 | Tangentium |
January '04: Menu
All material on this site remains © the original authors: please see our submission guidelines for more information. If no author is shown material is © Drew Whitworth. For any reproduction beyond fair dealing, permission must be sought: e-mail drew@comp.leeds.ac.uk. ISSN number: 1746-4757 |
Feature Essay: The Digital Learning Divide - responding to the access needs of citizensGerry McAleavy, Tony Donegan and Celia O'HaganPage 1 ¦ Page 2 ¦ Page 3 ¦ Page 4 ¦ Printer-friendly version In interviews, it was notable that most respondents raised the issue of IT when asked what would improve their lives and the lives of their children. They drew attention to the increasing need for computers and access to the internet for their children to obtain information for school work. Recent debates in relation to the amount of course work in GCSEs have focused on the concern that middle class pupils may benefit from having greater access to IT than pupils from disadvantaged areas. Education has become a more complex activity and, nowadays, pupils often require access to the internet for the project work which is a common feature of many subjects. In addition, the pupils cited above could possibly have benefited from access to information on progression if their homes had internet access. Typical comments were as follows: “Having a computer isn’t a problem at the minute because they are too young, but when they get older that will be a problem” “I am doing a course and my brother gave me a computer but I have no printer” “Computers and breaks” [Things you are missing out on] “I couldn’t afford a computer” “We do have a computer but can’t access the internet as it is too expensive” “ [Child] would love to have a computer and the internet - but it is impossible for me to do that. Sometimes I could cry, I feel that I am not as good a provider as say some of my neighbours ” “If the kids want to use the internet or computer they would have to go to a friend’s house or the library. We would love to have it but can’t afford it” The increasing use of computers and the internet for study appears to be pointing towards a situation where students will find it necessary to have access to IT, even at the primary level of education, given the curricular trend for children to research topics. One might argue, as one respondent in the SVP project indicated, that such access it is possible if you are a member of a public library. The problem faced by many parents is that it may be difficult to access the library owing to transport difficulties and this may be compounded greatly in rural areas where distances are likely to be large. Again this emphasises the need to consider issues concerning reach in terms of both physical and virtual access, since community allocation of access points (to the internet or indeed to any other service) will only be effective if the potential users can get to the contact point. Internet and computer access continue to be viewed as essential [21]; however the development of educational opportunities is an essential pre-requisite for supporting accessibility and productivity through community based intervention. ConclusionDivision in society is a complex concept and. inevitably further work is needed in order to illuminate the persistent problems regarding access to IT and social connectivity. All these complex issues contribute to the existing and continuing marginalisation of communities. It is possible they may be addressed by advanced technologies and the opportunities they bring to societies. The recommendation from this St. Vincent de Paul research was that the key issue that needs to be addressed when onsidering the provision of learning opportunities among excluded groups, possibly on a collaborative basis, was for internet access. This access could be supplied in housing estates where access is feasible, or through homework clubs in schools or other convenient premises. Equally, in facilitating social learning needs and the development of sustainable communities, voluntary bodies are considering whether it may be necessary to provide computers to disadvantaged homes and to consider them as essential items in the same way as a washing machine or television is now considered to be necessary. Researchers have pointed to [22] the "distributed cognition" which results from collaborative learning within a shared context. Another way of thinking about this might be the idea of community knowledge; knowledge developed and shared by a community, rather than imposed on it or "delivered" to it. It is therefore also important to examine how existing learning partnerships in disadvantaged areas can be supported or enhanced by the use of IT. For example, St. Vincent de Paul runs "breakfast clubs" for children in schools in West Belfast. Society volunteers have found that the club offers not only the opportunity for improved nutrition but the chance for school children to interact positively with adults. Relations are formed which may advantage poorer children, bearing in mind the transgenerational isolation felt among such families. In addition, older youths who have left school and have no perceived future prospects either as a result of low levels of achievement or inherited attitudinal affiliations with employment and progress often attend and use the opportunity to discuss their problems with the volunteers. By building on these partnerships that already exist, there are possibilities for introducing IT as a further facility for enabling young people to continue their learning in a non-threatening and supportive setting. Education must be central to the continued development of such connective partnerships as a means of building both confidence and competence among those most in need. Return to the top of this page Footnotes21. Gartner Group, op. cit. return 22. Nulden, U (2001) "eEducation: Research and Practice", Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 17, pp. 363-375 | |