{"id":18961,"date":"2013-06-10T07:45:20","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T11:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=18961"},"modified":"2013-06-11T12:13:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-11T16:13:00","slug":"what-we-mean-when-we-talk-about-floridas-digital-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/06\/10\/what-we-mean-when-we-talk-about-floridas-digital-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Mean When We Talk About Florida&#8217;s Digital Divide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s finals week at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us\/91eeehs\/\">Park Vista Community High School<\/a> and a small group of students buzzes over an assembly line of used Dell computers that lie cracked open with all their electronic guts exposed.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18963\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 241px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/06\/10\/what-we-mean-when-we-talk-about-floridas-digital-divide\/digital-divide-class-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-18963\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-18963\" title=\"digital divide class 2\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/digital-divide-class-2-241x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"241\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/digital-divide-class-2-241x300.jpg 241w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/digital-divide-class-2-620x769.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 241px) 100vw, 241px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Sammy Mack \/ StateImpact<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Park Vista Community High School refurbish computers for donation.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cRight now it\u2019s kind of messy,\u201d says Park Vista junior Jonathan Stabio. \u201cBut essentially what we do is take a computer out of the pile that has all the components, we open it up, make sure it has everything necessary to make it run\u2026 and get them ready to be shipped off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many of the donated computers that Stabio refurbishes in class will be given to families who don\u2019t have computers at home. It\u2019s part of a Palm Beach County <a href=\"http:\/\/www.palmbeachschools.org\/dli\/digitaldivide\/index.asp\">program aimed at closing the digital divide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Over the next few years, public education in Florida will <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/tag\/technology\/\">increasingly happen on a computer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The state already requires high schoolers to take at least one online course. By fall 2015 half of all classroom instruction will need to be digital, and students will take the standardized test that replaces the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test on a computer.<\/p>\n<p>Kids like Stabio\u2014kids fluent in technology, with access to the Internet at home and school\u2014are well positioned to make the transition to a more digital learning environment.<\/p>\n\n<p>But many students don\u2019t have that advantage. By one estimate from a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flinnovates.org\/survey\/home-page-stats-report-12.php\">survey of school administrators and technology specialists<\/a>, a third of Florida students don\u2019t have a computer at home. And even if they did, it wouldn\u2019t guarantee they would land on the right side of the digital divide.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h4><strong>It\u2019s Not Just About Access<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/06\/04\/sarasota-countys-high-tech-classrooms-have-a-starring-role\/\">Sarasota County&#8217;s High-Tech Classrooms Have A Starring Role<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/06\/05\/why-foundations-must-help-florida-schools-make-the-digital-switch\/\">Why Foundations Must Help Florida Schools Make The Digital Switch<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/05\/27\/what-florida-schools-can-learn-from-one-laptop-per-child\/\">What Florida Schools Can Learn From One Laptop Per Child<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/01\/1-28-ipads.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/topic\/technology\/\">Classroom 2.0: Why Florida Schools Are Going Digital<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\u201cUltimately we want students to be producers using technologies,\u201d says <a href=\"http:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/faculty\/ritzhaupt-albert-d\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Albert Ritzhaupt<\/a>, a professor at the University of Florida\u2019s College of Education who has been researching digital divides within Florida\u2019s public schools.<\/p>\n<p>Ritzhaupt and his colleagues have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eric.ed.gov\/ERICWebPortal\/search\/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&amp;_&amp;ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ807628&amp;ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&amp;accno=EJ807628\">examined how Florida public schools use technology.<\/a> What they found is that schools primarily\u00a0serving kids in low socioeconomic status may have plenty of computers. But the students at those schools use those machines for really basic functions, like running test-prep drills.<\/p>\n<p>Schools that serve kids with higher socioeconomic status are more likely to use their computers to create original content on programs like Word and PowerPoint.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that shows evidence of a digital divide in terms of what we\u2019re preparing students to do in society,\u201d says Ritzhaupt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we talk about the digital divide, it used to be strictly about technology: Who has access to home computers, smartphones, the Internet? But it\u2019s increasingly becoming about what we are doing once we\u2019re there,\u201d says<a href=\"http:\/\/journalism.fiu.edu\/#!\/MosesShumow\" target=\"_blank\"> Moses Shumow<\/a>, a professor at Florida International University.<\/p>\n<p>Shumow studies media literacy and works with the <a href=\"http:\/\/news.fiu.edu\/2012\/01\/the-education-effect\/34635\">Education Effect project<\/a> at Miami Northwestern Senior High in Liberty City. He has seen how even among families who have access to the technology at home, there\u2019s a divide in how critically they engage with it. And that can have real consequences.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re not online and creating an online profile and an online resume\u2014and if you don\u2019t have a LinkedIn and if you\u2019re not able to search for jobs and search for work through the Internet\u2014you\u2019re really left out,\u201d says Shumow.<\/p>\n<p>Then there are the concerns about what happens when students get online assignments but don\u2019t have broadband at home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe they\u2019re able to use their smart phone using expensive data plans,\u201d says Shumow. \u201cThen not only are they getting behind, but it\u2019s creating an economic burden on those kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4><strong>A Beautiful Thing<\/strong><\/h4>\n<div id=\"attachment_18964\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/06\/10\/what-we-mean-when-we-talk-about-floridas-digital-divide\/digital-divide-class-close\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-18964\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-18964\" title=\"digital divide class close\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/digital-divide-class-close-300x206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/digital-divide-class-close-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/digital-divide-class-close-620x427.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Sammy Mack \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students who have computer access and savvy are well positioned as Florida classrooms go digital.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Even though refurbishing the computers is part of class, Stabio and his classmates at Park Vista also look at it as an act of charity. <strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stabio plans to be a technology specialist in the military. His closest frame of reference for life without a computer is the week he recently spent at a boot camp simulation. <strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a big challenge for me not to have a computer ready to access to get information,\u201d says Stabio. \u201cThe Internet, it\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Editor&#8217;s note: This story has been updated to correct the name of Park Vista Community High School.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s finals week at Park Vista Community High School and a small group of students buzzes over an assembly line of used Dell computers that lie cracked open with all their electronic guts exposed. \u201cRight now it\u2019s kind of messy,\u201d says Park Vista junior Jonathan Stabio. \u201cBut essentially what we do is take a computer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":18963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[14,838,798,1050],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18961"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18974,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18961\/revisions\/18974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}