The digital divide

There is quite a debate about the digital divide. Previously this was often in reference between the 'haves' and 'have nots', that the divide was one of economy. This is increasingly not the case and now is commonly used to describe those where technology is used instinctively and those who find it more challenging to access. The terms digital native and digital immigrants are commonly used in this context. This does hold real challenges to us in education, where we need to engage pupils in learning when they often speak a 'different language' to us - one of blogs, podcasts, games, text speak. My attention was drawn to an interesting article by Ewan McIntosh that outlines these challenges in Learning and teaching really well.

We have recently set up a facility for pupils in East Lothian to blog - Exc-elspace . When setting it up, one of the teachers involved said, 'Do we allow text speak?' An interesting one... it is their facility to blog about themselves, their learning, their ideas. Just because it would take a while for many of us to decipher it, shoould we ban it or engage with it. Needless to say, it led to quite a debate!