Digital Divide and Equality of Opportunity

Like all other spheres in life, education is permeated by technology which facilitates teaching and learning. It provides opportunities for delivering educational content, assessment and evaluation, feedback, the expansion of learning environment, collaboration, and adjustment to the individual’s learning pace. However, using technology for teaching and learning may not benefit all learners equally, depending on various factors, which are traditionally attributed to the possession of or access to technology. Students with different characteristics and backgrounds benefit to a different extent from the use of technology. This so-called digital divide in education has to be approached through the lens of the more general theories of inequalities with specific focus on technology. The theoretical foundations of the digital inequalities in education so far range from overly simplistic (e.g., possession of, access to, or frequency of use) to more sophisticated (e.g., social class, socioeconomic status, human capital, or cultural capital) approaches to explain or address the issue. This chapter provides a critical overview of the past and current research on digital inequalities in education. It compares different theoretical perspectives and approaches, as well as the trends in addressing the digital divide in education. Special focus of this chapter is placed on the inequalities of opportunity by gender, location of the schools (rural/urban), and socioeconomic status. One of the special issues regarding the latter two strands (school location and socioeconomic status) is the “school-home divide.” Recommendations for further research on the topic are presented at the end of the chapter.