Defining The Digital Divide in my Community

EDUC 5353 - Week 1

For our Week 1 blog post in EDUC 5353, we are asked to introduce ourselves, make connections between readings, resources, and our community, and define the community we will focus our studies on for this course - Learning Technologies to Bridge the Digital Divide.

Introduction/About Me

My name is Haylee Carroll. I am currently an educator in Carrollton, TX, a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, and have been an educator for thirteen years. I've taught math, science, PE, health, and a variety of electives. I'm currently pursuing my a Master's in Education: Curriculum & Instruction - Educational Technology. This is my 2nd course in a series of ten.

The Digital Divide

The readings we were provided all focus on access (at home and/or at school) and use of technology (purpose and skill level) and the differences afforded to people based on location (urban or rural), age, gender, race/ethnicity, level of education (of parents for minors), and income. Van Dijk (2017) discusses how the digital divide was mainly an issue of physical access to a computer, software, and internet in the early years of digital divide research (1999-2002), and then transitioned more to an issue of how technology is used during daily life from 2005-2015. He uses the term "deepening divide" to describe this second level of the digital divide. Since most digital skill acquisition happens as a result of need and use of technology, if a user doesn't have access to current/relevant technologies they won't become skilled in its use. Van Dijk also found that those with higher education levels tended to use technologies more for work, career, and studying, while those with lower education levels tended to use technologies for entertainment, shopping, and messaging. 

KewalRamani, et al. (2018) reveal that physical access is increasing, with mobile device access is climbing faster than high-speed/broadband internet access. While lower-income families are making gains in having internet access, there was still a 33% gap in 2015 between those in the lowest income range and those in the highest income range, closing from a 51% gap in 2010. While Black and Hispanic families show the lowest access, it seems to be income that is the driving force to allowing access.

Turner-Lee (2018) focused on family location for her research, finding that those in more rural areas and with lower income have lower access. Again though, I feel that it connects back to income as the defining variable since people living more remotely tend to have lower incomes overall.  

I feel that if appropriate devices and high-speed internet access can be made more accessible, we will see an increase in technology use for educational purposes. Many people with mobile access only focus on using apps on their mobile devices - those tend to be for entertainment. Users with high-speed access tend to have access to a non-mobile device, desktop, laptop, or Chromebook and are more able to easily access educational information. Chromebooks provide an inexpensive platform to access high-speed internet. If we can make high-speed internet less expensive/more accessible, we can potentially help those in the lowest income levels close the gap in the "deepening divide" Van Dijk (2017) described.

My focus area for this course will include the campus/district where I currently teach 7th grade science - DeWitt Perry Middle School in Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District (C-FB ISD). We are located in a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex: Carrollton, TX. C-FB ISD spans parts of Dallas, Denton, and Collin counties. The Texas Education Agency report card provides the demographic and performance information that follows (2017–18 School Report Card 2018).

Student Population - 1,030

        Campus / District / State

• 96.4% / 95.5% / 95.7% Attendance Rate (2016-17)
• 79.7% / 56.0% / 52.4% Hispanic
• 8.2% / 11.5% / 4.4% Asian
• 6.6% / 12.9% / 27.8% White
• 3.2% / 16.4% / 12.6% African American
• 2.1% / 2.8% / 2.3% Two or More Races
• 0.2% / 0.3% / 0.4% American Indian
• 0.0% / 0.1% / 0.1% Pacific Islander
• 78.3% / 64.1% / 58.8% Economically Disadvantaged
• 45.7% / 29.3% / 18.8% English Learners
• 10.5% / 11.1% / 9.1% Special Education
• 7.0% / 15.8% / 16% Mobility

2018 Performance Rating

• Overall: Met Standard
• Student Achievement: Met Standard
• School Progress: Met Standard
• Closing the Gaps: Met Standard
• Distinctions Received in 7 of 7 categories: Academic Achievement in English Language Arts (ELA)/Reading, Academic Achievement in Mathematics, Academic Achievement in Science, Academic Achievement in Social Studies, Comparative Academic Growth, Comparative Closing the Gaps, and Postsecondary Readiness

Our campus is predominantly Hispanic and Economically Disadvantaged, and has over twice the percentage of English Learners as the state of Texas and over 50% more than C-FB ISD overall.

Community Profile 

The City of Carrollton claims a diverse local economy (City of Carrollton, TX) and boasts recognition in 19 different "Best of" and "Top of" type lists supported by local businesses, associations, and societies. While Carrollton holds several accolades that make it attractive to prospective residents, there is certainly a need felt by the large quantity of lowest socioeconomic status (SES) members - note 78.3% of Perry students mentioned above. 

Focus of Study

I plan to focus my Digital Divide study on the students served by the DeWitt Perry Middle School (DPMS) campus. In a previous course, EDUC 5373 - Innovative Leadership for the Digital Age Learning Environment, I focused my Technology Integration Plan on incorporating access to students of DPMS. I would like to continue my focus on the students I interact with every week and that we serve on my campus so I can help improve their quality of access. 

Citations