Digital Divide: an eLearning inverse accessibility law

Self-efficacy and the digital divide combine as a definitive barrier to learner engagement. Accessibility is more than the ability to get on a computer.  The anytime, anywhere mantra for online distance education implies shortcuts and skills that don’t take into account under-represented learners, those who arrive with low self-efficacy and low technological fluency.  Learners who are already marginalized by their literacy level and socio-economic status are at risk.  Rhetoric and systems that are not accountable to the realities of learners are then charged with “increasing access for those who are already being served rather than broadening it to underserved groups” (Gunger & Prins, 2011, p 7).  This creates the digital divide.

We can look to a report, E-Mental Health in Canada: Transforming the Mental Health System Using Technology,  produced by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, which examines strategic directions and eMental health possibilities. It raises limitations, however, one being the digital divide. As quoted in the report:  "The 2012 Canadian Internet Use Survey sponsored by Industry Canada found that 83% of Canadian households had Internet access at home. This demonstrates that approximately one in six did not have an Internet connection at home."  In addition, "Only 58% of households in the lowest income quartile had home Internet access compared to 98% in the top income quartile."  This reality "suggests a digital divide" with "the potential to reinforce health inequalities, as those who most need health care are those least likely to have access to services on the Internet – an e-Health inverse care law."

When it comes to education, considering that there are “more socially disadvantaged than advantaged sections of society…where, students who are teetering at the poverty level can seldom afford to buy and maintain computers and Internet service” (Moore, 2012, p. 214), it becomes then, an e-Learning inverse accessibility law.  As such, the concept of accessibility needs to be re-examined. 

Gungor, Ramazan & Prins, Esther. (2011). Distance Learning in Adult Basic Education: a review   of the literature. Institute for the study of Adult Literacy, The Pennsylvania State University.

Moore, Michael Grahame. (2012). A Rare Case of Research in Distance Education in Adult            Basic Education, American Journal of Distance Education, 26:4, 213-216, DOI:    10.1080/08923647.2012.732788