Mapping the Factors that Impact Technological Fluency for Black Youth in Low Income Communities

Abstract

Black youth in low income, underserved communities are no strangers to technology--by way of cellphones, digital media, and the presence of computers in schools. Scholars have found that these youth possess basic technological familiarity, yet they lack the technological fluency that would enable them to leverage technology in creating solutions to issues within the Black community [1]. Therefore, grooming these students as the next generation of creators in an increasingly technological world—which highly depends on the ability to map technologies to personally motivating technological solutions--is highly challenging. Limited accessibility to high cost educational tools is a confounding issue that further exacerbates this technological fluency divide for Black and minority youth attending public institutions in low income communities. Our initial research on this topic expands upon previous research to examine the features of technological fluency building activities that commonly emerge in low income, minority serving schools in comparison to those that appear in high income schools. The goal is to understand where technological fluency building activities fall short within the space, in order to address these gaps with a set of necessary tools. We will present our initial methodology design, review of related work in the field, and current findings and observations in our poster presentation.