feature
Bridging the Digital Divide with digital narrative
The Digital Divide references the distance between people with operational access to information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. Although many individuals have come to understand the Digital Divide, some still exhibit apathy toward those on the inadequate side of the divide. As a result, it is important that educators develop strategies to promote understanding and empathy toward those who have limited access and equity to technology. One way to do this is by exploring the effects of the Digital Divide on individual lives. This article chronicles the use of digital narrative as an instructional strategy for providing understanding of the Digital Divide issue and as a means of affecting attitudes toward this issue. Forty educational technology graduate students participated in a lesson on the Digital Divide using digital narrative and online storyboarding tools, with the hypothesis that students should have intellectual and emotional engagement with this issue. Results indicate that participants identified with those affected by the Digital Divide on personal, professional and academic levels. Emotional responses to the Digital Divide issue were common and focused on frustration/anger with the situation, as well as sadness and empathy toward those on the inadequate side of the divide. Most participants also exhibited engagement reactions ranging from becoming an active brainstormer to embracing the role of a change agent.
The Digital Divide refers to the distance between people with operational access to information technology and those with very limited or no access at all (Servon, 2002). Although many individuals have come to understand the Digital Divide, some still exhibit apathy toward the inadequate side of the divide. Many attempts to teach about the Digital Divide have yet to produce engagement and personal connection, which are important factors in producing greater action in Digital Divide causes. As a result, it is important that educators develop strategies to promote understanding by exploring the effects of the Digital Divide on those who have been adversely affected by it. The need to foster a more empathetic disposition for those who do suffer from a lack of access to technology was the impetus that guided this study of the effects of an instructional unit focusing on the Digital Divide. Narrative, which can be used to promote exploration and experimentation (Brockmeier & Harre, 2003) and to story the lives of students (Egan, 1985; Ferdig, 2004), was used as an instructional strategy in an online graduate class to facilitate understanding and promote empathy toward those who have been adversely affected by the Digital Divide. This article chronicles the use of narrative as an instructional strategy for providing understanding of the Digital Divide issue and as a means of affecting a more empathetic attitude toward this issue.
The Digital Divide "refers to a significant difference in the access to and equity of technology experience based on categories such as income, race, gender, location, or education" (Swain & Pearson, 2001, p. 11). An analysis of populations most likely to be adversely affected by the divide, and the lack of broadband access, reveals common racial, social-economic, and geographic characteristics. Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans are among the most affected populations in the United States. For example, 69% of African Americans and 66% of Hispanics said they had broadband at home in 2010 versus 80% of Caucasians (Horrigan, 2010). The Digital Divide is also social because of the division between urban and rural groups, as well as between low and high-income groups. Sixty-eight percent of those living in rural America now have broadband at home compared with 78% of urban residents (Horrigan, 2008). Also, only 63 percent of homes with less than $30,000 in annual income have broadband, while 79 percent of homes earning more than $30,000 per year are connected (Horrigan, 2010). Even more alarming is the global picture of the Digital Divide with only 10 countries reporting broadband access at 80%, while countries in Africa have fewer than 2% of households with broadband (TeleGeography, 2009).
It is important to recognize that the Digital Divide refers to both access to and equity in experiences with technology. Although access is still an issue, equity is a much larger concern. Information and communication technologies (ICT) skills and the capacity to use them are not equitably distributed even when access is largely available. For instance, Hargittai (2002) discusses the considerable difference in people's ability to find various types of content on the web and time required to complete online tasks. Other significant factors in the Digital Divide are the geographic layout of technology in a school and the pedagogical methods used by teachers when using technology.
Non-profit groups, researchers, government officials, and even businesses have done well in providing numerous resources to help people in the United States to understand the Digital Divide. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration published a report, "A Nation Online: Entering the Broadband Age", based on the U.S. Census Bureau's data on the ways that information technologies are transforming the way we live, work, and learn (Cooper & Gallagher, 2004). This is the latest in a series of "A Nation Online" reports that have gone back to 1995. Many non-profit and non-partisan groups have contributed to our understanding of the Digital Divide providing information and numerous resources to explore and assist in bridging the Digital Divide.
Despite the fact that many resources are available to teachers and others, very little research has been done on educator attitudes regarding the Digital Divide and the development of a clear understanding and empathy toward those adversely impacted by this issue. Developing teachers' abilities to examine teaching from the perspective of learners who bring diverse experiences and frames of reference to the classroom has long been a goal for teacher education programs (Darling-Hammond, Chung, & Frelow 2002). A more empathetic understanding of students and the diverse settings from which they come has been identified as a desirable trait for teachers. Moreover, developing educators who are sensitive to issues affecting students who come from environments and under conditions different than their own is recognized as an important factor in teachers' and students' success (Irvine & McAllister, 2002). In personalizing the disparities between the "haves" and the "have-nots" of the Digital Divide, educators will be better able to identify with the limitations faced by "real" people affected by the lack of broadband access. Educator empathy for those adversely affected by the Digital Divide can serve as a proactive means of addressing digital inequity at the grass roots level and help promote positive action toward eliminating the divide.
Rather than simply supplying a definition of the Digital Divide and resources to pre and in-service teachers, the focus should be on providing a learning environment that promotes exploration and experimentation. In a typical instructional unit on the Digital Divide, students learn much about issues of access and equity yet may fail to grasp what is perhaps most important: an imperative to become involved. They leave the lesson with their heads filled with knowledge about the Digital Divide and their hearts unmoved. A more comprehensive goal would be for students to come away inspired and embracing an imperative to get involved in bridging the Digital Divide. How can educators get their students to explore and experiment in this area? What methods can be used to help students empathize for those on the other side of the divide? For this project, narrative was used to provide a broader understanding of the effects of the Digital Divide, to promote empathy toward those adversely affected by digital inequality, and to engender a more proactive attitude toward "bridging" the Digital Divide.
A narrative is a story that describes a sequence of events (Evans, 2002). In education, narrative has been used to enable individuals from many different cultures to understand a concept (White, 1987), as a lens through which we can observe the world and make sense of our circumstances (Fisher, 1987), as a schema, expressing the relationships between people, places, things, and ideas in life (Bruner, 1996), and as a way that allows us to explore differing aspects of human experience through "story-ing". (Brockmeier & Harre, 2003). Narrative helps to accomplish these diverse purposes because it can provide a smaller version of a particular real life situation. This slimmer, smaller version permits the student to concentrate on the lesson to be learned and not get caught up in the details. Further, it stimulates the student to test his or her reality by applying the lesson in real life. By asking "what if" type questions about the narrative, the student broadens the limited narrative to fit into his or her belief system.
If students can be powerfully engaged by narrative and the process of storying (Egan, 1986), then one requirement for educational researchers is to find out more about the role of narrative in the classroom--especially in regard to teaching. Researchers have approached this requirement by concentrating on the teacher as a storyteller (Witherall, 1995; McEwan, 1990; Egan, 1986) and the structure and importance of stories and storytelling activities in the classroom (Hamilton & Weiss, 1994; Nicolopoulou, 1996; Engel, 1995; Paley, 1990; Cazden, 1988). Even though both viewpoints offer understanding into what it may mean to teach using narratives, the field lacks much proof of what actually happens during narrative teaching events. Many of the publications authored about narrative teaching episodes involve autobiographies of teachers and brief anecdotal sketches (Wagler, 1994). The investigation of teaching through narrative is necessary to give understanding into this instructional strategy and also to offer an assessment of students' development, attainment, and use of narrative thinking (Bruner, 1996). Moreover, instructional technologists, instructional designers, and instructors regularly scaffold narrative instruction with the use of digital tools (Jonassen & Hernandez-Serrano, 2002; Harlow & Johnson, 1998; Schank, 1990).
Narrative was chosen as a method for teaching about the Digital Divide based on its ability to promote exploration and experimentation of other cultures/ways of life, specifically of those on the other side of the Digital Divide (Brockmeier & Harre, 2003). It was also chosen for its ability to help students to re-story their lives (Egan, 1986; Ferdig, 2004). Individuals on opposite sides of the Digital Divide live radically different lives, so much so that they have difficulty understanding and valuing each other. A well-educated teacher with a high socio-economic background may understand that access and equity issues exist for other people, but may have difficulty identifying with those people. Typically a course that teaches about the Digital Divide is essentially descriptive in nature with a focus on statistical information, relevant government programs, and other resources that are available for describing and bridging the Digital Divide. The purpose of this study was to go beyond a descriptive understanding of the Digital Divide by promoting exploration and experimentation with the other cultures/ways of life on the other side of the Digital Divide, thus giving opportunities for storying their lives to better understand and value those who are without equity and access to technology.
This study examined the use of narrative as an instructional strategy for providing a comprehensive understanding of the scope and effects of the Digital Divide, a topic that was covered in a graduate educational technology course that provided an overview of the field and current issues. It is the first required course taken by graduate students in a completely online educational technology program.
Participants
Participants were 40 educational technology graduate students enrolled in a course entitled "Introduction to Educational Technology" (Table 1). The course is an entry-level graduate school course in a completely online Educational Technology Masters Program at a large, northwestern U.S. university. Participants were equally divided with 50% male students and 50% female. The most common student occupation was that of K-12 teacher. Although an overwhelming majority of the students resided in locations throughout the United States, three were international students. Socioeconomic statuses of the students were determined through a self-rating system. Students rated themselves in terms of their occupation, education, income, and wealth using an interactive tool created by the N.Y. Times (Tse & Werschkul, 2005). All students rated themselves in the upper middle or top fifth of all four scales. This self-report tool was used to indicate their high socioeconomic status, placing them on the side of the Digital Divide that has access and equity to technology.
Design of Instruction
This educational technology graduate course focused on analysis and discussion of current, ethical and human issues involving the integration of technology. The overriding goal of this instructional unit was to foster an empathetic understanding of those who have been adversely impacted by Digital Divide. The instructional unit designed for this study featured five learning activities planned to provide a thorough understanding of the Digital Divide and engender an empathetic attitude toward those affected by the lack of access.
Learning activity 1 – advance organizer. A foundational understanding of the Digital Divide was provided through an advance organizer featuring informational articles and reports. The rationale for using an advance organizer finds its origin in theories of cognitive learning asserting that student learning relies on higher knowledge and processing capacity (Driscoll, 1999). Advance organizers have been shown to be particularly effective in fully online environments (Chen, Hirumi, &, Zhang, 2007) and for graduate level instruction (DaRos & Onwuegbuzie, 1999). Other effective uses of advance organizers have been in reducing cognitive load and in increased understanding for low ability learners (Chen & Hirumi, 2009). In this lesson, an advance organizer was utilized to help the learner connect prior knowledge about the Digital Divide to new information, and then make application to new contexts. The following articles were selected as part of this activity:
1. "Your Guide to the Digital Divide" (Glaser, 2007). This article gives an introduction to the topic of the Digital Divide, providing a definition, statistics and research, and several links to news and resources. It was selected to provide a broad introduction to Digital Divide issues.
2. "Digital Divide Complacency: Misconceptions and Dangers" (James, 2008). This article summarizes the interactions in the United States between those who have sought to minimize the digital divide and those who are skeptical of that viewpoint. It was chosen for this advance organizer activity to give students a research-based introduction to the digital divide from a variety of perspectives.
3. "The Participation Divide: Content Creation and Sharing in the Digital Age" (Hargittai & Walejko, 2008). This paper considers the extent to which students author and share their own videos, music, images, and other online materials. It was selected to give students a nuanced view of how the digital divide can be practically present in a variety of forms.
4. "America: The Growing Digital Divide" (Deleon, 2007). This brief article continues the previous articles theme of active interaction versus passive reception with technology, and suggests a number of interesting reasons. It was selected as a follow-up to the previous article because it provides more discussion on the practical forms of the digital divide in the United States.
The use of these articles as the advance organizer helped to reduce cognitive load of students by connecting prior knowledge about the Digital Divide to new information. This then set the stage for learning activity 2, where students began to make application of this new knowledge to different contexts.
Learning activity 2 – videos. Students viewed either an urban-focused or rural-focused digital video about people on the other side of the Digital Divide. These digital videos were compiled by InternetforEveryone.org (2009), an organization that travels to communities across the country to tell the stories of people on the other side of the Digital Divide. Through the digital videos, students were able to hear from individuals who struggled to live, work, and study without access and equity in technology. Video was utilized in this lesson because of the nature of the content recorded on the video (personal narratives). As previously stated, narrative can be used as a schema, expressing the relationships between people, places, things, and ideas in life (Bruner, 1996), and as a way that allows exploration of the differing aspects of human experience (Brockmeier & Harre, 2003). These personal digital stories were used to help students to empathize with the difficulty as well as characters confronted in the story.
Learning activity 3 – story maps. Students then completed four story maps for one of the stories that they had viewed using the Literary Elements Map Student Interactive from the International Reading Association.
• Character map - considered the main character and their interactions with and how they are affected by technology. Questions included: what does the character look like, how does he/she act, and how do other people react to the character.
• Conflict map - explored conflicts involving technology and their possible effects on specific people or on society as a whole. Questions included: what is the nature of the conflict, why did the conflict occur, and in what ways could it be resolved.
• Resolution map - examined the video for a disaster, catastrophe, lack of opportunity, or a realization on the part of one of the characters. Questions included: how was the conflict resolved, what happened after the conflict was resolved, and how did the conflict and resolution affect the main character. Students were encouraged to be detailed in their responses and to resist the urge to wear "rose-colored sunglasses" - the story doesn't have to work out to a "happily ever after" conclusion.
• Setting map – focused on information about the setting that influenced the main conflict and required a detailed description of the setting. Questions included: where and when did the story take place.
Story maps were utilized in this lesson to help students to become active participants in the stories. Interactivity appears to deepen immersion, transformation, and a sense of agency (Murray, 1997). It also has the ability to transform not only the characters within the story, but the participant's real world beliefs (Green, Brock, & Kaufman, 2004; Oatley, 2002). Finally, research has shown that empathy is consistently and significantly increased by the addition of interactivity (Hand & Varan, 2009). Thus, story maps were used to foster a more empathetic disposition for those who suffer from a lack of access to technology.
Learning activity 4 – creating resources. Students then created an aggregator/news feeder account to share Digital Divide resources with their classmates and colleagues. Through the creation of artifacts, students interacted with past and new knowledge, as well as with external tools (i.e. the RSS technology), to understand and represent what they learned (Paavola, Lipponen, & Hakkarainen, 2004). Additionally, the artifacts students created have helped to improve instructional effectiveness and shed light on the nature of learning (Wisnudel, Stratford, Krajcik, & Soloway, 1997).
Learning activity 5 – reflection. Within a Digital Divide resource forum, students provided the required resources for the assignment and reflected on their learning experience through the following activities:
• Commented/reflected on resources (maps and links),
• Illustrated the synthesis of the digital narratives and their personal experience.
• Addressed potential solutions to the digital narrative and to their personal situation.
Discussion of the digital stories, story maps, RSS feed resources, and students' own stories were included in the lesson in order to promote reflection. McDrury and Alterio (2003, p. 111) contend "it does seem that sharing stories encourages a reflective process, especially when storytelling is accompanied by dialogue". Thus, the reviewing of the digital stories would help to, "bring about thoughtful and reasoned change to practice" (McDrury & Alterio, 2003, p. 59). This setting allowed for multiple perspectives to be explored enhancing reflective learning about the Digital Divide.
Data Collection and Analysis
Data were collected from discussion board postings, emails, literary elements maps, and RSS aggregator pages. A large amount of data was collected (141 discussion board postings, 160 literary maps, 40 aggregator pages). The first step in the analysis was to take this large body of information and determine the macrostructure (Gee, 2005). Gee argues that sizeable chunks of data have distinguishing ingredients and suggests the process of breaking down the data into these larger structures in order to help determine meaning. The data were analyzed by applying this technique to all the data available. For the aggregator and literary map data, this analysis process resulted in a story structure that roughly broke down into specific themes/categories of resources, story elements, and discussion topics.
Data were collected and analysis conducted using a constructionist theoretical orientation in order to reveal the ways in which groups take part in the creation of their reality. This approach places students in an active role as designers, constructors, and sharers in the learning process (Papert & Harel, 1991). Of particular interest were the students' creation and transformation of their specific roles in an ongoing, organic process of acting on their interpretations and past knowledge and experiences. In order to better see these changing roles, Gee's discourse analysis (2005) was applied to the data. Discourse analysis allowed for the investigation of the students' activities and interactions within the context they were shared. The first step in the analysis was to take the large body of information acquired from these discussion board postings, emails, literary elements maps, and RSS aggregator pages and attempt to find the macrostructure (Gee, 2005). Gee argues that sizeable chunks of data have distinguishing ingredients and suggests the process of breaking down the data into these larger structures in order to help determine meaning. This analysis process resulted in a story structure that roughly followed the flow of learning activities.
The next step in the analysis was to examine the story structure for the identities, along with their concomitant personal, social, and cultural knowledge and beliefs, feelings, and values, that seem to be relevant to, taken for granted in, or under construction in the lesson. In other words, what roles or identities did these students take on, and how were they relevant in the lesson? How were these identities stabilized or transformed in the lesson? The result of this step in the analysis was the creation of an "identity document" for each student. The final step in the analysis process involved comparing and contrasting these documents to discover commonalities and differences among the students.
This type of analysis was used to help consider how students in this course interacted with the Digital Divide issues, and how these interactions enacted social and cultural perspectives and identities (Gee, 2005). We analyzed these activities in order to see the differing situated roles and identities these students took on as they grappled with the issues of the Digital Divide.
The trustworthiness of the study was ensured through thick description, triangulation strategies, member checking, and transferability. A detailed description of the context and circumstances surrounding the study was given, so that the meaning and importance of behaviors and events could be fully understood. Secondly, data were collected from discussion board postings, emails, literary elements maps, and RSS aggregator pages, by two different researchers, in order to overcome the inherent bias of using a single-collection method and single-observer approach (Begley, 1996), and to better capture a more holistic perspective (Farmer, Robinson, Elliott, & Eyles, 2006). Third, during the discussion phase of the lesson, students participated in member checking, as they read, commented on and contributed to the findings (Neuman, 2003; Punch, 2005). Finally, a detailed description of the participants was given to enable the reader to make comparisons with other individuals and groups, to their own experiences or to other research findings (Curtin & Fossey, 2007). The context of this case study needs to be taken into consideration to make transferability judgments. Lincoln and Guba (1985) explained transferability as the extent to which findings can be applied in other contexts or with other respondents. They suggest that the researcher can provide for transferability judgments possible on the part of those applying. One way this can be achieved is by providing rich, thick descriptions that will help others interested in making these applications to reach a decision about whether such application can occur. In this study, rich, thick descriptions were provided to enable the readers to make transferability judgments to potential applicable contexts.
The use of narrative can create a personal connection to the digital divide. These videos helped students to put a name and a face on the issues that they were exploring. Participants identified with those affected by the Digital Divide on personal, professional and academic levels. Emotional responses to the Digital Divide issue were common among participants and most exhibited engagement reactions ranging from brainstorming to change agents. Tables 2, 3 and 4 provide an overview of the study results categorized by participant statement type.
Identification on Personal, Professional and Academic Levels
Results of the data analysis showed that many participants embraced the position of identifying with a person on the other side of the Digital Divide. This process of identity construction and transformation appeared to transition from a state of being disconnected intellectually and emotionally to a condition of being connected intellectually and emotionally. Every participant expressed empathetic statements indicative of intellectual identification with someone on the other side of the Digital Divide. Students drew intellectual connections between an individual on the other side of the Digital Divide and themselves (45%), their students (25%), close relatives (20%), colleagues/friends (7%), and with issues of training (3%). Intellectual statements of identification focused primarily on relating personal, professional, or academic stories of not having high-speed Internet access. Number of Students (N), percent of total (%), and examples of each category are provided in Table 2.
Of significant note here is that participants were more than sympathetic with individuals on the other side of the Digital Divide; they expressed understanding and empathized with their experiences. Personally, they were threatened by the absence of high-speed Internet and the consequent lack of opportunity. Professionally, participants were keenly aware of being "handicapped" in their work versus colleagues who had high-speed Internet access. And academically participants were aware of how geographic and economic circumstances were hindering them from making academic progress and the better employment and income opportunities that come with those accomplishments.
Emotional Responses
Ninety percent of participants expressed some type of emotional statement of identification with a specific person on the other side of the Digital Divide. Emotional expressions varied widely and were expressed in frustration and anger, sadness, empathy, shock, struggles, disenfranchisement, and hopefulness. Only five percent of students expressed themselves negatively regarding people on the other side of the Digital Divide.
Emotional statements of frustration and anger were evenly split between job and student-related concerns. Job-related concerns focused on inconvenient access to high-speed Internet, and not being able to perform major job responsibilities due to lack of Internet access. Student-related concerns seemed to focus on their academic progress. Feelings of frustration also quickly turned to anger. Participants were able to empathize with the anger and frustration of those adversely affected by the Digital Divide through the personal connections they were able to make with them.
Emotional statements of sadness focused either on participant's responses to people on the other side of the Digital Divide, or on the actual experiences suffered by those on the other side of the Digital Divide. Students who appeared to understand and enter into the feelings of someone on the other side of the Digital Divide expressed empathy. Understanding pain, experiencing sadness and sorrow, and feeling the shame of another person is a sign of deep identification with that person. These participants did not merely gain new knowledge about someone on the other side of the Digital Divide. They entered their feelings and experienced their emotions, and this helped them to embrace a new identity.
Engagement Reactions
The identity of "engagement" is also present in the statements of the participants. Participants showed a spectrum that varied from passive recipient to brainstormer, to change agent. Ninety-two percent of participants identified as a brainstormer or change agent. Those who exhibited the "passive recipient" identity did not identify with an individual on the other side of the Digital Divide. This common sentiment de-personalized those in the digital stories by referring to them as "these people in 'the hills'" and in other postings as "all", and "the have-nots". Passive recipients also did not identify with a sense of engagement. An attempt at finding a solution was not made, nor was there an effort to become part of the solution (Table 4).
The participants who exhibited the "brainstormer" identity expressed some identification with an individual on the other side of the Digital Divide. This expression came in the form of spontaneously shared ideas and solutions about how to help improve the lives of those on the other side of the Digital Divide. Topics discussed centered around creating a nationwide/global technology infrastructure, community/local solutions, technology-focused responses, and the targeting of socioeconomic minorities to help bridge the Digital Divide.
Brainstorming about creating a nationwide/global technology infrastructure focused on ideas that would specifically help those on the other side of the divide purpose. Brainstorming also focused on using current infrastructure more efficiently. Participants spontaneously shared ideas and solutions that focused on funding initiatives. These Federal-funding initiatives should not be merely stimulus dollars, but include partnerships with private industry. Finally, brainstorming about creating infrastructure seemed to look to more developed nations as examples.
Another group of participants focused their creative ideas on local/community solutions including the establishment of city or community-wide Internet access. They discussed ideas about a computer loan/checkout system run by schools, extension of current school and library hours, stipends for families who cannot afford high-speed Internet access, and local tax strategies to draw high-speed Internet providers.
Other participants developed technology-based ideas. Their ideas ranged from bandwith-improving technologies such as affordable satellite, more robust radio frequencies, and "WokFi" or "cantenna" home-made WiFi antennas, to technologies and ideas that would help those with low speed access to take advantage of information available on the Internet without having to load graphics, etc. that might slow the connection (i.e. RSS feeds, Internet cafes).
A final group of participants directed their creative ideas specifically toward targeting socioeconomic minorities. Discussion centered on community programs funded by local businesses and taxes to help low-income families and non-English speaking parents have access to technology in their homes. The focal point appeared to be that because this divide is a local problem, it needed to be addressed by local agencies, government, etc. – even if they are using state or federal funds. See Table 5 for number of students, percentage of total, and examples of brainstorming engagement.
The participants who exhibited the "change agent" identity expressed more complete identification with an individual on the other side of the Digital Divide. Change agents did more than spontaneously share ideas and solutions about how to help improve the lives of those on the other side of the Digital Divide. They went beyond ideas to actually planning involvement in real-life Digital Divide issues. Topics discussed centered around providing numerous opportunities for teacher and community training, open computer labs, and subsidies for access to personal computers to help bridge the Digital Divide.
Some change agents focused their involvement in training to help bridge the Digital Divide. Training initiatives varied from training for teachers, church members, family members, elderly adults, and community members as a whole. Job-related and basic computing skills were suggested as the main topics of the training. Other change agents focused their participation on the creation of open computer labs. These labs would offer free wifi access, bilingual support, training in basic skills, and 24-hour access in order to increase access to those on the other side of the Digital Divide. Finally, still other change agents got involved in initiatives to seek funding for low-income individuals to have home computer access. A computer-loan program and a stipend to provide funding for Internet access were programs that were invested in by participants. See Table 6 for number of students, percentage of total, and examples of students involved in change agent engagement.
The goal of this instructional activity was to go beyond a descriptive understanding of the Digital Divide by promoting exploration and experimentation with other cultures/ways of life, as well as storying of students' lives – resulting in teacher empathy. Empathy involves both an emotional and intellectual identification with others (Landsberg, 2009, p. 223). In this study, every participant expressed statements indicative of intellectual identification with someone on the other side of the Digital Divide. This intellectual identification helped to facilitate learning because participants were better able to place themselves in the role of the central characters portrayed in the stories (Feshbach & Feshbach, 2009). Participants identified intellectually with those who are without equitable access to technology, and they made connections across a diverse spectrum of individuals (i.e. themselves, students, colleagues, friends, etc.) as well as a wide range of issues (personal, professional, and academic). In effect, participants' learning was transferable in nature because they were able to apply it in such a large variety of issues and individuals.
Results of this study also showed that participants primarily empathized through the emotions of frustration and anger, making personal connections with individuals who had been adversely affected by the Digital Divide. Research shows that observing pain, distress and misfortune should elicit distress, frustration, and anger in an empathic observer (Feshbach & Feshbach, 2009). In this study, empathic observers responded with emotions such as frustration/anger (45%), as well as those of sadness (12.5%), shock (7.5%), struggles (5%), and disenfranchisement (5%). Future studies should consider the use of digital stories as a way to develop educators who are sensitive to issues affecting students who come from different environments and conditions (Irvine and McAllister, 2002). Of course, as with any factor that is important in teachers' and students' success, future studies should also explore whether these results are consistent in a larger group, in order to promote transferability.
Another result of this study was that participants showed a high level of engagement in the issue of the Digital Divide. This behavior is consistent with studies relating empathy to cooperation, sharing, donating and other altruistic acts (Batson, 1991; Findlay, Girardi & Coplan, 2006; Warden & MacKinnon, 2003; Zahn-Waxler et al, 1992). As participants developed empathy, they also began to consider specific, shared ideas and solutions about how to help improve the lives of those on the other side of the Digital Divide. Their ideas addressed a wide spectrum of national, state, and local concerns. Then, some participants moved beyond the idea stage to actually planning involvement in Digital Divide issues. Once again, these ideas were specific, measurable, and covered a wide variety of topics. In effect, these participants were motivated to intervene for the one who "cannot speak for herself" (Wyschogrod, 1993, p. xii). Future studies should continue to explore the use of digital stories in promoting a high level of engagement in Digital Divide issues.
The Digital Divide is still very much alive in America today. In particular, the gap between those who have effective access to a broadband Internet connection and those who do not is becoming a defining issue in our nation and communities. Something must be done to bridge this gap, and narrative has been shown to be effective in helping participants to connect with those on the other side of the Digital Divide. Many attempts to teach about the Digital Divide have yet to produce engagement and personal connection, which can lead to greater action and involvement in Digital Divide causes. As such, this research is a solution to the research-based problem of lack of engagement and personal involvement in Digital Divide causes.
There is a need for educators to empathize with those affected by the Digital Divide and become proactive in working toward digital equality. One way to assist in developing an empathetic disposition toward digital inequity is to provide instructional opportunities for students to fully understand the challenges of the divide and become personally connected with individual hardships. Through learning activities that engender a deeper understanding of the Digital Divide, the students in this research project went beyond an awareness of what constitutes the Digital Divide to sensitivity to the individuals affected by it. These intellectual and emotional connections resulted in a focus on, and involvement in Digital Divide issues that extend beyond the artificial barriers of a university course, and focus on grassroots, community action that is funded by state or federal initiatives. Future research should consider the effectiveness of different forms of narrative on Digital Divide issues, longitudinal studies on narrative's effect on long-term involvement in Digital Divide, and large, quantitative studies to examine the effect of narrative vs. traditional teaching methods of the Digital Divide.
Batson, C. D. (1991). The altruism question: Toward a social psychological answer. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Begley, C. (1996). Using triangulation in nursing research. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24, 122–128.
Brockmeier, J. & Harre, R. (2003). Narrative: Problems and promises of an alternative paradigm. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 16(3), 525-535.
Bruner, J. (1996). The Culture of Education. Harvard, MA: Harvard Press.
Cazden, C.B. (1988). Classroom discourse. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Chen, B. & Hirumi, A. (2009). Effects of advance organizers on learning for differentiated learners in a fully web-based course. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 6(6), 3-12.
Chen, B., Hirumi, A., Zhang, N. J. (2007). Investigating the use of advance organizers as an instructional strategy for web-based distance education. Quarterly Review of Distance Education 8(3), 223-231.
Cooper, K. B. & Gallagher, M. D. (2004). A Nation Online: Entering the Broadband Age. Washington DC: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/anol/index.html. Accessed 27 January 2010.
Curtin, M. & Fossey, E. (2007). Appraising the trustworthiness of qualitative studies: Guidelines for occupational therapists. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal (2007) 54, 88–94.
Darling-Hammond, L., Chung, R. & Frelow, F. (2002). Variation in teacher preparation: How well do different pathways prepare teachers to teach? Journal of Teacher Education, 53(4), 286-302.
DaRos, D., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (1999). The effect of advance organizers on achievement in graduate-level research methodology courses. National Forum of Applied Educational Research Journal-Electronic, 12E(3), 83-91.
Driscoll, M.P., 1999. Meaningful learning and schema theory. In M.P. Driscoll (Ed.), Psychology of learning for instruction (2nd Edition, pp. 113-151), Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Egan, K. (1986). Teaching as storytelling. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Engel, S. (1995). The stories children tell. New York: W.H. Freeman & Company.
Evans, S. (2002). Something old, something new: Recent poetry's use of narrative in wedding references. Counterpoints: The Flinders University Journal of Interdisciplinary Conference Papers, 2(1), 27-35
Farmer, T., Robinson, K., Elliott, S. & Eyles, J. (2006). Developing and implementing a triangulation protocol for qualitative health research. Qualitative Health Research, 16, 377–394.
Ferdig, R.E. (2004). Teaching technology through story: Learning to make sense of the story developer. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 12(4), 475-490.
Feshbach, N. D. & Feshbach, S. (2009). Empathy and education. In J. Decety and W. J. Ickes (Eds.), The Social Neuroscience of Empathy (pp. 85-97), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Findlay, L. C., Girardi, A., & Coplan, R. J. (2006). Links between empathy, social behavior, and social understanding in early childhood. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21, 347–359.
Gee, J. (2005). An Introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. New York, NY: Routledge.
Green, M., Brock, T., and Kaufman, G. (2004). Understanding media enjoyment: The role of transportation into narrative worlds. Communication Theory 14(4).
Hamilton, M., & Weiss, M. (1994). Teaching children to tell stories. In The National Storytelling Association (Ed.), Tales as tools: The power of story in the classroom (pp. 85-90). Jonesborough, TN: The National Storytelling Press.
Hargittai, E. & Walejko, G. (2008). The participation divide: Content creation and sharing in the digital age. Information Communication Society, 11(2), 239-256.
Harlow, S.D., & Johnson, D. L. (1998). An epistemology of technology. Educational Technology Review, 9, 15-19.
Heath, S. B. (1994). Stories as ways of acting together. In A. H. Dyson & C. Genishi (Eds.), The need for story (pp. 207-220). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Hand, S. & Varan, D. (2009). Interactive stories and the audience: Why empathy is important. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 7(3), 1-14.
Hirumi, A., & Bowers, D. R. (1991). Enhancing motivation and acquisition of coordinate concepts by using concept trees. Journal of Educational Research, 84(5), 273-279.
Horrigan, J. (2010). Social side of the Internet survey. Pew Internet & American Life Project, November 23, 2010, http://www.pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-Data/Whos-Online.aspx, accessed on June 2, 2011.
Irvine, J., & McAllister, G. (2002). The role of empathy in teaching culturally diverse students: A qualitative study of teachers' beliefs. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(5), 433-443.
James, J. (2008). Digital divide complacency: Misconceptions and dangers. Information Communication Society, 24(1), 54-61.
Jonassen, D.H., & Hernandez-Serrano, J. (2002). Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving. Educational Technology Research & Development, 50(2), 65-77.
Landsberg, A. (2009). Memory, empathy, and the politics of identification. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society. 22(2), 221-229.
Fisher, W. R. (1987). Human communication as narration: Toward a philosophy of reason, value, and action. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
Lincoln, Y.S., & Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
McDrury, J.& Alterio, M.G. (2003). Learning through storytelling in higher education: Using reflection and experience to improve learning. London: Kogan Page.
McEwan, H. (1990). Teaching acts: An unfinished story. In D. P. Ericson (Ed.), Philosophy of education 1990 (pp. 189-201). Normal, IL: Philosophy of Education Society.
McIntyre, A. (1985). After virtue. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Neuman, W. L. (2003). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Nicolopoulou, A. (1997). Worldmaking and identity formation in children's narrative play-acting. In B. Cox & C. Lightfoot (Eds.), Sociogenetic perspectives on internalization (pp.157 - 187). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Oatley, K. (2002). Emotions and the story worlds of fiction. In M. C. Green et al. (Eds.), Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations (pp. 39-69). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Paavola, S., Lipponen, L., and Hakkarainen, K. (2004). Models of innovative knowledge communities and three metaphors of learning. Review of Educational Research, 74(4), 557-576.
Paley, V.G. (1990). The boy who would be a helicopter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Papert, S. & I. Harel (1991). Situating Constructionism. (From Papert, S. & I. Harel (1991), Constructionism. New York: Ablex Publishing.) Retrieved September 2011 from http://www.papert.org/articles/SituatingConstructionism.html
Punch, K. (2005). Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications.
Schank, R.C. (1990). Tell me a story: Narrative and intelligence. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Servon, L. (2002). Bridging the digital divide: Technology, community, and public policy. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Swain, C. and Pearson, T. (2001). Bridging the Digital Divide: A building block for teachers. Learning & Leading with Technology, 28(8), 10-13, 59.
Wagler, M. (1994). Jailbreak! Storytelling in room 103. In The National Storytelling Association (Ed.), Tales as tools: The power of story in the Classroom (pp. 21-29). Jonesborough, TN: The National Storytelling Press.
Warden, D. & MacKinnon, S. (2003). Prosocial children, bullies and victims: An investigation of their sociometric status, empathy, and problem solving strategies. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 21, 367-385.
White, H. (1987). The content of the form: Narrative discourse and historical representation. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
Wisnudel, M., Stratford, S., Krajcik, J. and Soloway, E. (1998). Using technology to support students' artifact construction in science. In B. Fraser and K. Tobin (Eds.), International Handbook of Science Education (pp. 363-381). The Netherlands: Kluwer.
Witherell, CS. (1995). Narrative landscapes and the moral imagination. In H. McEwan & K. Egan (Eds.), Narrative in teaching, learning, and research (pp. 39-49). New York: Teachers College Press.
Wyschogrod, E. (1993). An ethics of remembering. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Zahn-Waxler, C., Radke-Yarrow, M., Wagner, E., & Chapman, M. (1992). Development of concern for others. Developmental Psychology, 28, 126-136.
THEN Journal http://thenjournal.org
Designed and hosted by Interactive Communications & Simulations, copyright 2011.