Race and Digital Inequality

1. Race and Digital Inequality Part I: The Patterns

2. THE PATTERNS OF DIGITAL INEQUALITYAs recently as 2007, Paul C. Gorski published information revealing the subtle and appearingly innocuous ways that education in America works to not only mirror digital inequity, but to magnify it as well. IN TEACHER BEHAVIOR: • Every time a teacher defaults to a specific group to help trouble-shoot problems with audio-visual equipment, “the teacher sends a clear, if unintended, message that others are not supposed to have the knowledge or skills” to help solve such problems (Gorski). • Teachers working with predominantly students of color tend to use computers and IT (information technology) for word processing, skills and drills, and other lower-order thinking activities (Gorski). • Teachers working with predominantly Caucasian students tend to use the same technologies to encourage critical analysis, construction of ideas and concepts, and inquiry (Gorski). IN CURRICULA: • Compared with teachers in schools with less than 6% students of color, those in schools with 50% or more students of color, teachers are less likely to have training in the use of the Internet. This means that: • 82% of the teachers in predominantly white schools were trained in computer use and technology, as opposed to 70% of the teachers in predominantly students of color. (Gorski). AND • 76% of the teachers in predominantly white schools were given adequate technology assistance, as opposed to 65% of the teachers in predominantly students of color. (Gorski).

3. THE PATTERNS OF DIGITAL INEQUALITY IN PEDAGOGY: • “The pedagogical trends mirror exactly the larger discrepancies in students’ access to higher-order thinking instruction” (Gorski). • “The inequities of teachers’ access to the resources and support they need also mirrors larger race and class inequities in U.S. schools” (Gorski). < = > Even more alarming is the specific attempts of federal agencies to affect American pedagogy • In 1999, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) presented a list of hidden “sociopolitical barriers” to improving the technology of Native American communities. • Since 1998, federal policy began publishing reports related to gaps in technology access across the country, and the government agencies who reported this information had completely stopped collecting data on Native Americans . Gorski points out that according to Kade Twist (2002), the Bush Administration was effectively removing Indians from the public equations related to digital inequity, increasing their disadvantages in the rising economy. (Gorski)

4. THE PATTERNS OF DIGITAL INEQUALITY How does this and other alarming evidence show us how American socialization and American schools are influencing people of color? • Research from C. Saunders (2002) indicates that while African American and Latino people are much more likely to use computers and internet technologies for entertainment purposes, while white are much more likely to use computers and internet technologies to seek financial or health information (Gorski). • African American males fall far behind other groups in their Informational Technology use, with one notable exception: videogame playing. Regrettably, videogame playing is not really a positive force, since videogame playing is the only IT linked to poorer academic performance (Jackson). • According to a July 2010 Pew poll, 51% of Hispanics and 46% of blacks use their phones to access the internet, as opposed to 33% of whites (Washington). Unfortunately, cell phones today have limited access more to access email, music and entertainment, whereas home computers and laptops offer a wider variety of functions, such as writing a resume, filling out an application or building digital capital. (Washington) • Assistant communications professor at Simon Fraser University and co-author of Race After the Internet, says there is no doubt a racial divide still exists online, especially in terms of “broadband access and the ability of blacks and Latinos to make their voices widely heard” (Washington). • Perhaps most shocking is the appearance of socially motivated trends that instead of closing the digital gap work to widen the racial gap online. Danah Boyd documented a 2006-2007 form of “white flight’ among teenagers from MySpace to Facebook, further highlighting our differences rather than our similarities. Today, most Caucasian teens are networking on Facebook, compared to only 11% of blacks who use FaceBook. (Washington) • The fastest assimilating ethnic group on the internet is Latinos, although usage is still mainly for wocial networking and entertainment purposes. According to Facebook analyzers, Latinos have grown from 3% to 9% since 2006 (Washington).

5. Race and Digital Inequality Part II: The Solutions

6. Race and Digital Inequality Solutions A variety of approaches to solving digital inequality: • Teach students social responsibility regarding social networking as early in their lives as possible (eSchool). • Offer parent workshop nights in which students teach about technology (win-win for everyone). (eSchool) • Make hardware and training accessible to adults of color in order to enable them to use and support their own children’s use of technology ((eSchool, Palamosami). • Create or join community groups that work to overcome the costs of computer hardware and broadband service (Donoso). • Teach specific units such as Teaching Technology Integration (Edutopia). • Teach students how to use the computer for H.O.T.S. (higher-ordered thinking skills) in order to bridge the achievement gap as well (Hopson). • Teach parents and teachers technology, and teach them ways competantly access websites, webquests and other websites and tools (Schrock). KyeReen Paradise EDU 553 2011 < = >

8. DIGITAL INEQUALITYDEEPENSSOCIAL INEQUALITYKang & Pamukco 2009

9. Bibliography Becker, H. (2000). Who's Wired and Who's Not: Children's Access to and Use of Computer Technology. Future Of Children, 10(2), 44-75. DiMaggio, Paul & Hargitta, Eszter. From the 'Digital Divide' to 'Digital Inequality': Studying Internet Use as Penetration Increases. Working Paper Series 15, Summer 2001. Center for Arts and Cutltural Policy Studies, Princeton University, NJ. Donoso, Rachel F. (2011, January 13). Latino digital divide mirrors education inequity in California. Speed Matters website. Retrieved from http://www.speedmatters.org/blog/archive/new-digital-divide-among-minorities/. Edutopia Staff. Technology Integration Professional Development Guide. Edutopia. (2007, November 5). Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide . eSchool News Staff. Social media savvy: The new digital divide? eSchool News (2011, October 27). Retrieved from http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/10/27/social-media-savvy-the-new-digital-divide/ Gilbert, P. K., & Dabbagh, N. (2005). How to Structure Online Discussions for Meaningful Discourse: A Case Study. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 36(1), 5-18. Gorski, Paul C. Insisting on Digital Equity: Reframing the Dominant Discourse on Multicultural Education and Technology. Urban Education 2009; 44; 348 originally published online May 19, 2008. DOI: 10.1177/0042085908318712 Hoffman, D. L., & Novak, T. P. (1998). Bridging the Digital Divide: The Impact of Race on Computer Access and Internet Use.

10. Bibliography (cont.) Hopson, David H. Using a Technology-Enriched Environment to Improve Higher-Order Thinking Skills. Journal of Research on Technology in Education. Winter 2001-2002: Volume 34 Number 2. Retrieved from http://eec.edc.org/cwis_docs/Vivians/Hopson_et_al.pdf. Jackson, Linda A., Zhao, Yong, Kolenic III, Anthony, Fotzgerald, Hiram E., Harold, Rena, Von Eye, Alexander. Race, Gender, and Information Technology Use: The New Digital Divide. CyberPsychology & Behavior. 11(4), 2008. DOI: 10.11089/cpb.2007.0157. Kang, Samuel & Pamukco, Aysho (2009). Digital Inequality: Information Poverty in the Information Age. The Greenlining Institute, September 2009. Palenisami, Mahi, producer. Digital Divide. YouTube video. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl6k8bBCaoI. Schrock, K. (1995). Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators. Retrieved Nov. 23, 2011, from http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/. Warschauer, M., Knobel, M., & Stone, L. (2004). Technology and Equity in Schooling: Deconstructing the Digital Divide. Educational Policy, 18(4), 562-588. Washington, Jesse. (2011, January 10). For minorities, new 'digital divide' seen. USA Today, Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-01-10-minorities-online_N.htm .