“Comment: The first and second digital divides.” Sociology of Education, 74, 3 (July 2001), 252-259. By Paul Attewell.
In my research career, I’ve asked one question over and over, “How do people from different backgrounds and life circumstances use learning technologies differently?” The question emerged in part from Attewell’s 2001 article, which argued that educators and policy makers typically framed the digital divide around issues of access, but a second divide, the digital divide of usage, is just as important. Marginalized students tend to be offered opportunities to use emerging learning technologies for rote activities or drill and practice with less frequent and meaningful adult support. By contrast, affluent white students use new technologies for deeper learning and creative expression, with more adult support and mentorship. In other words, if you could snap your fingers and give everyone the exact same technology access, social and cultural exclusions would still lead to very different learning technology experiences for children from different backgrounds. This idea of the second digital divide isn’t rocket science, but the constant refrain from ed tech evangelists that new digital tools will “democratize education” dulls our awareness of these inequalities. The material challenges of the digital divide — who gets broadband and who doesn’t — are very real, but there are no simple technological solutions to educational problems.
Justin Reich’s recent article in Kappan:
- Ed tech’s failure during the pandemic, and what comes after
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Justin Reich
Justin Reich is the director of the MIT Teaching Systems Lab and the author of Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education (Harvard University Press, 2020).
