E. Mitchell's Participate 3.1.1 Access to the Digital Community Quest

Interesting article about overcoming the digital divide in Turkey.  

Many points in the article relate to my reflection below.  

• What types of barriers might impede students’ opportunities to access digital learning?

It is erroneous to assume that all students have equal access to online opportunities as well as equal learning ability skills.  One main barrier relates to socioeconomic status and the amount of technology one has in their home.  Though many families have multiple forms of technology in the phones (TV, phones, computers, and so forth), there are still many who only have one computer.  With the one computer in the home, that does not mean they have reliable access to the internet given their particular location.  For example, I currently have a student who does not have reliable access to internet in their home and must make accommodations to complete course work.  This causes much stress in planning one's time and resources that for others it is simply at their disposal.  Secondly, it is the reliability of the service provider.  From first hand experience, Charter has been a source of problems in our area for the previous two Saturdays.  The internet has gone out about 4pm and was not working until the next day.  Upon calling and getting a busy signal, it is safe to assume it was for multiple homes in our area.  A third potential issue given socioeconomic status is being able to pay for the service monthly.  Above these concerns are concerns about the user.  If the student has any needs for accommodations, as discussed in the WebAIM site, these can not always be easily served.  Going with the statistic that 1/5 of the population is dealing with a disability (though not all would hinder use of the internet), one has to operate on the idea that not all students can navigate the internet equally because not all sites are created equally for their abilities (i.e. varying colors of fonts and backgrounds, images, videos, and so forth).  

• What might we do to eliminate such barriers?

Although I do think internet access is important, I am not sure who's role it is to provide for the family unit in the home.  I do believe though the resources have to be available in the school to begin with.  Based on grants, schools can acquire laptops and iPads that can be checked out to students to take home for use.  Many locations offer free WiFi for the general public including local libraries.  But I do understand the stress of having to somewhere outside of the home to get work done.  There needs to be a guarantee the access to the internet at the places like libraries and schools have the best connections possible.  Additionally, sites can be designed to the specifications of a particular organization or company.  Unless law mandates as it does in public certain forced accommodations, I am not sure all barriers can be eliminated.  That is where we can step in and guide students to areas on the internet that meet their specific needs.