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Slide Notes

Digital divide is a term that refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology, and those that don't or have restricted access. Jaeger et al.’s (2, 2013) states that 10-15 years ago the digital divide was about access to technology but now, with consumer technologies dropping in price, it is less about access to technology and more about participation.
Jaeger, P. T., Bertot, J. C., Thompson, K. M., Katz, S. M., & Decoster, E. J. (2012). The Intersection of Public Policy and Public Access: Digital Divides, Digital Literacy, Digital Inclusion, and Public Libraries. Public Library Quarterly, 1-20.
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Digital Divide

Published on Nov 18, 2015

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1.

Digital Divide

Digital divide is a term that refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology, and those that don't or have restricted access. Jaeger et al.’s (2, 2013) states that 10-15 years ago the digital divide was about access to technology but now, with consumer technologies dropping in price, it is less about access to technology and more about participation.
Jaeger, P. T., Bertot, J. C., Thompson, K. M., Katz, S. M., & Decoster, E. J. (2012). The Intersection of Public Policy and Public Access: Digital Divides, Digital Literacy, Digital Inclusion, and Public Libraries. Public Library Quarterly, 1-20.
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2.

Mobile Broadband

In developed countries, mobile-broadband penetration will reach 84%, a level four times as high as in developing
countries (21%).

https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2014...
3.

American Divide

Investigative Reporting Workshop found that the poorest states in America: Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Oklahoma, also had the lowest subscription rates to broadband. Mississippi had a subscription rate of 35% and a medium income of $36,850. The subscription rate of Mississippi is only 3% higher than the world and 14% higher than developing countries.
http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/broadband-adoption...
Photo by smithco
4.

Broadband Access

Access to broadband has become critical for anyone to keep up in American society. Finding and applying for jobs often takes place entirely online. Students receive assignments via email. Basic government services are routinely offered online.

The lack of a broadband connection puts people at a profound disadvantage. People without access, who are likely to be lower on the economic ladder, fall further and further behind, widening the “digital divide” between rich and poor.
5.

STEM Employment

The second-level digital divide, also referred to as the production gap, describes the gap that separates the consumers of content on the Internet from the producers of content. The need to close this gap has never been greater.

Students without access to computers and internet are 6-8% less likely to graduate, have a lower academic performance, and have a lower lifetime earning potential. Jobs that require STEM related skills are expected to grow 77% in the next 10 years.

Reilley, Collen A. Teaching Wikipedia as a Mirrored Technology. First Monday, Vol. 16, No. 1-3, January 2011
6.

Timberlin Creek Elementary

Timberlin Creek Elementary, is located in St. Johns Florida. The students at this school have access to computers in their class rooms, computer lab and school library. To determine how the digital divide impacts this high performing school I asked the teachers and parents to fill out a survey that I created on google docs.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1v9ZMkI-OOdDL0ObQcSHSqv5_stfaptnrFsA8SALAKm...

My intent was to determine whether our educational system is providing the necessary skills for our children to compete in our technologically advanced economy.
7.

21st Century Skills

60% of the teachers and parents surveyed felt that their students are not being provided the necessary skills to compete in our technologically advanced economy. Even though all kids had access to computers at school the teachers and parents reported 70% of the students could not utilize their own personal devise while at school.
8.

NETP Five Goals

To better understand the digital divide at Timberlin Creek Elementary I utilized the five goals that NETP provided as a recommendation for essential components of implementing technology in the class room.
9.

Learning: Engage and Empower

The teachers and parents were asked if their student's were provided such skills as coding, web-design, robotics or electronics. The students were not being provided access to web-design, robotics or electronics at Timberlin Creek. Only 20% of the students had access to coding skills. The teachers providing the coding in their curriculum utilized www.code.org.
10.

Assessment: Measure What Matters

The Teachers at TCE reported that they utilize a variety of technology in communicating their students assessment to parents. All teachers provide weekly emails to parents on class activities and assignments. They also provide electronic copies of grades and report cards that can be accessed through the internet. Students are also provided access to Apps that can be accessed at home.
11.

Teaching: Prepare and Connect

Teachers and parents ranked a lack of time as the biggest obstacle in implementing technology at TCE.
12.

Teaching: Prepare and Connect

A lack of training was identified as another obstacle to adding technology in the class room.
13.

Teaching: Prepare and Connect

The teachers and parents surveyed felt a lack of resources had the least impact on implanting technology at TCE.
14.

Innovation and Creativity

67% of the parents and students surveyed felt that the current use of technology at TCE did not promote innovation and creativity.

15.

Infrastructure: Access and Enable

The teachers and parents felt the current educational system is too reliant on testing and assessment. The result is that creative teaching and innovative learning are stifled due to teachers having to stay within a restrictive curriculum.
16.

Infrastructure: Access and Enable

The parents of TCE felt that state and federal mandates played a critical role in having access to technology while the teachers felt this was less of an obstacle.
17.

Infrastructure: Access and Enable

The teachers surveyed felt that, educators being restricted from straying outside the curriculum, was less of an issue in implementing technology than standardized testing and assessment.
18.

Productivity

  • Collaboration
  • Creativity
  • Communication
  • Critical Thinking
  • Social Responsibility
  • Global Awareness
  • Flexibility and Adaptability
  • Initiative and Self-Direction
  • Productivity and Accountability
  • Innovation
  • Entrepreneurship
Participants were asked to assess how productive our current use of technology promotes the following skill sets needed to compete in todays technologically advanced society.
19.

Productivity

  • Entrepeneurship
  • Global Awareness
  • Flexibility and Adaptability
  • Innovation
  • Collaberatio
The participants felt that the current use of technology in the class room promoted the following five skills the least.
20.

Productivity

  • Entrepeneurship
  • Global Awareness
  • Flexibility and Adaptability
  • Innovation
  • Collaberatio
The participants felt that the current use of technology in the class room promoted the following five skills the least.
21.

Conclusion

  • No classes offered to students on coding, web-design, robotics or electronics
  • A lack of time
  • Educators not provided training
  • An educational system too reliant on test
  • A program that lacks innovation, creativity and Entrepeneurship
TCE does a tremendous job in providing their students access to computers while at school. They also do a great job in utilizing technology to asses and communicate to parents on their students progress. The digital divide that I have identified is that the students are not receiving the necessary skills to compete in our technologically advanced economy. This is due to the lack of time and training for teachers and an educational system that is too reliant of testing and assessment.

22.

Solutions

In order to bridge the digital divide, I would recommend for students to have access to a Maker education where they have access to coding, web-design, electronics and robotics. These spaces come in many shapes and sizes but all are student driven with adult support. These spaces foster creativity, innovation and sense of entrepreneurship through the imagination of your students. The skills and tools utilized in these spaces translate to the high tech world we live in today.
23.

Solutions

One way to add a Maker Space to a school is by utilizing an existing space, such as a library. A Maker Space can be created in such a space from $100 to $1000. Items that may be purchased for $1000 maker space would include:

$45 – Adafruit beginner sewing kit
$90 – Rasberry Pi Starter Kit
$105 – Microsoft Kinect
$51 – Learn to solder kits
$30 – MaKey MaKey
$100 OWI Robot Arm
$600 Printerbot Simple 3D printer
24.

Solutions

A mobile maker space would be the ideal solution on bridging the digital divide between multiple school districts. These spaces are typically supported by nonprofit organizations and are staffed with trained professionals. A mobile maker space would have all the equipment listed for a library but would include larger pieces of equipment such as:

$2200- 3D printer, Replicator 2
$2100- Blacktooth Laser cutter
$5000- Shopbot CNC cutter
25.

Solutions

There is no one solution to bridging the digital divide. It is clear that in order to address these issues, nonprofits, corporations and school systems all need to work together in solving the problem.

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