The Title : The Digital Divide Student Name: Maha Aljehani

Student Number: 17489318

INTRODUCTION

- Mobile media and technology is growing rapidly with the passage of time.

- Nonetheless rural areas are still unable to have access to the knowledge and information technologies.

WHAT IS A DIGITAL DIVIDE

• Digital divide is the difference and the gap between the people who have ready access to the technology and those who are deprived of it.

• It is social and economic inequality between two groups.

• Provision of technology difference in the rich and poor schools.

• While the same pattern of Information and Communication technologies (ICT) does not prevail all over the world, digital divide occurs.

FOR INSTANCE

Australia is a fast country to adopt of any new

technology ,but it is still there is a digital divide

which the government is trying to fix it (Patricia &

Edgar, 2009 ).

“The number of dwellings with access to the internet

increased from 35% in 2001 to 63% by the 2006 Census”(Patricia &

Edgar, 2009 ).

VIEWS OF THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

• like everything technology has its good and bad aspects that mainly worries parents.

- There are fears of passivity, physical

inactivity, pornography etc.

- While if technology is abandoned because of these

fears than children will lack exposure and

skill acquisition.

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

• Today ICT is necessary because of the following reasons as McLaren & Zappala (2002) mentioned :

Economic participation as people search and apply for employment via technology, also some jobs have ICT competency as prerequisites.

Education and life long learning is made easy as they provide ‘online schooling’ for children who do not have direct access to schools and live in remote areas.

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Access to services, as most of the government services like billing, paying and

accessing online services ,discounts are made via internet and are cost effective.

Socially people communicate and remain in contact via internet.

That is cost effective and less time consuming.

Political participation is also becoming easier via internet as most of the campaigns

are launched online. Also internet is the key communication channel between the electorates

WHY DIGITAL DIVIDE OCCURS

• Following factors constructs the digital divide (McLaren & Zappala,2002):

The level of income and the earning is the basic factor that determine the usage of technology. That is the reason why families with low-incomes have less or no access to ICT.

Study at National Center for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) has revealed that educational attainment of a student is a strong predictor of having computer and internet access at home. Students that have university education

are 2.5 times more likely to have internet access.

FACTORS OF

DIGITAL DIVIDE:

• The digital divide is directly connected to the rural-urban divide. Surveys have shown that the growth of ICT in metropolitan areas is twice the growth in the non- metropolitan areas.

• People above the age of 55 are less likely to indulge in the technology based learning as compared to the young generation.

• Even though it is unclear, still the statistics reveal that females utilize ICT less than males.

FACTORS OF

DIGITAL DIVIDE:

Blue collar workers are less likely to indulge in the internet usage as compared to the white collar workers as based on their income and other

facilities.

Families with children are more likely to have computer and internet aces at home than the families that do not have children.

CONT.

IMPACT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE ON STUDENTS

• Deprivation of access to these facilities is affecting the students in various ways such as inexperienced for future work, cut off from opportunities and disconnected from friends.

• Educational inequality exists for some students because having home Internet access is necessary for student’s educational performance.

Information and communication technology has become the necessity of today’s world.

IMPACT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE ON STUDENTS

CONT.

They chances of interaction,

communication, growth and

development of the student who don’t have access to the

technology are much less than the

other.

For the students, who cannot access

the technology their resources are

limited and they are considered

seriously disadvantaged.

With technology, the students need to put extra effort in school to meet the standards of those who have

technology access at home and can take assistance.

IMPACT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE ON STUDENTS CONT.

Access to the technology shape,

formulate and widen the

perspective of the students,

therefore the students who are on the other side

of the digital divide lack the

strength of their perspectives.

Students who have the access to the technology feels

ease in their research projects

where as those who are deprived could

not access the online information.

Some students have inequalities chances in access to good schooling

because of digital divide.

IMPACT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE ON TEACHERS

Digital divide has its own set of impacts on the teachers as well.

•Teachers are trained to use the technology efficiently in the learning process of the student.

•Also, teachers need to set ground rules and expectations technological devices in class

•Smith Family found a new digital divide in Australia which is such that inequality is not only that which is reflected in a relative access or possession of media forms but also a lack of skills as well as opportunities for the usage of technology for the social inclusion(Patricia & Edgar, 2009 ).

IMPACT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE ON TEACHERSCONT.

•Online assistance should be provided by the teacher to the student so that they can gain help as whenever they want (Victoria, 2009).

•Teachers need to maintain proper educational material on their online websites and blogs so that students can utilize them(Victoria, 2009).

•It is the main responsibility if the teachers to keep a check how the technology is used.

IMPACT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE ON TEACHERSCONT.

•For the students who are on the other side of the digital divide, the teachers needs to focus on them more to help them meet the other students.

•Moreover, for the students who do not have technology access, the teacher needs to teach the student in detail and help him in extra hours so he can cope up with the new era.

• Classrooms should be advanced in technology in order to efficiently teach students (McLaren & Zappala , 2002).

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE ON SCHOOLS

• Build more commuter labs to provide the students access to technology (Ideaslab, n.d.).

• The labs and libraries should be open all the time for students who do not have computer and internet access at home.

CUTTING THE DIGITAL DIVIDEStudents should be provided

computer and internet access at

schools and colleges .

Students should be given

computers and internet access on discounted

rates.

schools can play an

important role in the

awareness of children.

The society need for programs such as

Learning for Life that target help families

in financial lack to meet some of the

issues linked with their children's

education.

CUTTING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

The LFL program is The Smith Family’s learning for life program which looks

into the increase within the participation of children from disadvantaged

families within the educational process through the provision of educational

as well as financial support (McLaren & Zappala, 2002).

CUTTING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

• There is a need of training programs specially the programs that focus on the dual-generation approach within which parents as well as children are targeted.

• Parental control should be applied to avoid negative usage.

• Parents should be education on the importance of the technology access (McLaren & Zappala, 2002).

CUTTING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

• A priority in the policy should be finding of ways through which the low income families can be provided with

internet.

• Libraries and internet cafes should also allow students to access internet 24/7.

•There are however cost factors that have to be taken into consideration.

CUTTING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

In the given video, Nelson Mandela states on cutting the digital divide:

ww.youtube.com/watch?v=ByrFRhNSXMk

• The digital divide is a lot more than a simple division within the access of hardware and technology as to those who do not have access to it.

• It can be said that digital divide is not only about the physical access but it is mainly about ensuring that the people have the right kind of resources as well as the skill set in order to utilize technology.

• Technology usage is the most vital form of educating children now a days so, every one should be able to access the information from anywhere.

• Measures should be taken to eradicate the causes of the digital divided so that the world can prosper together.

• PATRICIA& Edgar. D. (2009). The digital divide holding back disadvantaged kids. Retrieved from Crikey: http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/09/the-digital-divide-holding-back-disadvantaged-kids/

• McLaren, J., & Zappala, G. (2002).The 'digital divide' among financially disadvantaged families in Australia. First Monday, 7(11). Retrieved from: http://www.firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1003/924

• Ideaslab. (n.d.). Retrieved from Ideaslab: http://www.ideaslab.edu.au/

• IT Global, T. (2013). Technology. Retrieved from Taking IT Global: http://issues.tigweb.org/technology

• Victoria, S. o. (2009, July). Teacher Home Page. Retrieved from FUSE(DEECD): https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/pages/Teacher.aspx