Category: Civic Participation

Digital Divides in Higher Education are an Extension of Digital Divides in Earlier Years

03/03/2025 

Main author: Jonathon Dean

Contributing researcher and editor: Dr Mikael Leidenhag

Background

Much of the research on the digital divide in higher education focuses on the fact that students in higher education have different levels of access to devices and possess different levels of digital skills and abilities to fully utilise technology. However, while important, such a focus may overlook how university enrolment is impacted by the digital divide. Today, university applications are now almost universally completed and submitted online, requiring multiple digital documents, a reasonable level of digital literacy, and access to digital devices.

The Socioeconomic Divide and Household Income

The socioeconomic background becomes evident when we consider previous studies. There is a clear correspondence between household income and access to digital devices, as well as the ability to navigate online platforms. The cost of living crisis has, in recent years, compounded this pressing issue, as many poorer families are now in a position where they have needed to cancel their broadband service in order to afford the essentials of life, including food, rent, and medication (Vallance, 2023).

This can have severe impacts on children’s education. Not being able to afford broadband at home means that children in low-income households may struggle to complete homework and assignments on time as they often rely on public WI-FI in environments such as schools, public libraries, cafés, and youth centres. Where these are available at all, they necessitate transport costs and advance planning for travel to and from these sites, and are only accessible during specific times of the day when those facilities are open. This creates a significant educational disadvantage, as children from high-income households can more easily fit their study time into their schedules when it is most convenient, whereas disadvantaged children often have to adhere to someone else’s timetable (Butcher and Curry, 2022).

The lack of access to home broadband can also make using the internet more expensive for those students relying heavily on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to complete their work. This applies to the majority of low-income households, as laptops and desktops are frequently considered a substantial and unnecessary expense. However, they are far more suitable for most types of work when compared to smartphones and tablets (Digital Poverty Alliance, 2024). Without a home wi-fi connection, mobile data costs can quickly mount up, and at much higher prices than home Without a home Wi-Fi connection, mobile data costs can quickly accumulate, often at much higher rates than those of home broadband for the same amount of data. This issue is exacerbated for the poorest individuals, who are ineligible for mobile contracts and thus must rely on Pay As You Go tariffs at even steeper costs (Lucas et al., 2020).

Even in less affluent households with access to broadband, many of the same issues can arise simply because of a lack of suitable study space. When children share bedrooms with siblings or multiple individuals are working from home in the same space, the silence and privacy required to concentrate and participate in online discussions can be impossible to achieve. Similarly, the need to share devices can cause issues, as that device may only be usable at certain, inappropriate times (e.g. after the primary user has gone to bed). This issue can be compounded if the device is a desktop computer physically located in someone else’s bedroom (Butcher and Curry, 2022).

The Socioeconomic Divide Between Schools

The examples above illustrate that the digital divide can create significant challenges for disadvantaged individuals, and poorer schools can also experience a digital divide that adversely affects their students’ university prospects.

Firstly, and most obviously, a lack of resources means that less well-off schools cannot afford to provide devices such as laptops for their pupils; where such programmes do exist, they are often provided by charities working in conjunction with the school rather than by the school itself. This implies that many schools lack assurance that all their pupils possess appropriate devices to complete their assignments, particularly as most schools do not consistently verify their pupils’ access to digital equipment and connectivity (Digital Poverty Alliance, 2024a).

Less affluent schools often lack the same access to technical support, available software, and training for teaching staff that wealthier schools benefit from. In 2020 and 2021, 70% of private school teachers reported having the ability to use video lessons for remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to only 34% in the least affluent state schools, categorised by the number of children eligible for free school meals). Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of teachers in private schools reported having access to an online learning platform that allows them to set and receive schoolwork, compared to about one-third of teachers in state schools (Coleman, 2021).

While state schools started to catch up with online platforms later in the pandemic, the number of teachers employing live video conferencing and other technology-driven interactive learning methods remained significantly higher in private and more affluent state schools compared to their less affluent counterparts, where non-interactive methods were still more prevalent (Montacute and Cullinane, 2021).

A portion of this can be attributed to a digital divide among teaching staff. While some teachers have access to suitable devices and connections, this is not the case for all, and levels of technological proficiency and confidence vary significantly within the profession. Teacher training and continuous professional development generally do not focus on digital skills, resulting in nearly a quarter of surveyed teachers reporting that their lack of confidence in these skills was a barrier to using digital technology in the classroom (Digital Poverty Alliance, 2024b).

However, this issue is not limited solely to online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, nor to the student cohorts directly impacted by it. These disparities can lead to situations where students from average backgrounds, despite having access to suitable devices, reliable internet connections, and a conducive study environment, may still find themselves at a disadvantage. If the school they attended did not have the means to use more modern technology-assisted teaching methods, whereas their peers attending wealthier schools can, then this can feed directly into university-level disparities.

University Selection Disparities

The method by which universities select successful applicants can present significant issues regarding these disparities, and can be classified into two broad categories. Firstly, as universities favour candidates with higher achievements, any disparity in educational outcomes arising from these digital divides in earlier education will also be felt here. If the use of digital technology, online learning platforms, interactive educational tools, and similar resources significantly impacts a pupil’s grades in subjects beyond those directly related to technology, it is likely that those experiencing digital poverty during their school years will have fallen behind their peers with better access in general. Indeed, some research indicates that the use of digital education packages can inadvertently widen existing attainment gaps, as higher achievers benefit more from these programmes (Holt, 2024).  

This means that two children with the same aptitude for mathematics, the same school, and the same teacher may achieve very different final grades if one of them has been able to use an online practice package at home, whereas the other could only access it during school hours. As university admissions largely consider only the final grade, the applicant who was unable to make full use of this software due to digital poverty faces a significantly lower chance of acceptance into university.

Secondly, as almost all university applications are now completed online through services such as UCAS, they often require the submission of numerous documents, including scans of identification papers, results documentation, personal statements, and other materials that must be typed and submitted electronically via online systems. As we have already seen, many students from disadvantaged backgrounds lack suitable devices to perform such tasks. While it is possible to compose a personal statement and similar documents solely by using a smartphone, doing so is significantly harder and more time-consuming than using a computer with a keyboard and a fully-featured word processor. Likewise, it may be challenging for some students to maintain a stable enough internet connection to complete any online forms or document uploads that may be required.

This compounds when considering any further assessments for university applications. It is easy to see why an online assignment would pose challenges for an applicant who lacks easy access to a suitable device or internet connection; however, it is likely that in-person assessments are also impacted. Take university interviews, for instance. In addition to being more difficult to research and prepare for, we have already observed that without convenient access to the internet and suitable devices at home, booking items like train tickets and hotels can be a stressful and inconvenient process. This may involve travelling to and from locations with publicly available computers at specific times of the day, along with the associated planning and costs, in contrast to someone with easy access who could simply do this in their spare time from wherever they happen to be (Butcher and Curry, 2022).

When considered together, these issues indicate that universities are already self-selecting candidates with superior digital skills and access to digital devices, not just currently but throughout their educational journeys. Consequently, even before measuring the digital divide among university students, it is likely that the most digitally disadvantaged have been excluded from the sample, as the university matriculation process is significantly harder for them to navigate successfully.
 

The Effects of Disparities on University Learning

Naturally, these disparities persist within the university course itself; students with limited digital skills and low confidence in using technology are unlikely to match the work of their peers who possess significantly more experience with digital learning platforms.

As universities increasingly develop hybrid models of teaching, blending both in-person and digital learning techniques (Snelling 2021), disparities in digital skills stemming from students’ educational histories are likely to result in poorer university outcomes and challenges in completing work compared to their peers who have cultivated their digital skills during primary and secondary education. For instance, typing speeds are likely to be significantly lower among individuals who have depended on tablets and smartphones as their primary means of accessing the internet outside of a school setting, placing them at a distinct disadvantage in any timed assessments.

These issues can be even more pronounced among mature students and immigrants from poorer nations, who may not have received formal training in digital skills or gained much experience using computers throughout their lives, thereby placing them at a distinct disadvantage compared to their peers. Adult education often lacks the facilities or funding necessary to adequately develop digital skills within these groups, in a manner that prepares them for the utilisation of technology at university (Pinsent-Johnson and Sturm, 2024).

Policy Recommendations

1)    Teacher training and continuing professional development should place greater emphasis on digital skills, enabling educators at all levels of education to effectively teach digital literacy to their students while incorporating modern digital methods into their teaching styles.

2)    Schools ought to adopt a significantly more proactive approach to ensuring that all their students have adequate access to devices, internet connections, and suitable study environments. This may involve funding to supply devices and internet packages to underprivileged children, as well as providing access to libraries and other study spaces beyond normal school hours.

3)    Universities should collaborate with schools, colleges, and adult education institutions to ensure that the essential digital skills required to engage in and succeed in university education are as widespread as possible.

References

Butcher, J and Curry, G (2022). Digital poverty as a barrier to access. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 24(2) pp. 180–194. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5456/WPLL.24.2.180

Coleman, V. (2021). Digital divide in UK education during COVID-19 pandemic: Literature review. Cambridge Assessment Research Report. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Assessment

Digital Poverty Alliance, Anderson, E., et al. (2024a). Tech4Families Evaluation Report. https://digitalpovertyalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/T4F-Final-Report_August-2024.pdf (Accessed 13/10/2024)

Digital Poverty Alliance. (2024b) Tech4Teachers White Paper. https://digitalpovertyalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Tech4Teachers-White-Paper-2024.pdf

Holt, L. (2024, August 9). The 5 percent problem. Education Next. https://www.educationnext.org/5-percent-problem-online-mathematics-programs-may-benefit-most-kids-who-need-it-least/

Lucas, P. J., Robinson, R., Treacy, L., Nesta, & Y Lab. (2020). What Is Data Poverty? https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/What_is_Data_Poverty.pdf (Accessed 13/10/2024)

Montacute, R., & Cullinane, C. (2021). Learning in lockdown: Research brief. The Sutton Trust. https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Learning-in-Lockdown.pdf

Pinsent-Johnson, C. & Sturm, M. (2024). Adult education: The missing piece to bridging the digital divide. IRPP Insight No. 55. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.

Snelling, C. (2021, November 29). Lessons from the pandemic: making the most of technologies in teaching. Universities UK. https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/lessons-pandemic-making-most (accessed 25/10/2024)

Vallance, C. (2023, May 17). One million cancel broadband as living costs rise. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-65622403 (Accessed 13/10/2024)