The issue of digital inequality within higher education was brought into sharp focus by the pandemic. With university campuses across the country closed and learning shifting to an online environment, the digital divide that emerged was far greater than anyone had imagined. While in many cases it was a symptom of wider socioeconomic issues, the problem nevertheless pervaded all areas of the country, across all demographics. Ultimately, the lockdowns brought to light the urgency with which digital inequality needs to be addressed within education.
While over the short term, academic institutions have dealt with the matter quickly by loaning laptops to students and extending access to data and connectivity, this is no permanent fix. Historically, the campus has been the great leveler, but with hybrid learning here to stay, finding a longer-term solution is critical to ensure universities and colleges can continue to offer an inclusive education to everyone, whether they are attending lessons virtually or in person.
We recently hosted a virtual roundtable discussion on the issue of digital poverty, inviting IT and digital leaders in the education sector to talk frankly about their personal experiences and learnings over the past 20 months or so. Some notable themes and observations emerged.
Having a safe place to learn is a sometimes-forgotten part of digital equality.
While access to a device and data is critical, one roundtable attendee stressed the importance of also having a safe place to study. Virtual learning “exacerbated the digital poverty position, because where learners had access to data and a safe place to learn, they were able to participate; but where there were other issues, those individuals fell behind,” he shared, which has created “multiple levels of deprivation”.
On top of this, universities increasingly need to create safe spaces for students to study on-site, and in many cases, this means repurposing existing teaching rooms and spaces. One university, for example, has turned its library into a collaborative workspace where students can bring their laptops to learn and study virtually.
Laptop loans are not a long-term solution to digital inequality.
Many universities provided laptops to students (and sometimes, their children, too) during lockdown. One, for example, initially purchased 600 laptops, and beyond this required an additional government top-up as they had only reached a fifth of the student body. However, it was not plain sailing, and as the IT manager involved shares, “the logistics of handing out 1,000 laptops was a nightmare, and then how do you collect those back in? We got 900 back and wrote off the remainder.”
The roundtable participants agreed that laptop loans are a short-term fix, which are “masking” the problem temporarily. One attendee said, “We noticed lots of our laptops became available on eBay. How many of those laptops have been used for accessing university resources? Only 20 percent were being used for the intended purpose and in my mind that is a complete failure.” Trials with low-cost, low-power devices, such as Chromebooks, have also proved unsuccessful and “not palatable” by students.
The desire for digital competency among teaching staff is holding back progress.
In the world of academia, it is common for lecturers and professors to have held their tenure for 10 years or more, and it is often the case that technology bears no relation to their field of competence. “Our academics are incredibly intelligent, competent people in areas they choose to be competent in, but it is a different culture adopting measures for digital equality, and it’s whether they have that desire,” shared one IT leader. It has become clear that teaching staff must acquire the same basic digital skills that are required in industry.
Another individual admitted that in instances where digital technologies can be used by a student to “level up”, the “lack of competence among staff is getting in the way of that”.
Subjects that require specialist software present an additional challenge.
The roundtable experts shared that some subjects require very bespoke or specialist software, which prior to the pandemic would have been available on campus, but providing it virtually is proving expensive and sometimes problematic. One digital director shared that “a lot of our students are gaming students and need access to sophisticated software, so while the campus was closed, we gave access to a Windows Virtual Desktop, from which they were able to run the software. We also bought Adobe licenses for our students to use from home.”
Another head of IT sees specialist software creating further digital disparity. “It’s not a poverty matter for us; rather, it is getting services to students, equally, and getting them interacting, that is the problem. Issues we are facing include licensing and regulatory concerns, especially in the Far East, which makes borderless learning very difficult, when there are tangible borders in place.”
Hybrid learning is in danger of creating ‘proximity biases’.
While many institutions made the decision this academic year to encourage students back to campus, one individual talked of the potential for students studying virtually to feel excluded. “It is critical that students are given choice, and receive the same experience, irrespective of where they choose to study, and much of this comes down to training and culture,” he said.
Another university, which has invested heavily in virtual teaching platforms and streaming software, claimed, “It has still felt like we are excluding some people because they aren’t actively participating in sessions. You can’t check the knowledge and depth of those students who aren’t able to join live.”
Summary
The pandemic has exposed the state of digital poverty within this country, and it is a far greater issue that anyone had realised. While the focus of the roundtable discussion was higher education, the issue begins at primary school level — a fact that we simply cannot ignore. Furthermore, it is clear this is not just an IT issue but also rather one that sits across the whole of academia, most likely at a national level, permeating every corner of the country.
An urgent response is needed, and while IT and digital leaders in academia have responded quickly to meet a wide variety of different circumstances, a longer-term solution and strategy is needed. The digital poverty situation, combined with the ongoing pandemic, is at risk of creating an education catastrophe resulting in years of lost education. As an industry, we must do all that we can to help close this gap, permanently, so that we are prepared for whatever the future holds.
