The Digital Divide

1. The Digital Divide Jill Hoffman, Abby Kauphusman, Katlyn Dunk, Brittany Meuser, Chelsea Brolsma Results Results Cont. In this graph we discovered that computers are the most important piece of technology component in high school education. It is noticeably the most significant used technology in high schools. Overall the results of our survey show that technology enhanced a students high school experience for the better. Introduction The digital divide is a concern in education around the world. The digital divide is the gap between those who can effectively benefit from information and computing technologies and those who cannot because technology is not available to them. Decreasing the gap of the digital divide can give technological power to the poor just as technological power has been given to the rich. In 1998, the U.S. Department of congress showed that although more Americans now own computers, certain groups are still far less likely to have computers or online access and as of 2003, only seven percent of the world’s 6.4 billion people have had access to the World Wide Web. The No Child Left Behind Act is also involved in the digital divide by trying to close the gap. The digital divide especially affects school systems. Schools that are technology based allow students the freedom to access information freely, learn about technology, and it allows teachers to use technology as a best practice. Schools that do not have the funding miss out on the opportunities with technology that enhance learning. The digital divide over the years has shown the gap that exists between schools. The goal as educators should be to close this gap. Through our survey we want to answer the question “How the digital divide affected people’s schooling.” Methods We were interested in learning about people’s technological background and how much they knew about the digital divide. Our group received 61 responses from education majors through an online survey we created. The 57 female and 4 male participants in the survey are education majors who are currently enrolled as a traditional college student. Our survey consisted of multiple choice questions, open-ended questions, and yes or no questions. We used a variety of questions that allowed us to understand the participant’s technological background, get specific answers to our questions, and learn individual opinions about the digital divide and technology from our participants. Our group developed questions based on the knowledge we gained from the research done on the digital divide. After developing the “big picture” question we took the research information and developed sub-questions to help answer the larger question. We sent out the link to our survey to education majors that were in any of our classes and friends. After two weeks of time to complete the survey, we analyzed our results of the 61 participants and learned how other people were affected by the digital divide in their high school education. • Digital Divide Survey: • 1) Gender? • Male 4 • Female 57 • 2) Traditional or non-traditional student? • Traditional student 61 • Non-traditional student 0 • 3) Do you incorporate technology in your daily life? • Yes, +6 hours a day 27 • Yes, 3-6 hours a day 22 • Yes, 1-3 hours a day 12 • No, does not apply to daily life 0 • 4) Where is your high school located? • Urban city 11 • Suburb 28 • Rural town 22 • Homeschooled 0 • 5) Was the technology in your high school up-to-date? • Yes 51 • No 10 • 6) What kind of technology was in your school? • A. Computers 61 E. Calculators 59 • B. Smart Boards 20 F. Camcorders 43 • C. Digital Cameras 42 G. Other 11 • D. Projectors 59 • 7) How often was technology used in your high school’s curriculum? • Frequently 21 • Occasionally 33 • Rarely 7 • Never 0 • 8) Do you think technology is important in • the classroom? Why or why not? • 9) What piece of technology is most • important to your education? Why? • 10)Do you feel that your high school • technology knowledge benefited you • when entering a technology-based • university, such as Winona State • University? • Yes 56 • No 5 Conclusion In conclusion, we determined that our participants believe that computer technology is the most important type to have in the classroom because you have access to the internet which allows freedom to an abundance of resources. It also allows for students to make PowerPoint’s to relay information to others. Computers allow for the use of programs that enhances learning experiences in all educational subjects. Many of our participants actively engage in computer technology on an occasional basis and through this they were more prepared for their college education. If we were conduct this survey over again, we would open it up to all majors and would try to get a higher number of non-traditional and homeschooled students in order to vary our results. This would bring more diversity and different perspectives to the survey results. References Office of Educational Technology. (2006). Retrieved February 12, 2009, from http://www.ed.gov/Technology/digdiv.html Digital Divide: What It Is and Why It Matters. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from DigitalDivide.org Web site: http://www.digitaldivide.org/dd/digitaldivide .html Ryder, M. (2006). The digital divide. Macmillan reference USA. http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/dig_div_ este.html Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (2004). Children, the digital divide, and federal policy. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved February 12, 2009, from http://www.kff.org/entmedia/7090.cfm In the graph above we found out that computers, projectors, and calculators are most used in high schools by the Education Majors surveyed. Our participants showed that they used technology occasionally during their high school careers.