Digital Equity 2.0

A commenter in a post related to the digital divide was mocking about the concept and application for this paradigm in the Latin American reality. And delivering the understanding you are pretty much familiar with the digital natives, we want to share with you a compelling article from Education Week and written by Andrew Trotter where among other things is pointing out:

Critics of the “digital divide” concept say the problem has largely disappeared as low-income and minority families have acquired computers in greater numbers, and as state and federal money, from such sources as the E-rate program, has been used to redress technology imbalances between rich and poor school districts.

Yes, that might be truth for developed countries but what about those poor ones where not even Internet connection is known or available. The digital divide exists not only in America but in third world countries.

A report that ISTE released at the summit declares:

an exact definition remains elusive, the term ‘digital divide’ generally refers to the disconnect that occurs between those with access to technology and those without, while recognizing the myriad factors that can have an impact on that inequity

We all love the game can be built from our language and then some of the participants in the K12OnlineO7 preferred to talk about digital equity to mention and explain the digital divide discussion. "When considering the role of technology in development of the 21st-century learner, digital equity is more than a comparable delivery of goods and services, but fair distribution based on students’ needs."

Why are the same children losing out, as we keep redefining the digital divide? has asked Sylvia Rousseau. And she added:

In today’s schools,low-income children of color too often are using educational software that has them engage in skill-and-fact drills rather than in creative, “constructivist” experiences more often available to white and middle-class children...

However, in the US. school districts are spending their educational technology budgets on "drill and kill" tools because of the overwhelming pressure to meet federal requirements for test performance under the No Child Left Behind law, another attendant has said.

So, while in the US we have minorities black, Hispanics, Asian, Hindi's, etc the digital equity will be a problem for year to work on, not only because the 100 or 170 dollars computer wasn't built for Americans. Here people (those who think the digital divide is death history) can buy Toshibas, Macs, Ipods, PSP's and still can live 'without' such a inequity!