What COVID-19 taught us about the digital divide
(Photo credit: Ozona High School Lion Yearbook)
The COVID-19 Pandemic shook up the world in
terms of technology usage. It was during this time that issues like lack of
broadband internet in rural areas and for minorities was brought to the
forefront. The digital divide became wider when COVID-19 hit, forcing schools
and businesses to close and go remote for learning and work.
Four years later, school districts are still
dealing with after effects of learning due to COVID-19. The technology issues
that COVID-19 brought to light are also still being addressed.
(YouTube: The 'Digital Divide' and COVID-19's Impact on
Internet Access from Mashable)
Digital Divide
The Digital Divide is a gap between those with
computer and internet access and those without (Mashable, 2021). In a 2020
study between Common Sense Media and Boston Consulting Group, 16 million
students lacked adequate internet or devices to sustain effective distance
learning at home (Chandra, et al., 2020). In Texas, around 34% of students in
2020 did not have adequate high-speed internet and 25% of Texas students did
not have any device (phone, tablet, laptop) to access the internet. The
majority of those without internet or devices were located in rural areas or
were minorities, the study stated (Chandra, et al., 2020).
Without reliable internet or devices, students
were learning at a slower pace, it was harder for students to be more engaged,
and many families were not able to access social services or government
services (Mashable, 2021). At the same time, the 2020 study also found
that 300,000 to 400,000 K-12 teachers live in households without adequate
internet connectivity, roughly 10 percent of all public school teachers, and
100,000 teachers lack adequate home computing devices (Chandra, et al., 2020).
I was one of those school teachers in our
small town. At the time of the pandemic, I also owned a business that had
reliable internet, but many teachers and students in our community struggled
with reliable internet. At times, not having broadband is just an
inconvenience. It would be nice to have Netflix or Hulu, maybe, but not
essential. But when the people running your city or county tell you to stay
home and work from there, or when the schools close and offer classes only
online, internet access becomes a necessity (Ramsey, 2020).
Some communities, including my own town of
Ozona, found creative ways to get internet to those without it. Hotspots were
set up outside school buildings so students could finish school
work. WesTex Connect, an internet service provider in Abilene, set up free
Wi-Fi hotspots in parking lots next to football stadiums, at the Abilene
Convention Center, in Clyde, in Merkle, at the Farmer’s Co-Op Gin in Stamford
and next to a lumberyard in Stamford (Ramsey, 2020).
The novel coronavirus pandemic has
changed the nature of the homework gap, exacerbated existing inequities in
education, and heightened the urgent need for Congress and the states to
provide emergency funding to ensure all students have equal access to distance
learning (Chandra, et al. 2020).
The digital divide is not
a new story, but it became pertinent at a moment when real interactions
among people were limited and virtual interactions were vital (Ramsey,
2020).
(YouTube: Educators seeing impact of learning gap in
students from COVID-19 by WBNS 10TV)
Closing the gap
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included $42.5 billion earmarked
for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program. The funds aim to
connect more than 8.5 million households and small businesses nationwide,
including 2.5 million households in Texas (Salhotra, 2024). Texas received the
largest portion of the funds. The Texas Broadband Development Office, created
in 2021, has filled about 60% of its positions (Salhotra, 2024). Also in
2021, Texas was awarded $363.8 million in broadband funding through the
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. In addition to the federal dollars,
Texas voters last November approved the
creation of the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund, which will provide about
$1.5 billion to bolster efforts to expand internet availability (Salhotra,
2024)
However, roll outs of the government programs
have been frustrating for residents in rural areas. Historically, other
federal rural broadband funding programs have seen limited success because many
companies who committed to providing broadband went into default after
radically underestimating the costs to deploy broadband infrastructure in
far-flung regions (Salhotra, 2024). Internet service providers were not
properly screened when the programs started, so many of the providers haven't
made good on their promise to develop broadband networks (Salhotra,
2024). Providers worry that without a rigorous screening process, the same
companies who previously defaulted could again win broadband funding but then
not implement a project.
Also, many rural areas in Texas are
predominantly Hispanic. Government programs required recipients be citizens to
gain access, which means having a social security card or driver's license.
Many minority residents do not have those credentials, or are afraid, or do not
understand, filling out government paperwork.
A 2022 study between Common Sense Media
and Boston Consulting Group called "Closing
the Digital Divide Benefits Everyone, Not Just the Unconnected"
recommends making fiber-optic infrastructure a priority due to their fast and
most reliable service (2022). However, fiber costs money and getting internet
providers to invest in fiber in rural areas is hard. The study does suggest
that fixed wireless access (FWA), a cellular-based connection that transmits
internet through radio waves would be good for rural areas (Clark et al,
2022).
In my small, rural town, we still have
households within our school district that do not have internet access.
Fortunately, our school district is working on a plan for those
households.
In April the federal government's Affordable Connectivity Program expired
leaving 1.7 million households in Texas wondering how they were going to afford
high-speed internet (Salhotra, 2024). Rural areas lag behind their urban
counterparts when it comes to broadband access. The combination of low
population density and remoteness make such areas unattractive to internet
service providers, who are hesitant to invest in expensive infrastructure
without a guaranteed pool of customers (Salhotra, 2024).
The Future
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Federal
Communications Commission had the definition of broadband download at 25Mps and
upload at 3Mbps (Mashable, 2021). In March of this year, the FCC voted that the
definition was outdated and that threshold speeds should increase to 100/20Mbps
(Supan, 2024).
According to the FCC's
most recent data (PDF) from December 2022, “45 million Americans lack
access to both 100/20Mbps fixed service and 35/3Mbps mobile 5G-NR service"
(Supan, 2024). With this higher standard, the FCC could take regulatory
action to force internet providers to expand access to areas that are
underserved.
The FCC also set a long-term goal of
increasing the benchmark to 1,000Mbps download and 500Mbps upload speed. That
might be more speed than most people need right now, but it’s in
line with an often-cited rule in the internet industry called Nielsen’s
law, which states that a high-end internet user’s connection speed grows by
roughly 50% each year, doubling every 21 months -- an observation that has held
true since 1983 (Supan, 2024).
In the Panhandle, Region 16 Education
Service Center received $28 million from the Universal Service
Administrative Company (USAC) to bring affordable high-speed fiber internet to
school districts in the rural Panhandle (Cavazos, 2024). Jeff Davis, Brewster,
Presidio, and Culberson Counties have been awarded $5.2 million in grant
funding from the Texas Comptroller's Office for broadband internet services
(Munt, 2024).
Four years later, there has been some
progress, but it's not enough. Broadband internet infrastructure needs to be a
priority in rural areas. It needs to be affordable because this is now the way
our world is turning.
Future reference: Texas Rural Funders
References
Ramsey, R. (2020, April 1). Analysis: A digital divide with dire consequences for Texas. Texas Tribune. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.texastribune.org/2020/04/01/digital-divide-dire-consequences-texas/
Salhotra, P. (2024, April 2). 1.7 million Texas households are set to lose monthly internet subsidy. Texas Tribune. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/02/affordable-connectivity-program-ending/
Salhotra, P. (2024, February 14). Rural Texans, internet providers worry that feds’ broadband expansion plan will have a painfully slow rollout. Texas Tribune. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/14/texas-broadband-funding-worries/
Supan, J. (2024, June 3). The FCC Quadrupled the Definition of Minimum Broadband Speeds. Here's Why It Matters. CNET. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/the-fcc-quadrupled-the-definition-of-minimum-broadband-speeds-heres-why-it-matters/
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your insightful blog post on the digital divide's impact on education. Your personal experiences provided valuable insights for addressing these challenges. Your emphasis on the need for ongoing progress and affordable broadband infrastructure in rural areas is significant.
The reliance on temporary hotspots underscores the urgent need for long-term infrastructure investments. At our campus, we also provided hotspots, but unfortunately, there weren't enough to meet the demand. This left some students struggling to keep up with their studies. In the beginning, I struggled with my internet at home running too slow, putting me in Chandra et al.'s study of teachers working with bandwidth issues. I was fortunate enough to have the means to upgrade my internet connection at home to support everyone working and studying online.
During the remote learning, many students from my campus struggled not with accessing technology but with effectively using digital tools. Simple tasks like uploading assignments or participating in online discussions became significant obstacles. This experience highlighted that access alone isn't enough. We need to prioritize teaching digital literacy skills in all areas.
I agree that progress has been made, but there's still work to do. In addition to addressing the digital divide and literacy, I've noticed a pressing need for developing students' interpersonal skills. The isolation during remote learning affected many students' ability to collaborate and communicate effectively in person. With this being said, how can we ensure that bridging the digital divide and improving digital literacy doesn't compromise the development of interpersonal skills?
Your blog emphasizes the ongoing work that still lies ahead in ensuring equitable access to digital resources for all students. Thank you.