Bridging the digital divide with off-line e-learning

Abstract

This paper explores a proposal for an off-line e-learning platform that will provide a bridge for digitally unconnected students and educators to join the contemporary information and communications technology (ICT) intensive world. Individual remote and unconnected learners face a chicken and egg problem for engagement with contemporary e-learning offerings. Without connectivity, remote learners have no way of engaging with now common ICT intensified learning materials that are intended to teach them how to engage in an ICT intensive world! The paper takes systems approach to developing a solution that will fit into the world we have, and not one we wish we had in terms of infrastructure, economics and skills available in remote and developing regions. Digital learning courses are placed onto a portable e-learning environment that is not reliant on a constant network connection to function but retains interactivity, analytics and the ability to synchronise data with an educational institution when a connection is found.     

Universities,the digital divide and global inequality

ABSTRACT

Absolute poverty levels are declining around the world but, measured by income and GDP per capita over time, inequality is getting worse between and within many countries. How is this possible when higher education is celebrated as a vehicle for economic success and when the massification and digitisation of higher education means it is available to more people, in more places, than ever? This paper explores these questions with reference to three discourses: on development and global inequality; on the purpose and responsibilities of higher education; and on the disruptive potential of online learning.     

Mapping the digital divide in Britain: implications for learning and education

The internet presents many potential opportunities for people to learn for both formal and informal purposes. However, not everyone is able to make the most of the internet for learning. This paper utilises quantitative nationally representative survey data of internet use in Britain in order to explore the digital divide in relation to learning activities online. The results from this analysis give a detailed picture of the digital divide in Britain; illustrating those who are non‐users and users of the internet and the reasons that are important in explaining the diversity in non‐use and use of the internet for learning (e.g., age, educational background, skills, attitudes and experience). The findings may assist in the development of policies that seek to support under‐served groups to make the most effective use of the internet for formal and informal learning opportunities.     

缩小城乡数字鸿沟 推进教育均衡发展

近年来,我市认真贯彻落实省委、省政府《关于推进广东省义务教育均衡发展的实施意见》和省教育厅《关于实施〈广东省教育资源下乡行动计划（2009—2015年）〉的通知》精神,以创建广东省教育强市为契机,通过创新机制、技术和模式,打造“村小信息直通车”,开展“农村中小学远程多媒体互动教室”和     

Getting closer to the digital divide: An analysis of impacts on digital competencies based on the German PIAAC sample

This paper takes an intersectional perspective to investigate the effect of socio-demographic variables that may constitute to digital divide. The concept of digital divide emerged from a perspective on unequal access to digital technology and relates nowadays primarily the differences in the competencies necessary to handle this technology. To investigate digital divide, the present paper uses the PIAAC framework of digital competencies which is called problem solving in technology-rich environments (PS-TRE). It introduces the approach of intersectionality that describes persons impaired by multiple inequalities.The paper analyzes the impact of these factors on PS-TRE for three subsamples of the German study: (1) employed people who use computers at work and at home, (2) employed people who use computers only at home, and (3) people that are out of the labor force. It analyzes furthermore contributions to digital divide by a comparison of these impacts with literacy and numeracy scores.While employed people with computer use at work and home only had generation as a factor for constituting digital divide, employed people with computer use only at home had migration background as a further factor. Education and cultural capital showed lower impacts on PS-TRE than on literacy and numeracy.     

Dividing at an early age: the hidden digital divide in Ohio elementary schools

Computers are now a ubiquitous part of US elementary school education. With policy reports suggesting that inequities in information and communication technology (ICT) access across US schools are a thing of the past, investigating how such resources and their use may nonetheless continue to vary becomes all that much more important. Through a survey of a statistically representative sample of teachers in Ohio, this research examined computer use among third grade students, including in relation to an array of ICT resources and other key factors. The results indicated that such use was more sophisticated among students in affluent suburban schools when compared to students in all other locations, including various rural and urban locations. These differences were correlated with numerous ICT resource discrepancies. Overall, the discrepancies in ICT use and resources can be understood as not only symptomatic of persistent, broader social inequalities, but also factors that reinforce such inequalities as well.     

Youth voices: connections between history, enacted culture and identity in a digital divide initiative

The design of educational experiences is often mediated by historical, institutional, and social conceptions. Although these influences can initially shape the way that educational opportunities are created and implemented, this preliminary form has the potential to reorganize. In this paper, we illustrate how history shows its presence in the ways that instructors systematically arrange a technology course for urban youth. This original approach to the course inhibits youth participation. Incrementally, however, the cultural enactments of instructors and students lead to a reorganization of activity. Through highlighting history and examining the intersection of culture, we provide insight into the ways in which adolescents of color become successfully engaged in learning technology. We focus our study by asking how co-existence and the dialectic of structure and agency play a role as youth develop an identity as a technology user. Further, this emergent learning design affords outsiders a unique view of the educational and contextual experiences of these youth. Our illustration of how history, enacted culture and identity mediate the emergent learning design stems from a grounded theory approach to analyzing video, interview and artifact data in this after-school technology course.

SCIS-II and the elementary teacher: A program evaluation

A two-part opinionaire was used to identify teachers' perceptions of the SCIS-II elementary science program. Of particular interest were perceived barriers to effective implementation of the program. The first part of the opinionaire was administered to 685 individuals, or 96.8% of the elementary teachers in a metropolitan school district. The second part was completed by a group of teachers at each grade level in each of the 31 elementary schools, with completion rates ranging from 77%–97% for the 13 SCIS-II units. Results indicate that grades K-2 teachers rated the program more positively than grades 3–6 teachers; teachers who rated the program highly perceived fewer barriers to effectively utilizing the program; and teachers rated the program higher for developing social skills and positive attitudes than for teaching science content and processes. Data on problems with individual SCIS-II units indicated that the viability and performance of the living organisms are problematic in all life science units. Further, the small number of insightful evaluative comments received for the last one-third to one-half of some units suggests that a significant portion of teachers are quitting the units before reaching the end.     

GLOBE in the Czech Republic: a program evaluation

The article presents results of the evaluation of the GLOBE program (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) in the Czech Republic. The evaluation explores the implementation of the program in schools and its impact on research skills. Four hundred and sixty six pupils, aged 13, from 28 different schools participated in the evaluation. The evaluation revealed problems with the implementation of the program in schools. The majority of pupils usually collect data and work with worksheets in the program. The other activities, such as the analysis and comparison of collected data or planning GLOBE activities, are done only occasionally or never. Although one of the main goals of the program is to develop pupils' research skills, the program had no measurable effect on this outcome. According to these results, changes in the way the program is implemented are needed. Recommendations for further program development and evaluation are discussed.     

Attitudes of preservice kindergarten teachers toward the integration of computers and the reduction of the digital divide in kindergartens

Educational technology research and development - Given the great importance of integrating computers into kindergartens and the fact that today such integration has been implemented only...     

Teachers' voices in program evaluation and improvement: A case study of a TESOL program

In spite of the many ways that schools have changed to accommodate students not yet proficient in English, obstacles still exist that limit students' opportunities to receive adequate instruction. This paper describes the role of evaluation in developing a program to prepare Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The teachers' voices presented in this paper suggest the importance of considering their contributions in refining and improving teacher preparation programs. Implications for on-going program evaluation and improvement are discussed.     

Women scholars: Closing the publication gap

As more females receive advanced degrees in business and enter the field of teaching in higher education, the role of females as publishers in scholarly journals will increase. Data collected from 27 business-oriented journals covering a 23-year time period support this premise. The purpose of this article is to present that data in order to show the changing role of women in publishing and to highlight some of the similarities and differences between female and male authors.