INTERNATIONAL IT UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGES
LAN6002PA, LAN6002DA, LAN6003PA
English for STEM/ Profession-Oriented Foreign Language
PRE-INTERMEDIATE
AUTUMN 2022
SUMMARY WRITING #1

Digital Divide in Education

The digital divide in education is the gap between those with sufficient
knowledge of and access to technology and those without, according to the ACT
Center for Equity in Learning. To examine the divide requires looking at who can
connect to what and how they do so. For example, a student who has multiple
laptops in their home and has access to high-speed broadband likely will have
better educational success than someone who has one computer to share with their
entire family and only has dial-up internet access.
The impacts of the digital divide in education have been significant. The
digital divide has affected individual students in the same school as well as groups
of students across districts, lowering the academic outcomes of low-income,
underserved students and districts. Four major outcomes can result from less
access to digital technology, according to the Digital Divide Council:
 Low performance: Low-income families have less access to information that
will advance their education.
 Competitive edge: Students with access to the internet will do better when
they enter college due to universities embracing technology at an increasing
rate.
 Convenience in learning: Privileged students have access to better devices
and face less hurdles to complete their education.
 Different learning experiences: Students from low socioeconomic areas face
more disadvantages and have to spend more hours to complete learning
objectives.
 Furthermore, the digital divide has been growing for years, and the global
pandemic has accelerated its growth. Moving to remote learning in the spring of
2020, students in low-income areas experienced a disadvantage over other
students. Additionally, the factor of childcare has been added to the digital divide
in education. Parents in low-income areas who are more likely to work multiple
jobs have struggled to find the time to help their children with their schoolwork,
whereas high-income parents have the flexibility to take time off of work and the
resources to hire tutors to aid their student’s education. As students have gone back
to school in the fall—some fully remote, some fully in person, and others in a
hybrid model—reaching equality in online learning has been the primary goal.
To further help, the Education Trust recommends educational leaders and
policy makers do the following:
 Survey the needs of families most impacted by the digital divide.
 Create conversations with leaders about how to fund additional resources.
 Connect with potential donors and technology companies about digital
resource partnerships.
 Look at the school and evaluate the present digital divide, then allocate
resources to bridge the gap.
 Provide training and information technology support to educators and
parents in the most impacted districts.
 Create a plan with education agencies on how to bridge the gap long term.
December 15, 2020
https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/digital-divide-in-education