What Digital Divide?

A New Thought

Introduction

Hello - this is still "Sundry Thoughts with Sarah", but I wanted to take a minute to re-introduce myself and let you know about a new "thought" that will be blogging about in the upcoming weeks.

I'm Sarah, former professional dancer, certified Pilates instructor, and now, as of December 2024, Elementary Education certified teacher (in Oklahoma)! I will complete the requirements for my offical Special Education teacher certification this coming spring. My expereince in education started with substitute teaching at my local public school, which led to my participation in the UTeach SPED program with Epic Charter Schools. I been actively teaching for Epic, a public, virutal charter school, while at the same time earning my Teacher credentials.

The New/Old Divide

The next few weeks I will be posting my thoughts on the current "digital divide" that still exists, despite being employed in a school where we are much more tech savvy and experienced than perhaps other public schools of similar demographic. 

To define it more clearly, here is some data about my school:

"It is an accredited school system that serves students in all Oklahoma counties. The school is authorized by the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to serve students statewide." (https://www.epiccharterschools.org/)

We educate students from PK-12th, and this year began serving adult students ages 21-25 who are purusing their High School degree as well. Per our website, "Students are empowered to work at their own pace in their environment of choice, select courses based on personal interests and career goals, and tailor class schedules to fit their unique lifestyles." (https://www.epiccharterschools.org/about)

We are a Title 1 school. We can serve all students, including those on Indiviual Education Plans, English Language Learners, and special ed students participating in the Oklahoma Alternative Assessment Program. As of last school year, Epic served 13,702 students in PK-8th, and the 13,302 in Grades 9-12. Roughly just over half are white/caucasian, followed by "2 or more races", Hispanics, then African Americans.

But still a Divide

In Nicole Turner Lee's Photo essay Closing the digital and economic divides in rural America, she comes away with the point that faster, more reliable and more affordable broadband internet is needed in the lower-income & less popoulous areas of America. I agree, as this rings true for many of the students at the school I work for. 

First of all, the school is a virtual public charter school. Every student is issued a chromebook. If needed, they are supplied with a Mifi Hotspot, for portable internet access to enable them to complete their school. Although this general is a solution to give those that can't afford it the access they need, the challenge comes to those that live in rural areas. The hotspots just do not work the same in the country as they do in the city. They are glitchy, slow, and often drop the students out of their zoom meetings. Students complain about not being able to complete work due to the issues with the Mifi where they live.

In this way, those that are lowest income and/or most rural are STILL at the most disadvanatged, despite being enrolled at public school that has been doing school virtually and online for more than a decade.

In the research paper Mapping the Digital Divide: Before, During, and After COVID-19, the authors come to the conclustion that, "Ultimately, bridging this divide will require gathering more holistic data about not only network performance, but also better information about application performance, user quality of experience, and better data about uptake and adoption" (P. 10). I agree with this conclustion, and hope that with more research we can narrow solutions down and actually create viable ones to bring to the more rural areas!

Digital Common Sense?

Another type of digital divide that interests me is the one of "common sense". There seems to be great lack of knowledge with student today on how to troubleshoot their own PCs and programs, and take care of their own equipment. I will be taking a look for more research on this more defined are of "digital divide".

References

• Bronzino, F., Feamster, N., Liu, S., Saxon, J., & Schmitt, P. (2021, February). Mapping the digital divide: before, during, and after covid-19. In TPRC48: The 48th Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy. mapping the digital divide.pdf
  
  
• Lee, N. T. (2019). Closing the digital and economic divides in rural America Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/closing-the-digital-and-economic-divides-in-rural-america/
• https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&InstName=Epic+charter+schools&SchoolType=1&SchoolType=2&SchoolType=3&SchoolType=4&SpecificSchlTypes=all&IncGrade=-1&LoGrade=-1&HiGrade=-1&ID=400077702789