Digital divide changing but not for students torn by it
University of Oregon educator says institutions expect students to have -- without training -- tech skills
EUGENE, Ore. -- (April 8, 2010) -- When students enter college, they either have it or they don't. And which side of the digital divide they fall on may well shape their identities and what route they take into careers, suggests a new study.
The research looked at the computer technology knowledge of 500 undergraduate students and how skills they brought from high school impacted their early college coursework. The findings, published online in advance of regular publication in the journal New Media and Society, should be on the radar screens of both high school and university educators, says Joanna Goode, a professor of education studies in the University of Oregon's College of Education. Institutions, she said, "are perpetuating rather than resisting inequalities associated with the digital divide."
Word of the Thread:
デジタルディバイド
(n) digital divide
Audio
Original: The Digital Identity Divide: How Technology Knowledge Impacts College Students
Abstract:
This article embraces the concept of technology identity as an innovative theoretical and methodological approach to study the digital divide. Reporting on qualitative data taken from a mixed-method study, the analytical approach goes beyond an access and skills perspective in measuring digital inequities. Narratives collected from students demonstrate how powerful sociocultural influences, such as family practices and access to a quality K-12 education, contribute to the development of a technology identity. The stories outlined in this article offer illustrative accounts of how holding a particular technology identity impacts the academic and social life of college students. Taken together, the narratives highlight the role of schools and universities as institutions which are perpetuating – rather than resisting – inequalities associated with the digital divide.
Last edited by nest0r (2010 April 08, 6:25 pm)
