Ask a Researcher question in response to my Berkman Luncheon talk: Will Free Benefit the Rich?
Just watched the video, I found it very useful. I am writing a paper concerning the urban/rural divide in education in Thailand and what you are saying about the 'haves and have nots' is very relevant to what I am doing. Do you have any advice as far as what you are doing and how it can be transfered to other countries and the urban/rural digital and educational divide?
That's a broad question, and I can answer it in a few ways.
In terms of research methods, I hope that my contribution is to suggest that we can leverage the data produced by online learning environments to examine how technologies are used in different settings. To that end, I think its worth considering this question: what kinds of data sources are available that would allow you to characterize differences in technology usage (not just differences in access) between urban and rural communities in Thailand? Are there technology tools, with accessible data warehouses, that are used across the country that could help you answer this question? If so, then round up some grad students and get started! I have lots of materials at edtechresearcher.org that exhaustively detail the methods of my work.
In terms of policy, one always needs to be careful transferring research findings across borders. There is strong evidence in the U.S. context that in the absence of PD initiatives, teachers adopt new technologies to gain efficiencies in existing tasks rather than to develop innovative practices. Moreover, in the absence of design and delivery that focuses on disadvantaged learners, the innovation that does occur disproportionately benefits the affluent. My research builds to the digital divide literature that supports these assertions.
Is this true in Thailand? I don't know anything about the educational context there. If you think things are dissimilar, then more research is needed or you need to find research from a similar context. If you think the situation is similar, then some of my policy musings may be useful. I haven't solidified my thoughts on this topic, but here's where I'm at right now:
In general, I think that when free tools and resources are added to the ecology of schools without specifically being designed to support disadvantaged learners, then they disproportionately benefit the affluent. This may be desirable in some policy contexts-- in the sense that elite support for policy initiatives is often critical. It may be undesirable in some policy contexts--since strong evidence exists that a focus on equity is a central tenet of producing excellence in effective school systems. If you think that reducing digital divides is desirable, then the question becomes: how do we incentivize edtech designers and others in the ecology of schooling to design and deliver edtech innovations in ways that support learners from poor families? How do we not only work for equitable access, but for equitable patterns of usage? I've mentioned TechGoesHome and the Leadership Public Schools as examples of places that do this well in the U.S. I've also recently heard about Desmos, which is a great example of a tool which will benefit lots of learners, but may disproportionately benefit low-income students by replacing a technology that is easily accessible to the wealthy but not to the poor (the graphing calculator). https://www.abettercalculator.com/
So those are a few thoughts. I hope they are helpful!