Navigating (and Disrupting) the Digital Divide: Urban Teachers’ Perspectives on Secondary Mathematics Instruction During COVID-19

Abstract

This study examines the perspectives and lived experiences of 10 urban secondary mathematics teachers from two epicenters of COVID-19 in the United States regarding their transition to digital learning during the 2019-2020 academic year. We use case study methodology with phenomenological interviews to gather insights into the teachers' efforts to modify their mathematics instruction and curriculum while navigating observed digital inequities and new digital tools for mathematics teaching. We also report on the teachers' targeted attempts to bridge home and school while problematizing the threatened humanistic aspect of remote teaching and learning. These frontline experiences recognize technology-associated systemic inequities in marginalized, urban communities and the need to strategize ways to implement equity-oriented technology integration that benefits all learners, especially urban youth. By critically examining digital education in the urban context, crucial conversations can transpire that critique (and disrupt) the digital divide in mathematics education and open doors for other stakeholders to broadly discuss the logistics and implications of digital education to enhance new ways of teaching and learning.

Using Digital Games to Promote Equity in Career and Health Education: A Prototype of Caduceus Quest

“…In addition, more research on school implementation, policies, resources, and infrastructure that support schools and teachers in integrating digital and game-based learning experiences like Caduceus Quest into the classroom are needed particularly to remediate the "digital divide" between urban and nonurban schools (Barton & Dexter, 2020;McFarlane, 2019;Moldavan et al, 2021).…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a need for digital learning experiences that are especially tailored to students of color in urban contexts in order to promote educational equity (Moldavan et al, 2021). Culturally tailored blended and digital educational programing can provide educational experiences that link student learning across curricular and extracurricular contexts and within and across communities (Akiva et al, 2020; Nacu et al, 2015; Pinkard et al, 2017).…”

“…The appropriate role of technology and digital media such as games in education has been debated for some years, particularly as education policy has focused on the need to cultivate 21st-century skills in students (Fishman & Pinkard, 2001; National Research Council, 2012). However, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that it is crucial to thoughtfully integrate technology and media into education in order to foster educational equity (Moldavan et al, 2021). Student learning experiences during the pandemic have been hampered not only by access issues (the “digital divide”), but also by feelings of demotivation and stress with the online learning formats to which they are exposed (Friedman et al, 2021; Lessard & Puhl, 2021; Moldavan et al, 2021; Scott et al, 2021).…”

“…However, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that it is crucial to thoughtfully integrate technology and media into education in order to foster educational equity (Moldavan et al, 2021). Student learning experiences during the pandemic have been hampered not only by access issues (the “digital divide”), but also by feelings of demotivation and stress with the online learning formats to which they are exposed (Friedman et al, 2021; Lessard & Puhl, 2021; Moldavan et al, 2021; Scott et al, 2021). These issues indicate a need to create engaging digital learning experiences for students of color in urban contexts and to train educators in their delivery (Moldavan et al, 2021).…”

Untitled

“…

Throughout the world, people from all walks of life are enduring tremendous hardship and trauma amid one of the worst disasters noted in U.S. History, the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States reportedly lost over 500,000 citizens to the virus with variants lingering domestically and abroad [1]. Subsequently, the virus and overall global pandemic conditions have had unforeseen changes.

…”