The issue of digital divides is a very complex one and, as I see it, like a prism with a number of facets. In Australia each obvious digital divide has more divides within it, depending on your point of view.
For example, let’s think about the DD in the school sector. There is, some literature/anecdotal research tells us, a worrying divide between teachers and students. It is fashionable to see students as more advanced than their teachers. But we all know it is a lot more complex than that. There is an immense DD in the student cohort and another in the teacher cohort.
We know for example there are both teachers and students who operate on the leading edge and then, a whole spectrum away, those who are just beginning their digital journey.
Schools need to decide what drives their ICT commitment and infrastructure. Middle of the road is probably not the best choice because that tends to be a conservative position rather than an innovative one, frustrating both the teachers and the students who are gobbling up new tools and ideas at the leading edge.
Sometimes schools, and particularly systems they are part of, are not sufficiently responsive, or are even suspicious of, leading edge pressure. The role of these leading edge adventurers and enthusiasts is crucial to the use of ICT in the school sector. These “scouts” are essential to the testing of new tools, and the assessment of their potential in education.
To get back to the DD though… There are any number of factors that influence the nature of the digital divide, with social and economic factors amongst the most crucial. Some of the DD is also related to vision, particularly that of deployment personnel at a managerial level, principals, teachers, ICT managers, and technicians.
Limited vision will result in limitations in provision and achievement. Hopefully there are few principals these days who claim not to have ICT skills. But I wondered about the vision of a school I heard of recently where management had decided that only Year 11s and 12s would have school email addresses.
It is dangerous to assume that every student, every family, every teacher has the same internet/computer capabilities at home as they do at school, or vice versa. And of course there are also examples of the DD between schools, between state, between jurisdictions. The Digital Education Revolution will make a start on ironing out these inequities, but it will be visions and decisions at the school and deployment level that will really matter.
Your thoughts and awarenesses would be very welcome.
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