‘Bandwidth Divide’ Could Bar Some People From Online Learning
By Jeffrey R. Young, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 4, 2013.
As education moves increasingly online, many schools are encountering practical barriers to student learning–a so-called “Bandwidth Divide”. This article gives as an example the affluent Fairfax County Public Schools, where students were unable to access their e-textbooks or complete their homework, due to a lack of broadband internet access at home. This barrier ended up costing the school system $2-million in printed textbooks to supply resources for students unable to access the electronic version originally intended for them.
Some startling figures from the article:
- Only about 66 percent of American adults have broadband access at home.
- And only one-fifth of elementary- and secondary-school teachers in the United States said that all or most of their students have access to the digital tools they need at home.
It also poses a provocative point: As more colleges rush to offer free online courses in the name of providing educational access to all, it’s worth asking who might be left out for lack of high-speed Internet access to watch video lectures.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue–and your ideas about how Langara Library (and the entire Langara community) can help prevent the spread of the digital divide among our learners. Feel free to share your reflections in the comments.
–Annie
