The increasing significance of digital equity in higher education

Abstract

Digital equity is a complex and multifaceted concept. It includes not only access to hardware, software, and connectivity to the Internet but also meaningful, high-quality, and culturally relevant content in local languages, and the ability to create, share, and exchange knowledge. Participatory citizenship in the digital era involves the right to access and participate in higher education. Indeed, it is a key civil rights issue of the modern world. This editorial provides the context in which the articles in this special issue are located.

Inquiry‐based mobile learning in secondary school science education: A systematic review

“…The potential equity issues of mIBL that have been noted in the included studies are as follows: (1) access to mobile devices, applications/software systems and connectivity to the network or WiFi [S1, S6, S8, S9, S15, S16, S18, S20, S23, S25, S27, S29, S31]; (2) access to relevant digital content in local languages [S7]; (3) access to high‐quality function features provided by mobile applications/software systems for all ability levels and student learning styles [S2, S3, S5, S7, S14, S16, S17, S30]; and (4) access to educators who are familiar with the use of mobile devices, applications/software systems and digital resources [S9, S16, S25]. These findings are similar to the results reported in Willems, Farley, and Campbell (2019). These equity issues should be taken into account when developers design mobile devices/applications and when educators organize mIBL activities, such as (1) enabling students to borrow required devices [S6, S29] and operate mobile applications in stand‐alone mode without access to the network when studying at home [S29]; (2) developing mobile applications/software systems driven by students' learning experiences [S2, S17] and constructing potential guidelines in mobile applications/software systems for learning activities [S5, S7, S16]; and (3) training educators and students for the use of mobile technologies in IBL [S9, S16, S25].We established links among research designs, data collection methods and duration of studies identified in this review, as shown in Table C1.…”

“…(3) access to highquality function features provided by mobile applications/software systems for all ability levels and student learning styles [S2, S3, S5, S7, S14, S16, S17, S30]; and (4) access to educators who are familiar with the use of mobile devices, applications/software systems and digital resources [S9, S16, S25]. These findings are similar to the results reported in Willems, Farley, and Campbell (2019). These equity issues should be taken into account when developers design mobile devices/ applications and when educators organize mIBL activities, such as…”

The Use of Digital Literacy in Higher Education

“…Generasi muda saat ini hidup pada era digital dan internet menjadi bagian dari keseharian dalam hidupnya. (Willems, Farley, & Campbell, 2019) mengungkapkan bahwa setiap individu masyarakat memiliki hak berpartisipasi pada era digital saat ini dalam mengikuti pendidikan tinggi. Menurut (Hakim, 2017) bahwa perkembangan teknologi informasi dan internet memberikan konsekuensi bagi produksi dan distribusi informasi.…”

The Hidden Shadow of Coronavirus on Education in Developing Countries

“…Digital equity is conceptualized in the framework of resource distribution, technical knowledge and skills, and the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use (Yuen et al, 2018). Willems et al (2019) defined digital equity as access to hardware and software and connectivity to the internet to create, share, and exchange high-quality content in a suitable language. Resta et al (2018) suggested that there are five dimensions of digital equity: hardware, software and connectivity to the internet, high-quality digital content in local languages, creation and sharing of digital content, educators who know technology, and high-quality research and application.…”