The Digital Divide in Classroom Technology Use: A Comparison of Three Schools
https://doi.org/10.4471/rise.2014.04
Keywords:
Downloads
Abstract
While concerns about the “digital divide,” or access to technology, remain relevant for many schools, we do not yet fully know how often-expensive education technologies are employed across school contexts. In particular, few studies exist that evaluate how teacher beliefs about student social class and race-ethnicity, as well as institutional perceptions of the value of new technologies, inform everyday teacher practices with such technologies. Classroom observation and interviews were conducted with 5 teachers across three elementary schools that vary by race and class. Results indicated that teachers at middle/upper class schools encouraged dynamic uses of interactive whiteboards, while in the low-income school they functioned like traditional blackboards. Findings suggest that teacher beliefs and institutional perceptions inform how technologies are used in the classroom. In particular, beliefs about the meaning of student race and social class, as well as institutional goals for implementing new technologies, inform the extent to which students are granted agency to learn with new technologies.
Downloads
References
Antonio, A., Horvat, E. (2002). Developing the Hadley Taste for College: Organizational Habitus and Aspirations for Elite College Attendance. Conference paper. Association for the Study of Higher Education.
Google Scholar CrossrefBourdieu, P. (1977). The economics of linguistic exchanges. Social science information, 16(6), 645. doi: 10.1177/053901847701600601
Google Scholar CrossrefBourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefBourdieu, P., Wacquant, L. (1992). An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefCalarco, J. (2011). ’I Need Help!’ Social Class and Children’s Help-Seeking in Elementary School. American Sociological Review, 76(6), 862-882. doi: 10.1177/0003122411427177
Google Scholar CrossrefRISE – International Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(1) 97
Google Scholar CrossrefCouldry, N. (2003). Media Meta-capital: Extending the Range of Bourdieu’s Field Theory. Theory and Society, 32(5-6), 653-677. doi: 10.1023/B:RYSO.0000004915.37826.5d
Google Scholar CrossrefDiamond, J., Randolph, A., Spillane, J. (2004). Teachers’ Expectations and Sense of Responsibility for Student Learning: The Importance of Race, Class, and Organizational Habitus. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 35(1), 75-98. doi: 10.1525/aeq.2004.35.1.75
Google Scholar CrossrefDiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E. (2004). From unequal access to differentiated use: A literature review and agenda for research on digital inequality. Pp. 355-400 in Social inequality, edited by K. Neckerman. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Google Scholar CrossrefDouglas, J. D. (1976). Investigative social research: Individual and team field research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Google Scholar CrossrefEmirbayer, M.,Johnson, V. (2008). Bourdieu and organizational analysis. Theory and Society, 37(1), 1-44. doi: 10.1007/s11186-007-9052-y
Google Scholar CrossrefFinnigan, K. S. (2007). Do accountability policy sanctions influence teacher motivation? Lessons from Chicago’s low-performing schools. American Educational Research Journal, 44(3), 594-630. doi: 10.3102/0002831207306767
Google Scholar CrossrefGamoran, A., Weinstein, M. (1998). Differentiation and opportunity in restructured schools. American Journal of Education, 106(3), 385. doi:10.1086/444189
Google Scholar CrossrefHargittai, E. (2010). Digital Na(t)ives? Variation in Internet Skills and Uses among Members of the Net Generation. Sociological Inquiry, 80(1), 92-113. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-682X.2009.00317.x
Google Scholar CrossrefHargittai, E. (2004). Internet Access and Use in Context. New Media & Society, 6(1), 137-143. doi: 10.1177/1461444804042310
Google Scholar CrossrefHargittai, E. (2003). Serving Citizens’ Needs: Minimizing Hurdles to Accessing Government Information Online. IT & Society, 1(3), 27-41. Hargittai, E. (2000). Open Portals and Closed Gates? Channeling Content on
Google Scholar Crossrefthe World Wide Web. Poetics, 27(4), 233-254. doi: 10.1016/S0304-
Google Scholar CrossrefX(00)00006-1
Google Scholar CrossrefHeath, S. (1983). Ways with words. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefRafalow – Technology and Schools
Google Scholar CrossrefHeubert, J. P., Hauser, R. M. 1998. High-stakes testing for tracking, promotion, and graduation. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefHoffman, J. (2011). States Struggle With Minors’ Sexting. New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2012 (http://nytimes.com).
Google Scholar CrossrefHorvat, E. Antonio, A. (1999). ‘Hey Those Shoes Are Out of Uniform’: African American Girls in an Elite High School and the Importance of Habitus. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 30(3), 317-342.
Google Scholar Crossrefdoi: 10.1525/aeq.1999.30.3.317
Google Scholar CrossrefJohnson, D., Johnson, B. (2002). High stakes: children, testing, and failure in American schools. New York, NY: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Google Scholar CrossrefKeigher, A., Cross, F. (2010). Teacher attrition and mobility: Results from the 2008-09 Teacher Follow-up Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statististics.
Google Scholar CrossrefKelley, C. (2002). Teacher motivation and school-based performance awards. Education Administration Quarterly, 38(3), 372-401. doi: 10.1177/0013161X02383004
Google Scholar CrossrefLamont, M., Lareau, A. (1988). Cultural Capital: Allusions, Gaps and Glissandos in Recent Theoretical Developments. Sociological Theory, 6(2), 153-168. doi: 10.2307/202113
Google Scholar CrossrefLareau, A. (2000). Home advantage: Social class and parental intervention in elementary education. New York, NY: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Google Scholar CrossrefLareau, A. (2003). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefLareau, A., Weininger, E. (2003). Cultural Capital in Educational Research: A Critical Assessment. Theory and Society, 32(5/6), 567-606. doi: 10.1023/B:RYSO.0000004951.04408.b0
Google Scholar CrossrefMcDonough, P. M. (1997). Choosing colleges: How social class and schools structure opportunity. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefMiners, Z. (2009). One Third of Teens Use Cellphones to Cheat in School.U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved November 25, 2012. (http://usnews.com).
Google Scholar CrossrefRISE – International Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(1) 99
Google Scholar CrossrefMouza, C. (2009). Does Research-Based Professional Development Make a Difference? A Longitudinal Investigation of Teacher Learning in Technology Integration. Teachers College Record, 111(5), 1195- 1241.
Google Scholar CrossrefNTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration). (1995). Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the ‘Have Nots’ in Rural and Urban Americans. Washington, DC: US Dep. Commerce.
Google Scholar CrossrefNTIA. (1998). Falling Through the Net II: New Data on the Digital Divide. Washington, DC: US Dep. Commerce.
Google Scholar CrossrefNTIA. (1999). Falling Through the Net III: Defining the Digital Divide. Washington, DC: US Dep. Commerce.
Google Scholar CrossrefNTIA. (2000). Falling Through the Net: Toward Digital Inclusion. Washington, DC: US Dep. Commerce.
Google Scholar CrossrefNichols, S., Berliner, D. (2007). Collateral damage: How high-stakes testing corrupts America’s schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefOrfield, G., Kornhaber, M. (2001). Raising standards or raising barriers?: Inequality and high-stakes testing in public education. New York, NY: Century Foundation Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefOrtutay, B. (2011). Survey: teens love cell phones; schools, not quite. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved November 25, 2012. (http://pewinternet.org).
Google Scholar CrossrefRice, J. K. (2003). The human costs of education reform: The case of school reconstitution. Educational Administration Quarterly 39(5), 635-666. doi: 10.1177/0013161X03257298
Google Scholar CrossrefSwartz, M. J., V. W. Turner, and A. Tuden. (1966). Political Anthropology. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.
Google Scholar CrossrefSnow, D. A., Anderson, L. (1993). Down on their luck: A study of homeless street people. University of California Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefSnow, D., Benford, R. D., Anderson, L. (1986). Fieldwork Roles and Informational Yield: A Comparison of Alternative Settings and Roles. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 14(4), 377-408. doi: 10.1177/0098303986014004002
Google Scholar CrossrefWarschaeur, M. (2000). Technology and school reform: A view from both sides of the track. Educational Policy Analysis Archives 8(4).
Google Scholar CrossrefRafalow – Technology and Schools
Google Scholar CrossrefWarschaeur, M. (2003). Dissecting the ‘digital divide’: A case study in Egypt. The Information Society, 19(4), 297-304. doi: 10.1080/01972240390227877
Google Scholar CrossrefWarschauer, M. (2004). Technology and social inclusion: Rethinking the digital divide. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefWarschaeur, M. (2007). Information literacy in the laptop classroom. Teachers College Record 109(11), 2511-2540.
Google Scholar CrossrefZillien, N., Hargittai, E. (2009). Digital Distinction: Status-Specific Types of Internet Usage. Social Science Quarterly, 90(2), 274-291. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00617.x
Google Scholar CrossrefDownloads
Published
Almetric
Dimensions
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
All articles are published under Creative Commons copyright (CC BY). Authors hold the copyright and retain publishing rights without restrictions, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles as the original source is cited.