Guidelines and tools for promoting digital equity

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to provide a targeted overview of relevant digital equity gap literature that serves to contextualize the current crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following this review of the literature, the author introduces five guidelines that educators can use to guide their decisions about how to adapt to remote learning. It concludes with an overview and full text of two tools educators and researchers can use to better understand the challenges faced by students: the Digital Equity Gap Interview Protocol and the Digital Equity Gap Survey Instrument. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper is grounded on the theoretical framework of Martha Nussbaum's “Capability Approach,” which outlines core human capabilities that (if fostered) enable individuals to generate valuable outcomes for themselves. Findings It is suggested that it is important to attend to human capabilities when addressing digital equity gaps exacerbated by the pandemic. The author provides two tools that are intended to help individuals gather important information about the communities they serve and/or study. Research limitations/implications Both tools provide descriptive information that will contextualize digital equity gaps, should they be present. Practical implications This paper provides concrete tools for educators who wish to understand digital equity gaps within the communities they serve. Social implications In time of unprecedented distance learning, it is important for both K-12 educators and higher education instructors to understand the technological capabilities of their students. The Digital Equity Gap Interview Protocol and the Digital Equity Gap Survey Instrument give them a place to start. Originality/value This paper fulfills an identified need to study and address digital equity gaps.

Satisfaction with remote teaching during the first semester of the COVID-19 crisis: Psychometric properties of a scale for health students

“…When well designed, it has advantages, as it enables access to education to persons who have difficulties with face-to-face training [ 8 ] or who cannot pay transport to the city of the university, or the cost of living in it [ 9 ]. But, for online teaching to work well, a well-planned course is required, an adequate preparation of the teachers to dictate it, sufficient institutional support, the creation of learning communities [ 8 ] and to guarantee the access and management of the technologic equipment for students and teachers and the connectivity to Internet [ 10 ].…”

“…This was not surprising. Although online teaching can facilitate access to people with scarce available time or geographically remote [ 9 , 11 ], in practice millions of students and teachers do not have the conditions to actively involve themselves in the online education platforms [ 10 ].…”

“…To this is added that the crisis victims are not equally distributed in the population [ 19 ]. The students of the more vulnerable sectors face greater problems of access to the equipment and necessary connectivity, but also show more difficulties to handle the technology, generating a breach that can paradoxically increase when their university implements new technological teaching resources [ 10 ].…”

Higher education services market: new trends in sustainable development

“…S. Aguilar synthesized frameworks relating to qualities of educational technologies and introduced two criteria for evaluating resources for transitioning to distance learning: teachers' technology capacity, and implementation criteria for e-learning technologies [13]. He turned to Learning Object Review Instrument (LORI), developed by T. Leacock and J. Nesbit [14].Their approach includes nine characteristics of the quality of higher education:content quality, learning goal alignment, feedback and adaptation, motivation, presentation design, interaction usability, accessibility, reusability, standards compliance.…”

“…Supporting online learning. S.Aguilar concludes that nothing about adapting to the newfound requirements of online instruction in a postCOVID-19 world is easy [13].Aguilar's proposals are still difficult to integrate into the author's methodology for assessing the quality of higher education.…”