As I begin to explore the topic of the digital divide, the first step is figuring out what the digital divide really is and how it relates to education. I found Judy Block’s article, “Distance Education and the Digital Divide: An Academic Perspective”, and it gives a nice foundation for understanding the digital divide and how it works in the classroom. Block gives an adequate introductory explanation the digital divide, and explains why the divide is currently an obstacle for the Education System. Block also focuses her essay on stressing the importance of administrators and policy makers ensuring that the digital divide is closed. I found Block’s essay extremely helpful in supplying a general explanation of the digital divide; however, I also found the essay to be a little overly simplistic as it focuses so much attention on the internet based digital divide as the greatest obstacle for those with limited technology access.
First I would like to further explain the way Block defines the digital divide. Block states, “the digital divide has generally been defined as the gap in access to technology by socioeconomic status, race, and/or gender” (Block, 2010, para. 1) Block’s paraphrase of the definition of the digital divide concisely expresses that the digital divide is the different amount of “access” certain people have to “technology”. In this explanation “access” refers both to the actual use of technology, as well as a full understanding of technology. Simply having a laptop does not ensure having a full understanding of everything the laptop can really do. “Technology” is also a broad term that can refer to an actual device, as well as the programs, websites, and software that can be accessed through that device.
After explaining what the digital divide is, Block spends the majority of her essay explaining that the digital divide is detrimental for people, particularly students, with limited technological access because today’s world relies so heavily on technology, particularly computer based technology; Block writes, “information is knowledge and knowledge is power. Today’s society has shifted from an industrial society to an information society” (Block, 2010, para. 2). The idea that information is inevitably power reiterates the idea that those with the most access to information have will become more influential and successful; therefore, students on the limited side of the digital divide have lowered chances of future success.
After Block explains the detrimental effects of the digital divide, she concludes her essay by stressing the importance of teaching technology and making sure that funding and educational policies encourage constant advancement in the field of technology laden curriculum. Block writes, “The solution to the issue of digital inclusion is one of working together to create open education and bridge the technological divide” (Block, 2010, para 13). Block specifically mentions a few of the ways people can “work together” to decrease the digital divide, “administrators can…[institute] educational programs intended to bring competency skills of searching the Internet” (Block, 2010, para. 13). In the past two quotations Block is calling for some sort of action and providing examples of possible solutions to the issue of the digital divide. However, her focus on “searching the internet” is the part of the essay I mentioned as a little simplistic in my opening paragraph.
Throughout Block’s essay, I agree with her comments about the digital divide being a problem for students, and adults, with limited access to technology. Her focus on the internet though, detracts from her argument. In the United States today there is fairly wide access to the internet. Even poverty-level students can have access to the internet at school or at the public library. Computers and accessing information on the internet no longer seem to be the main component of the digital divide. In today’s technological world it seems that smartphones, Ipads, and the more complex software systems that go along with computers that create the digital divide. At one point in her essay Block references an article by Mossberger, Tolbert, and Stansbury that particularly emphasizes Block’s limit to the definition of the digital divide. These authors write, “The lack of fundamental technology-related skills—such as using a mouse and typing, using e-mail, locating information on the web, and using word processing and spreadsheet programs—is a clear indication of the need for policy attention to this issue” (Mossberger, et. al., 2003, p. 38). Technology skills, like the one mentioned in this quote, are unarguably fundamental and necessary in today’s world for almost any job, and educational policies should ensure that these skills are met as students pass through the Educational System; however, the policies put in place need to not only make sure students know how to use the current basic computer technology that students can access at the library, they need to make sure that students will be comfortable using the new and developing technology that will be fundamental in the work place in the future.
Block actually does touch briefly on preparing students for the changing and developing technology when she comments on the difficulty of funding certain programs to ensure technology education. She mentions The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and writes “[The Act] was supposed to redress the digital divide between the advantaged and disadvantaged schools and school systems. The Act required that every classroom be wired, but technology changes rapidly. Strong leadership is essential in the quest for digital equity” (Block, 2010, para. 6). If Block would have put more emphasis on developing this point she would have had a stronger final argument in the eyes of today’s reader. The fact that “technology changes rapidly” means that authorities need to continually look for ways to further narrow the digital divide. Simply because students have access to computers and the internet, the main focus of Block’s article, does not mean that the divide has been closed. Today we see more technology than ever and this new technology creates new gaps in the digital divide and we seem to be a long way away from narrowing the gap that keeps students technologically unequal.
Block, J. (2010). Distance education and the digital divide: an academic perspective. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, (13)1. Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring131/block131.html
Mossberger, K., Tolbert, C. & Stansbury, M. (2003). Virtual inequality: Beyond the digital divide. Washington, D. C.: Georgetown University Press.
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