Publication: Internet use by secondary school students: a digital divide in sustainable societies?
Authors
Ballesta Pagán, Francisco Javier ; Lozano Martínez, Josefina ; Cerezo Máiquez, María del Carmen
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Publisher
MDPI
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103703
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
© 2018 by the authors. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This document is the Published version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Sustainability. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103703
Abstract
Although the use of the Internet is generalised, its potential as a teaching tool is rarely taken into account. At the same time, there exists a digital divide affecting vulnerable or disadvantaged groups: students of foreign origin and students with special educational needs. It is necessary to identify how inequality can be overcome to reach the objectives set by the United Nations regarding sustainable forms of development for education and to foster more inclusive and egalitarian societies. In this research with students aged 12–16, the objective was to establish profiles according to gender, social class, ethnic background and educational special needs. We used a mixed methodological design, applying a questionnaire to 2734 students from 15 centres and qualitative data collection techniques. We made a descriptive and inferential analysis (SPSS program) and a qualitative data
content analysis supported by the “Maxqda” program. The results show that, although most students have Internet access, students of foreign origin and students with special educational needs use this resource less frequently. There are significant differences for gender. Likewise, social divide has an impact on the learning potential of the Internet. Some proposals for improvement are provided, from the framework of the school, with a view to improving socio-educational equity and inclusion in societies in search of a more sustainable form of development.
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Citation
Sustainability 2018, 10, 3703
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