Dealing with the Digital Divide

In recent years much attention has been given to the extent and implications of the digital divide-the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged Americans in access to digital media. For example, a fact sheet at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide/factsheets/education.htm tells us that

61.6 percent of those with college degrees now use the Internet, while only 6.6 percent of those with an elementary school education or less use the Internet. At home, those with a college degree or higher are over eight times more likely to have a computer than the least educated and nearly sixteen times more likely to have home Internet access. The "digital divide" for Internet use between those at highest and lowest education levels widened by 25 percent from 1997 to 1998.

As a teacher, you will encounter students who have had a lot of computer exposure and other students with little knowledge of computers. You will need to find ways to help all of them become more proficient with computers, just as you address other individual differences. Your school may or may not have widespread and fast access to the Internet, but in either case you should help all your students draw on the Web and other digitized resources to improve their learning.

Discussion and proposals regarding possibilities for narrowing the digital divide in society are provided in excerpts from a provocative speech by Don Tappscott at http://www.pulpny.org/CAM/trans_tapscott.html, a report titled "Falling Through the Net: Digital Inclusion" at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn00/contents00.html, and other federal government reports at http://www.digitaldivide.gov. Several of these reports deal with issues involving reduction of the digital divide in rural and low-income urban communities.

There is also a considerable amount of information and thoughtful discussion available to help you, as a teacher, deal with the digital divide. Download the free Teacher's Guide that accompanied the 2000 PBS series, "The Digital Divide," at http://www.pbs.org/digitaldivide/guide.pdf. You may want to pay particular attention to the "Tech Tips" included with the guide. The guide also includes suggested classroom activities that can help students investigate the digital divide. Useful information and ideas also are available to you at http://www.ed.gov/Technology/tool_kit.html.



The following sites also provide information and advice to teachers:

Digital Divide Network
The goal of this group's web site is to offer "a range of information, tools and resources that help practitioners stay on top of digital divide developments."

Digital Steppingstones Project
This research project aims to find "exemplary practical uses of technology in diverse learning environments," or ways of overcoming the digital divide. The researchers looked for programs where all people in the community had access to the technology, and programs in under-served urban areas.

The New Divides
The subtitle of this special report from Education Week online newspaper is "Looking Beneath the Numbers to Reveal Digital Inequities." It explores inequities in computer access and use based on income, race, gender, ability status, and language.

Technology Opportunities Program
This federal program from the Department of Commerce funds projects to bring digital technologies into wider use.

Web-based Education Commission
This commission was created by the U.S. Congress to help maximize the promise of the Internet for learners of all ages. You can read the Commission's 2000 report, The Power of the Internet for Learning: Moving from Promise to Practice, which includes a chapter on bridging the digital divide.