Digital divide still commonplace in education

Southampton University has launched a report, commissioned by Qualcomm Technologies, analysing how digital exclusion is being fuelled in classrooms by a lack of access to devices and connectivity.

By surveying teachers, lecturers, students, IT support staff and educational sector regulators in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, the research measures the impact that a lack of devices and connectivity is having today – as well as the effect an ongoing shortage will have on the connected classroom and education in Europe.

Across the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, over one third (36%) of respondents described the effect of the digital divide as “high or very high”. An additional 39% described the impact of the digital divide as “medium” with only 25% describing it as “low” or “very low.”
 
According to the research, a significant number of respondents (80%) indicate that hybrid learning will remain an important element of instruction practices going forward. 
 
When examining the strength of internet connectivity in higher education and University settings, in terms of very poor and poor Wi-Fi quality, the findings demonstrate that students with access to high-speed internet connectivity at home often experience worse Wi-Fi quality while in class/on campus. At home, where many students have found themselves throughout long periods of the pandemic, a total of 15% of students reported having only poor (3.9%) or fair (11.1%) Wi-Fi. Poor or fair Wi-Fi is likely to cause issues for online education either in terms of availability or speed of connection – or both, which may prevent students from taking part in teaching sessions conducted over video calls. 

The quality of home and school Wi-Fi networks may be influenced by the pressure on school Wi-Fi due to the sheer volume of students all trying to connect to the same connection, compared to home Wi-Fi where the number of connected devices will be significantly less. In a school setting students may be further away from Wi-Fi access points (e.g., a router) than they would be at home. Perhaps in part for these reasons, students reported experiencing more connectivity issues in their classrooms, libraries and campuses compared to at home when accessing high-speed Internet using computing devices. 

According to our research, a digital divide is felt both at home and in classroom settings.  This is an important finding because it shows that initiatives to address the digital divide should not take education settings for granted and must focus on accelerating connectivity inside and outside of the classroom alike. This is particularly important for students who may not be able to learn from home.
 
Separate research from Statista shows that all the five countries included in this research, to some extent, have an Internet penetration gap. For instance, the UK has 92.17% Internet penetration, meaning there is still scope to address the Internet connectivity gap in the Global North where it might otherwise be assumed that access to connectivity is generally no longer a problem. 

The University of Southampton research highlights a technology knowledge gap contributing to the connectivity gap. The study asked respondents for their views on Always Connected Personal Computers (ACPCs), which combine the efficiency of a smartphone's processor in the body of a laptop computer. These devices feature inbuilt cellular connectivity via a SIM card and do not need Wi-Fi connection or external broadband devices for internet connectivity, making them suitable for remote working and learning.
 
Growing the presence of these devices in education settings is required based on the findings of the research. ACPCs are one solution to closing some of the challenges experienced. ACPCs rely less on Wi-Fi due to their cellular capabilities. The use of mobile data also brings additional data security features that traditional devices lack. Couple this with incredible battery life, ACPCs set the standard for device usage in and outside of the classroom. When the basics of ACPCs were explained, 52% of respondents said they were willing to adopt them. But only 31% of respondents were actually aware of ACPCs. Closing this 21% gap will be crucial to closing the connectivity gap in Education. This point is only reinforced by the fact that 87% of respondents expect ACPCs to become important in delivering hybrid learning and 69% believe ACPCs will aid learning at home and at school.