Academic
Exchange Quarterly Spring 2005
ISSN 1096-1453 Volume 9, Issue 1
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Closing the Digital Divide with
Service-Learning
Sally R. Beisser, Ph.D. Drake
University, IA
Stuart W. Shulman,
Teresa B. Larson, M.S.
Dr.
Beisser is Associate Professor of Education with
research interests in service-learning, pedagogy, and action research. She
teaches doctoral courses in qualitative research and ethics as well as
elementary social studies methods and pedagogy in teacher education.
Dr. Shulman is Assistant Professor in Environmental Science and
Policy who will be in Information Sciences and Public Administration and a
Senior Research Associate in the
Ms. Larson
teaches a service -learning laboratory course at
Abstract
Digital disparity exists among those
who differ in socioeconomic status, educational background, gender, race, and
age. As part of a digital citizenship course, students in a private Midwestern
university participated in a semester service-learning lab tutoring senior
citizens about Information Technology (IT). Students studied the ethics of
volunteerism and the impact of digital citizenship. In a two-year study of
student reflections (N = 67), data were analyzed with ATLAS-ti
for Search Institute Internal Assets©. Findings reveal commitment to IT
instruction, value of human interaction, new understanding of reciprocation,
and the significance of an intrinsic motivation for volunteerism.
Introduction
Digital
disparity exists in access to and use of computer technology among populations
who differ in socioeconomic status, educational background, gender, minority
status, and age (
Most notably, senior citizens over the age of sixty-five, representing the “gray gap,” are unlikely to use digital technology. Older persons were less supportive of technology, desired less public access to IT, and were less likely to participate in e-politics (Shelley et al., under review). Reservations include concerns about privacy, irrelevance, cost, and perceptions of the steep learning curve required to use computers and the Internet (Lenhart, 2000; Seiden, 2000). Seniors are often an economically vulnerable group lacking disposable income to purchase hardware and software. Digital inequality is further compounded as new technologies transform exponentially. Elderly persons, not growing up in the Information Age, are unable to draw on the existing skills and competencies required to learn new IT applications. However, given an opportunity to learn, senior citizens in this study came forward.
Development of a
Service-Learning Computer Lab
Students in the Digital Citizenship course had a challenge to confront the digital divide. Students initially explored the impact of digital communication and citizenship. They learned that political parties interact online, interest groups use websites and e-mail, and government distributes information via the WWW. As a group, the elderly are not e-citizens, but when invited to come to free computer classes, they arrived eager to learn from college students in the service-learning lab. Students studied the ethics of volunteerism, different types of service, and the meaningful delivery of service-learning (Conrad & Hedin, 1991; Beisser, 2002).
Service-learning is a pedagogy that promotes mutually
beneficial partnerships between academic institutions and communities,
requiring reflection on particular challenges posed in the delivery of service,
in this case information technology literacy (ITL) to an underserved, elderly population. According to
Jacoby, “Service-learning is a form of experiential education in which students
engage in activities that address human and community needs.” (1996, p. 5)
Subsequent reflection invites a feedback loop linking
the community intervention to an analysis of class-related theory and practice
(Shulman, Beisser, Larson, Shelley, & Thrane, 2003).
Methodology
Three research questions driving this study were: a) Do
known building blocks for development of healthy, caring, responsible children
(e.g., External and Internal Developmental Assets) manifest themselves in adult
development of college students? b) As a result of a service-learning lab with
a disenfranchised group, did participating university students reflect on
social injustice? and c) In the context of a service-learning lab, what were
unseen benefits of university students partnering with underserved populations?
All university students (N = 67) participating in the
service-learning lab completed an end of semester reflection paper sharing
multiple anecdotes and analytical examples to summarize experiences in the
computer lab, offer explanations for the digital divide, and provide evidence
of understanding principles of service-learning. After compiling two years of
students’ reflective journals across four classes, reflections were analyzed
with Atlas-ti qualitative software. Using the Search
Institute 40 Development Assets (1996) as a lens for evaluating the
reflections, researchers looked for twenty external and twenty internal
developmental assets of healthy, caring, and responsible young adults. The
framework of developmental assets offers a way of understanding the strengths
young people need in order to be productive members of society. Criteria
for analysis was built on core principles in the
Search Institute’s research-based (1996) framework
of 20
External Assets such as family,
neighborhood, school, and
community support and influence
along with 20 Internal Assets such as commitment
to learning through motivation and engagement, positive values through
promoting social justice and caring,
social competencies such as interpersonal competence, and positive identity
through personal power and positive view of the future. In addition, we We wanted
to measure the presence, or absence, of assets in young people's lives as they
continue in their postsecondary development. The developmental asset framework
and terminology, first introduced in 1990, surveyed over 350,000 sixth- through
twelfth-graders in over six hundred communities to learn about risks and
resiliency. Findings suggest that these assets encourage pro-social behaviors
and decrease risky activities (Lerner & Benson, 2003; Scales & Leffert, 1999). On one level, the forty developmental
assets represent everyday wisdom about positive developmental outcomes. On the
other hand, experiential learning through service provided a means of
engagement for young adults to reflect on these assets.
While unable to critically evaluate external assets of college students’ backgrounds (e.g., support and empowerment from family, neighborhood, school, or peers activities) that remained unexpressed in the students’ reflective papers, narratives were scanned for representation of internal assets (e.g., commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity) in response to their service activity. Almost 550 pages of electronic data were analyzed by multiple readers to categorize incidence of the following themes: commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity. Because the Digital Citizenship course fundamentally focused on the digital divide, responses for equality and social justice, appearing under the positive values asset category, were coded separately. For the five categories, a total of 517 quotations were coded. Results indicate that sixteen percent of responses reflected general positive values; nineteen percent social justice; twenty-nine percent social competencies; twenty-four percent commitment to learning, and twelve percent positive identity. In their papers, some respondents demonstrated an appreciation of multiple asset categories.
The internal asset categories were collapsed into three areas of importance, as expressed throughout student narratives.
Human
interaction: Nearly
two-thirds (fifty-nine percent) of student responses focused on the power of
human interaction through commitment to learning, positive values, and issues
of equality and social justice. They demonstrated a
commitment to learning about people different from themselves. Student comments
are represented by pseudonyms.
Commitment to learning. Students were committed to learning. One person helped her
senior citizen to learn to use email to “keep in touch with her
grandbabies." Another helped
her client understand the distinction between “.com and .net sites.” One senior
asked for help with Internet and Photoshop while others learned to use
spreadsheets and Microsoft Office©. Christy wrote, “When our session was
complete, we had begun to use search engines. I suggested we meet after class,
and I could continue lessons. Mary [the senior citizen] was ecstatic. I found
by writing procedures for her, she could more easily use computer functions.” Andi wrote, “The concept that there were millions of other
people online with the same first name [Edith] or last name [Smart] was
unbelievable.” Doug’s client went home happy with new information. “I made sure
she had my e-mail address in case she ever had more questions she wanted me to
answer.” Mike said, “
Positive
values. Students exhibited positive values toward human
interaction. It was clear that this wasn’t about teaching technology to a group
of elderly people. This was about getting in touch and keeping in touch. One
student said, “My client asked me about my hobbies.” Kathryn said, “We keep in
contact. ‘I’ve e-mailed her, and she e-mails back.” Abby writes, “An important
role I played was to build her self-esteem through encouragement.” Rebecca
declares, “The great thing about e-mail is that if they have future troubles
with computers, they are able to reach me to matter where my career takes me
after graduation!” Jake says, “A very important part of the digital citizenship
lab experience is relationships between student and client. It is crucial that
students treat the senior citizens with the respect they deserve.” Jason sums
it up, “I feel as though I have a better understanding of a whole new
population of people within the community I already live in.” Vern states, “The
bottom line is service learning is an amazing experience for anybody, and it's
more than just teaching—it's improving lives.”
Social justice. Students better understood equality and social justice.
Trisha begins, “We were to actively engage in the improvement of those
disenfranchised--those most affected by the digital divide.” Tosha notes, “This was the first time that I had really
reached out to the senior community. It seems like we’re always trying to
improve the lives of our youth, but we never take the time to help the people
who helped us.” Allie says, “This semester cemented my beliefs that senior
citizens are, indeed, under-resourced in the area of information technology.”
Amber helped her client with job skills. She states, “I was teaching her a
skill that was keeping her from getting a job to better herself. I helped
narrow the gap.” Christy hopes, “Wherever I end up after graduation, I hope to
find a program similar to ours to assist people in becoming better citizens and
bettering themselves while opening my horizons about groups I incorrectly
stereotype.” Allie reveals a deeper understanding. “I see now more clearly that
there is a digital divide. However I am not convinced everyone on the other
side wants to cross over.”
New
understanding of reciprocation: Nearly one-third (twenty-nine percent) of the responses
expressed surprising social competencies based upon what students gained personally
as individuals, not what they gave as
technology tutors.
Kathryn said, “We cared about many of the same things. I taught them
computer and Internet skills in exchange for their life experiences and further
training in communication and teaching.” One student said, “It was not only his
first experience with a computer, it was my first experience tutoring. I was
quite uncomfortable at first, not sure exactly what to say or do. I was overly
conscious of our age difference and afraid of offending him. By the end,
however, I worked up to a level of comfort.” Another student mused, “I learned
a lot about the lives of people who are a couple of generations older than I. I
learned about the history that these people experienced before I was even
born!” Remarked Alex, “I doubted the importance of students' role in community
building. I didn't think spending time with people in the community would
promote social oneness. I was wrong.” Another student said, “I have formed
relationships that I would have otherwise never sought. I was able to influence
their lives in a small way just as they have influenced mine.” One student
said, “Service-learning was not about just putting a smile across a face, but
rather meeting someone from a different walk of life and actually growing
together in the experience.” Amber says, “Ideally service learning is a two-way
street, with both student and client gaining.” Vern reflects, “He even
indirectly taught me how to be calm yet focused. I taught him about computers,
and he taught me a better way to behave.” Says Rebecca, “Not only did students
teach senior citizens, but the senior citizens were partners in showing us how
the community needed a project like this.” Nicole shares, “These six people and
their life stories have changed the way I think about technology, and they have
changed me. One of the only things I was hoping to get out of this experience
was patience. I got all that and more.” Tosha says it
best, “The best thing that I got out of my sessions with MaryAnn [the client]
was a friend.”
Significance of intrinsic motivation for volunteerism: More than one-tenth (twelve percent) of responses provided
evidence of positive identity through comments such as future intentions to
serve. Tosha sums up the collective voice by stating,
“Ghandi said, ‘Be the change you want to see in this world.’ This experience was
one of the most rewarding times in my life. I not only learned what service
learning is, I made a difference in the world and grew as an individual.”
Our study supports the need for college students to
engage in service-learning in order to build internal assets that strengthen
healthy adult developmentpost-secondary
student engagement in service associated with coursework and study in order to
continue development and self-recognition of internal assets that strengthen
healthy development of young adults. In summary, we
recommend other educators not only consider volunteer service as a component of
their coursework, but provide service to disenfranchised populations such as
the elderly. In addition, through specific service to
disenfranchised populations in combination with intellectual discourse,
Our findings conclude that students
were not only committed to closing the digital divide through direct
instruction of needed technology skills,
they better understood complex issues influencing such gaps, when service took place
in combination with intellectual discourse.
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