless, while in principle there may be greater degrees of openness available in higher education it does not mean in practice that many people can still readily avail themselves of these new opportunities to learn, not just because they do not have access to digital technologies but personal circumstances mean they also lack the necessary skills and the confidence to use such technologies in general or for education in particular. In fact it can be argued that this new openness, characterised mainly through the open educational resources movement, may actually widen rather than bridge the digital and educational divides between groups both within and across national boundaries through the increasing sophistication in both technologies and the competencies expected of learners. This paper reviews some of the evidence supporting these different areas of interest and attempts to provide a synthesis of them. It then argues that actions may be required by many inter-mediaries to help reduce the diverse social and cultural digital divides within education, including through the mediated use of open educational resources between teachers and learners

Persisting digital society territorial divides

The ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’ was issued in 2010 by the European Commission. This document constitutes a growth scheme for the decade 2010-2020 that aims to help the European Union to emerge from the current crisis through the so-called smart, sustainable and inclusive dimensions of growth. In this context, the basic aim of the SIESTA (“Spatial Indicators for a ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’ Territorial Analysis”) Project has been to illustrate the territorial dimension of the ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’. In other words, to show how this document acts territorially, particularly at the regional scale, but, when possible, also at the urban level. The SIESTA Project has been funded by ESPON (“European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion”), a European Commission Programme whose mission is to support policy development in relation to the aim of territorial cohesion and a harmonious development of the European territory. This book includes most of the main findings and conclusions obtained through research of the SIESTA Project. The contents were presented and discussed as keynote addresses or communications at the SIESTA Final Conference held in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, on 4-5 April 2013

Bridging digital divides in the learning process: challenges and implications of integrating ICTs

Abstract: This paper investigates an initiative by a New Zealand School to integrate one-to-one ICTs into the learning process, called \u27Bring your own device\u27 (BYOD). Prior to embarking on the BYOD initiative, similar past initiatives have been studied and some persistent issues have been identified. Before starting with the detailed investigation of BYOD, a preliminary analysis of the public response data from different sources has also been conducted. From the past initiatives and preliminary analysis of public responses, we have been able to form general research questions for the study. A socio-cultural ecological approach to mobile learning has been considered appropriate as a means of analysis for this study. Authors: Janak Adhikari, Doctoral Student; Dr. David Parsons, Associate Professor and Dr. Anuradha Mathrani, Lecturer, in the department of Information Technology, Massey University Auckland. This paper was presented at mLearn 2012 Mobile and Contextual Learning, Helsinki, Finland, October 16 -18, 2012 and published in the Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning .  &nbsp

Meaningful digital health interventions : bridging digital divides via tailored design

Addressing issues of low digital literacy, access and use, this paper reports on an exploratory project that sought to develop a prototype tailored digital portal to facilitate meaningful digital interventions between young mothers and their support workers. The projects responds to calls for “person-based” and “persuasive” approaches to digital health interventions (e.g. Yardely et al, 2015) and recognition that “more work is needed to create successful [digital health] engagement strategies” (e.g. O’Conner et al, 2016, p1)