The influence of the digital divide on emergency remote student-centred learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study of journalism education

Abstract

This paper explores the emergency remote learning experiences of journalism students. It discusses how disparities in access to digital tools and participation in online learning, caused by the digital divide, influenced how some benefitted from the student-centred learning approaches adopted while others could not. The study seeks to answer this question: To what extent did the digital divide influence the experiences of journalism students with emergency remote student-centred learning adopted due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic? The study uses Van Dijk’s theory of the usage gap to argue that the unequal access to digital technologies experienced by some students brought about unequal participation in learning. This is despite the use of more student-centred approaches, which, according to existing literature, are supposed to foster greater engagement and participation. The data consisted of 113 vlogs created by second and third-year students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa, between June 1, 2020, and June 30, 2020.