Digital divide refers to the societal and knowledge gap between the people with effective access to digital information, and those who do not have ready access. It was once a hot topic, but does not get much air time these days. Is it because people have become jaded about the subject or are too busy social-networking to pay attention? Or maybe, just maybe, digital divide is getting less pressing because the same technologies at the heart of the problem have been put to use to combat the very issue.
A good example is the ACCESS program in Alabama. ACCESS is an educational program that provides Alabama public high school students the opportunity to engage in Advanced Placement (AP), elective and other classes that they don’t typically have access to or could be losing access to due to budget/curriculum changes. The Economist reports:
“The state has many small, rural schools. Because of their size, and the relative scarcity of specialised teachers, course offerings have been limited. Students might have had to choose between chemistry or physics, or stop after two years of Spanish. … In 2005 the governor, Bob Riley, announced a pilot programme called Alabama Connecting Classrooms Educators and Students Statewide, or ACCESS. The idea was to use internet and videoconferencing technology to link students in one town to teachers in another. … In 2006 students took more than 4,000 courses at 24 schools. In 2008, with ACCESS now in more schools, the number exceeded 22,000. Administrators are finding new ways to liven up the experience. Last year a dozen schools went on a ‘virtual field trip’ to Antarctica, with scientists beamed in by satellite.”
What do you think? Could digital actual help decrease the educational divide?
Read the full Economist article here.
Fang-Yu Lin
Comments
Connections
The educational sector always seem the ones to be screwed by corporations and the government. Some corporations charge so much for good equipment and software, but schools can’t afford to maintain (ex. Blackboard)& every politician promises educational reform and more funding. Sounds great during a political campaign, but when it comes to budget, no so good.
With that said, educators and students are living in an exciting time. As you mentioned “virtual field trip” are now possible. This is amazing!
There are a ton of small startups that are creating affordable educational software. Look at Edmodo… started by a couple of IT guys that work for school systems. I think we will see alot of more affordable educational technology in the near future that will decrease our current educational divide. The OLPC project is still alive and kicking, along with netbooks are becoming more affordable.
Lets not forget the eBook wars (B&N & Amazon) that are just heating up. Yes, the hardware eBook readers are still WAY too expensive for most educational settings, but I think eBooks are going to be huge here in the next 3-5 years, especially if the cost come down.