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Bridging the Gap: Transforming the Digital Use Divide into a Landscape of Equitable Tech-Empowered Learning

Writer's picture: Janette CamachoJanette Camacho



The discussion of the Digital Use Divide underscores the existing disparities in educational technology use, emphasizing the need for active, creative, and critical engagement with technology in student learning. The 2017 National Educational Technology Plan draws attention to this divide, highlighting the contrast between students who experience technology as a tool for creation, exploration, and critical analysis and those who are limited to passive interactions. Students from historically marginalized backgrounds are particularly affected, often restricted to passive technological activities such as digital worksheets and point-and-click assessments, while their counterparts engage in dynamic and interactive learning experiences. Addressing this divide is crucial for equitable education. It ensures all students have access to transformative learning experiences supported by technology. This requires a comprehensive approach, including developing a learner/graduate profile, designing supportive systems, empowering students as co-designers of their learning, ensuring digital resources align with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, integrating digital literacy skills in curricula, fostering public-private partnerships, offering professional learning for educators, and setting guidelines for emerging technologies. The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC) in Indiana serves as an exemplar, leveraging UDL principles to create inclusive and accessible learning environments. UDL's flexible approach in BCSC's classrooms offers diverse learning options, ensuring that technology enhances learning for all students, aligning with their unique needs and preferences. The narrative also underscores the evolving nature of technology in education. While the rapid adoption of digital tools and resources, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, has expanded access, it has not necessarily translated into equitable or effective use. Many students, especially during remote learning, engage in passive forms of technology use, which do not foster the active, creative, and critical engagement necessary for deep learning. The text calls for a redefinition of the digital use divide, advocating for active technology use that empowers students as creators, collaborators, and critical thinkers. This shift necessitates a systemic approach involving stakeholders at various levels, from state policymakers to local educators, and emphasizes the importance of aligning technological integration with pedagogical goals and learner needs. Through a holistic and inclusive approach to educational technology, the goal is to bridge the digital use divide, ensuring that all students benefit from the rich, engaging, and empowering learning experiences that technology can facilitate.




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