Abstract
Information and communication technologies (ICT) have played a pivotal role in facilitating knowledge acquisition and enabling distance education. Yet, knowledge about digital divide in distance education remains limited. This study examines digital barriers that underserved students face in distance education and their coping behaviors during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Informed by distance education and digital divide literature, this study uses qualitative research method to analyze survey data collected from 206 college students in a four-year public university in the United States. Results revealed five major digital barriers and showed that the distribution of these digital barriers varied by student demographic background and socioeconomic status. Further analysis of respondents’ narratives revealed three coping behaviors, including improvising, building technical assets, and building social assets. Practical implications are provided to educators and policymakers to invest in ICT and implement equity-minded teaching practices to enhance digital inclusion.
Highlights
Information and communication technologies (ICT) have played a pivotal role in facilitating knowledge acquisition and sharing in organizations (Alavi & Leidner, 2001)
This study examines digital barriers that underserved students face in distance education and their coping behaviors during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)
Using data collected from 206 survey respondents at a four-year public university in the United States, this study revealed five major digital barriers and found that the distribution of these barriers varied by the ethnic background and economic status of the students
Summary
Information and communication technologies (ICT) have played a pivotal role in facilitating knowledge acquisition and sharing in organizations (Alavi & Leidner, 2001). Knowledge has been considered a pyramid on four building blocks including data, information, knowledge, and wisdom (Jennex & Bartczak, 2013). Advancements in ICT have motivated knowledge management (KM) scholars to revise this pyramid. Jennex (2017) added a new component – big data, IoT (Internet of Things), and business intelligence – which “reflects the way technology innovation is radically addressing societal and organizational needs for more data and more actionable intelligence” The advancements of Internet and ICT have enabled distance education, where teaching and learning take place online through network technologies.
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