Understanding the digital divide and empowered user experiences

I am a part-time M. Ed student in the Adult Education & Community Development program at OISE. I've also been working full-time at U of T in various student service roles during the past few years. I realize how much students' interaction with technology has increased when I think about how little I relied on web-based resources when I was an undergrad only a few years back. One of my roles while working at U of T was to manage content for an image database for the Dept. of Art. This web-based technology was used as a teaching and researching tool and it allowed students access to information that would be otherwise very limited and time-consuming to view, thus increasing access to learning. Initially, there were some doubts from faculty with respect to the effectiveness of such a resource as well as discussion that it would encourage students to skip class and cause an unlevel playing field with regard to the workload in other courses. This concern seemed to be ungrounded as student attendance did not decrease and faculty noticed an increased interest and involvement with the coursework. Clearly such teaching tools are beneficial to students but the stages of the digital divide as discussed in Selwyn’s article show us that access and use of internet resources does not always result in meaningful user interaction. My dialogue with students often illustrates the various stages of the digital divide as discussed in this reading. I have found that although students may be more accepting of and accustomed to using web-based research tools now than in the past, students may lack a sense of confidence in navigating the information and understanding how it is relevant to their academic and personal life.

The community programs EVC and REACH which aim to develop youth critical media literacy as discussed in the article by Kellner and Share, illustrate how meaning can empower people towards change and development within their community. Another example of media literacy is illustrated in http://www.bridgesweb.org/, an organization which uses digital technology and storytelling to empower youth throughout the world by providing a forum of self-expression and production. I think yet another element which may influence whether meaningful engagement of ICT occurs may lie within how information is presented and the assumptions made about the users’ existing knowledge and experiences. In my work with students it has proven worthwhile to better understand this often more subtle obstacle in accessing information online. I think it is important to become aware of the assumptions we make about student experiences if we are to work towards increasing accessibility to information and providing a foundation for meaningful experiences. U of T is a vast environment filled with information and resources within a huge range of student experiences. The information and resources which are available to students may at times be both overwhelming and puzzling. I believe this “information divide” can be another factor in determining why students need to first understand certain pieces of the puzzle and how these pieces are relevant to their lives before they can make sense of the online resources available to them. Missing some of these puzzle pieces can be enough to leave a student feeling confused and isolated. I think a negative aspect of this type of information overload speaks to the importance of better understanding what information is sought by students, and perhaps more importantly for what purpose they are seeking various resources. In other words, how do students expect and accept that the internet might interact with their lives, and potentially with their community?