EDGE901EMERGING ISSUES IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

ASSESSMENT 2

ONLINE PRESENTATION

By CIBLE DAVIS (student no.4590107)

Lecturer: Sarah Howard

Submitted: 12/10/2014

DIGITAL DIVIDE

Summary

• In this presentation it explains the concept digital divide, difference between digital immigrants and digital natives. This also explains the reasons of digital divide in various groups.

Introduction

• Development of technology and science has transformed life and the vision of society. Today’s students are born in digital age and technology is an important part in their lives. They spend a lot of time watching television, playing video games, using mobile phones and so on. At the same time learning approaches are also changed. But the educators are not aware of this and continue the traditional teaching method. This essay will analyse the important issue that the Indian educational system is facing today. One of the main issues is that the digital immigrant teachers teach traditional method and find difficult to teach the digital native students. Lack of training in technology makes them digital immigrants.

Digital NativesChildren are born as digital natives so they are more familiar and depend on technology. Their lives are always related to technology like playing video games, using mobile phones surfing internet and so on (Bennet, Maton & Kervin, 2008).

Digital immigrantEducational researchers describe that many teachers are digitally disadvantaged compared to digital native students. Teachers use traditional method of teaching, lack of interest in using technology and incompetent to use technology in their classrooms (Perrotta, 2013).

Digital divide between teachers and students Prensky (2001 a) points out that a distinction between learners and teachers is a strong issue because learners life has changed with the development of technology but teachers do not like to change their practices and their teaching becomes ineffective (Cited in Bennett, Maton & Kervin, 2008).

continuation

• Lack of resources and less training in computer feel less confidence in using the technology in teaching. In India the following factors have to be considered barrier to digital divide.• Low literacy rate: 2001 population survey shows that literacy rate of

India was 65.3%. The male literacy was 75.69% and female literacy was 54.28%. As the rate of literacy is increasing, there is a difference in urban and rural area.• Education system: The main challenge in the educational system is the

number of drop-outs from school. In order to overcome this issue government has to implement information technology and infrastructure facilities.

Con’t

• Language: Lack of English language is a great barrier to use computer and internet• Though India’s literacy rate is increasing but most people are e-

illiterate. E-illiteracy includes lack of knowledge in computer skills and technological skills. Our former president has implemented many educational programs to transform India to a developed country by 2020. In 2005 EDUSAT (Education Satellite) was launched in various states in India. In 2001 IT @ school project set up in all states. However, schools cannot use these facilities because of lack of resources and lack of training for teachers.

Schools suffer poor learning environment, lack of effective teachers and limited access to technology. The public libraries and school libraries have old and obsolete books.

Meaning of digital divide

• Digital divide shows the difference of people who have knowledge on technology and easy access to internet and people who do not have computer literacy and less access to internet. OECD (2001) explains that digital divide means the difference between households, individuals, business and areas at different socio economic levels regarding the opportunity to use internet and acquire information and communication technology for a wide range of activities (Ayanso, Cho & Lertwachara, 2010).

Various groups are included in the digital divide• Gender differences: In India there is a wide gap between internet users and

non-users. Males are using more internet than females because of lack of awareness, socio-economic status and low literacy (Loan, 2011). Researchers argue that during 1990’s women were the late comers to the digital age because of male domain and socio-economic differences. In 2000, many developed countries, women use the internet and mobile phones. 2007 statistical data shows in Canada 79% of men and 75% of women were using online. The statistical results of some of the developed countries are Australia 74% to 71%, New Zealand 78% to77%, UK 68% to 65% and Sweden 71% to 78% (Hilbert, 2011). However Sharma (2003) highlights that in developing countries women have less internet access because of time control, financial problems, lack of education and other commitments (Hilbert, 2011).

Digital divide among older people and young people• Recent survey shows that older people are less likely to use internet. For

Example, in Spain, out of the total population 67% people use internet but only 12% older people use internet and 4% in China. Because of the three reasons the older people are not using internet.

1. difficulty in using the appropriate instrument. 2. lack of skills. 3. lack of motivation.(Olphert & Damodaran, 2013).This evidence shows that financial problems, lack of technological education and lack of interest give pressure to reduce the use of internet.

Use of internet and population status

World Bank data shows that in 2011 35% population are using internet in developed countries. But only a small proportion of population are using internet in India

Con’t

• National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA, 2004) survey reports that in 2003 86.7% people of age group18-24 use internet in America. In 2004 77% people (18-29) used internet and in 2006 it became 88%. Young adults are using more internet access compared to older people(Hargittai, Hinnan, 2008).

Socio-economic difference in digital divide• DiMaggio et al. (2004) argue that people with high economic status use

internet and are more productive (Cited in Van Deursen & Van Dijk, 2014). Van Dijk (2005) claims that people with low level of socio-economic status use internet in a superficial way (cited in Van Deursen & Van Dijk, 2014). A net survey report in America shows that 96.2% urban households have telephone access whereas only 4.5% rural households have telephone access (Modarres, 2011). US Department of Commerce 2000 reports that 29.3% African- Americans and 23.7% Latinos use the internet. 50.3% White people and Non Latinos use internet because Africans and Latinos are less likely to have home computer and internet access compared to other group of people (Fairlie, 2004).

Percent of persons with access to a home computer by race and ethnicity (Fairlie, 2004)

1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 20020

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

latinos black white & other race

Internet usage in Africa and on the Globe 2006

Region Percentage of population

Internet use Percentage of world use

Africa 14.1% 2.6% 2.3%

Rest of the world

85.9% 17.9% 97.7%

The population in Africa in 2006 was 14.1% of world population. Only 2.6% people in Africa have internet access.

The report shows that least developed countries like Africa have very low internet access and uses because of poverty, income and lack of facilities (Fuchs & Horak, 2008).

Digital Divide in Education (video)

Role of teachersTeachers should apply technological innovations in their teaching method and learning process for preparing students to improve their 21st century skills. Special focus should be given for teacher training to integrate technology in their classroom to promote students higher-order thinking skills (Reinhart, Thomas & Toriskie, 2011).

Conclusion

In conclusion, digital divide among teachers and students are very crucial in India. Lack of resources, technological unawareness and low literacy are some of the important factors that India is facing today. By comparing digital divide in gender, between age groups, geographical area and socio-economic status, some groups are dominant than others because of some barriers like language, financial problems, lack of education and so on. Schools have to overcome this situation by implementing technological education, infrastructure facilities and providing training to teachers. These will help students to improve their technological skills and benefit in their future studies.

References • Ayanso, A, Cho, DI & Lertwachara, K 2010, ‘The Digital Divide: global and regional ICT leaders and followers’, information technology for

development, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 304-319. • Bennet, S, Maton, K & Kervin, L 2008, ‘The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence’, British journal of educational technology,

vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 775-786.• Fairlie, RW 2004, ‘Race and the digital divide’, Contributions to economic analysis and policy, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-38.• Fuchs, C & Horak, E 2008, ‘Africa and the digital divide’, Telematics and informatics, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 99-116.• Hargittai, E & Hinnant, A 2008, ‘Digital inequality differences in young adults’, Use of the internet, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 602-621.• Hilbert, M 2011, ‘Digital gender divide or technologically empowered women in developing countries? A typical case of lies, damned lies and

statistics’, Women’s studies international forum, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 479-489.• http://youtu.be/x1YLPLOKOWE• Loan, FA 2011, ‘The digital divide among the college students of Kashmir, India’, IFLA Journal, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 211-217.• Modarres, A 2011, ‘Beyond the digital divide’, National civic review, vol. 100, no. 3, pp. 4-7.• Olphert, W & Damodaran, L 2013, ‘Older people and digital disengagement: a fourth digital divide’, Gerontology, vol. 59, no. 6, pp. 564-570.• Perrotta, C 2013, ‘Do school-level factors influence the educational benefits of digital technology? A critical analysis of teachers’ perceptions’,

British journal of educational technology, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 314-327.• Reinhart, JM, Thomas, E & Toriskie, JM 2011, ‘K-12 Teachers: Technology use and the second level digital divide’, Journal of instructional

psychology, vol. 38, no. 3-4, pp. 181-193.• Van Deursen, AJAM & Van Dijk, JAGM 2014, ‘The digital divide shifts to differences in usage’, New media and society, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 507-526.