TITLE:
Revisiting the Digital Divide in Online Teaching—An Analysis of Urban-Rural Differences in Online Learning among Middle School Students
AUTHORS:
Haiyan Wang, Yunhua Song, Xiaoyue Zhu, Mei Cao
KEYWORDS:
Digital Divide, Urban-Rural Divide, Skills Divide, Learning Process
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.11,
October
12,
2022
ABSTRACT: In recent years, many studies have pointed out that the new digital
divide has become an important factor affecting educational equity. This study
takes the perspective of online teaching and learning to test again whether the
old digital divide is really bridged and whether the new digital divide exists.
Using data from a large-scale online research in a province as a carrier,
359,519 valid data were analyzed using
analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis. The study found
that, overall, teachers and families provide good support in online learning,
and students learn better. The device divide has been basically closed. There
were urban-rural differences in both teacher IT competency and family
involvement. Notably, rural students have a higher rate of cell phone ownership
than urban students. Rural students have significantly higher sustained willingness to learn online than urban
students. However, the independent
learning ability, learning psychology, and online communication learning in rural online are not as good as
expected. The learning process of students in rural areas was obscured by the
perceived usefulness of online learning. Therefore, the study recommends
shifting from a focus on equipment in rural areas to a focus on the
technological literacy of teachers and
students; focusing on the learning process of rural students; and promoting parental involvement in their
children’s education as “media mentors”.