The Augmented Rural Reality: how rural high school students� decisions to pursue university study in digital media are �augmented� by the role of life history and cultural capital.

Abstract

Rural students are underrepresented in higher education in Australia. At the same time, the workforce is rapidly transforming with the integration of digital processes into everyday work and life. Rural students are less digitally competent than urban students. Queensland, a largely regionalised state, has a high percentage of rural students. Using cultural capital as a framework, this research identifies family, community, school and digital media as influences on rural Queensland students' decisions to pursue higher education and their perceived value of digital media. Family plays the most significant role in the decision making process, while students' community and school also influence decisions and perceptions. Students' value of digital media depended somewhat on their intended career choice. Findings provide valuable new data around student influences towards higher education and digital media and suggest avenues to improve outreach programs targeting students in rural areas.