Contemplation of Kirsten Thompson's Discussion and a look at Digital Equity here in Manitoba
“The Internet is not a luxury, it is a necessity.” Barrack Obama
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Image entitled "The Year of the Internet of Critical Things" accessed from https://s27389.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/AdobeStock_116472569-1024x673.jpeg |
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I would like to switch gears and discuss one specific topic in more depth that came up in our conversation with Kirsten, digital equity. In my previous post about the internet, I shared about how unequal access to internet was present here in Manitoba however I decided that this week, I would dive deeper into the topic. I also wanted to take a look at how there is still unequal access to the internet across the the southern half of the province and how poverty contributes to internet access. Digital equity is when people have equal opportunity to access internet with good upload and download speed. Unfortunately, digital equity is not present in Manitoba or here in Canada despite the fact that we are a first world country.
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The covid-19 pandemic has further shown this divide since teachers and students were left with no other choice but to participate in remote learning. Kirsten did a blog post entitled "The Inequity of Remote Learning (Thompson 2020) which gives a Manitoban context. She shared about the expectations the Manitoba government has laid out regarding remote learning and clearly shows how their plan is not possible due to the struggle many students have to access quality internet connections. I agree with her. As many of you know, the internet and technology have a high cost associated with using them. My internet costs $95 a month. I pay $65 for my cell phone plan that includes 2 giga bites of data. The laptop I'm using to type this blog cost me approximately $600 so that I can do my education degree. Since I am concentrating on my educational journey, I am not working very much so I have to be careful with the amount of money I spend. According to a document entitled Broken Promises, Stolen Futures, Child and family poverty in Manitoba, many of our future students and their families live in poverty. "According to the CFLIM-AT, there were 85,450 Manitoba
children living in poverty (CFLIM-AT, pg.8, 2020)." Many of these students barely had enough money to pay for their basic needs, let alone the money to access the internet. Additionally, Manitoba simply doesn't have the infrastructure for all Manitobans to access the internet properly. When the covid-19 pandemic first began, we automatically went into remote learning and students were expected to have the technology to access the internet to participate in learning activities. Unfortunately, many students missed out on learning activities due to digital inequality. The government has put out unfair expectation's based on both internet and technology access here in Manitoba.
In my last student teaching placement, I worked in a rural school. The internet connection in the school was poor however fiber optic internet was in the process of being installed. The school also lacked technology to allow students to connect to the internet. The high schoolers only had 26 laptops to share among 86 students. The Kindergarten to Grade Eight classes only had 5 iPads per class. They had applied for more iPads to be sent out to their school this past summer and when I left in the middle of November, they still hadn't received any.
Digital Equity is far from being reached here in Manitoba. With many people living below the poverty line and the lack of infrastructure to connect to the internet, it seems like an almost impossible task. It will take advocates such as myself, my colleagues, Dr. Nantais, and educators in Manitoba school divisions to advocate for digital equity. With that I want to challenge you to fight for digital equity here in Manitoba. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I look forward to reading your comments.
Some Additional Resources that you may find Interesting
Below, you will find a link that has information about the digital divide faced by Northern, Indigenous, and Rural areas
First Hand Testimony from a Mother who doesn't have access to technology for her son's at home learning
A look at how Rural Manitobans struggle to access the internet
Sources
Campaign 2020. (2020). “Broken Promise Stolen Futures: Child and Family Poverty in Manitoba”. Retrieved January 13, 2021: https://spcw.mb.ca/wp- content/uploads/2020/04/Manitoba-Child-and-Family-Poverty-Report-2020.pdf
Thompson, K. (2020, September 15). The Inequity of Remote Learning. Teaching in a Fishbowl. https://fishbowlteaching.com/2020/09/the-inequity-of-remote-learning/
Excellent post, Alicia. Good discussion, especially on digital equity - an important issue!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post Alicia! The piece about digital equity is so important and I appreciated hearing a bit about your experiences working in a rural setting where internet access is scarce. I wonder – as internet access becomes more and more essential from the standpoint of getting an education, applying for jobs, etc., is there a case to be made to consider it a human right? In my last practicum I taught a social studies unit on human rights and we had some good debates and discussions around this question. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=499IbhoBeKE
ReplyDeleteI had not considered internet to be a human right however I can see your point. I watched the video you shared and it talked about how in the UK, they have already passed the legislation. When I think about the internet, it is apart of every aspect of my life. I use it to do research, read the news, connect with friends on social media, and do my banking. If I were to lose access to the internet, my life would change drastically. I think that people who don't have access to the internet lose out on opportunities to learn that people with access have. Since there are many people who struggle to connect to the internet, I believe that we would be able to get that legislation passed here in Canada. It is going to take someone or a group of people to stand up for this. I know that Kirsten and other educators are advocating for equal access to internet but they need others to join them in the fight. I am glad that you were able to have the discussion about human rights in your class. We need to have more conversations/discussions around these issues in our classrooms!
DeleteAwesome post! I would ask if you believe if a machine could ever reach the point of doing an educators job, and necessarily the internet in general. Great post!!
ReplyDeleteMiss Bueckert, excellent discussion on digital equity in Manitoba. I definitely agree that the rural setting experiences a whole other level of digital inequality and unfortunately the change is slow when it comes to new technology and particularly the infrastructure necessary to improve rural internet. The struggle also expands across the province into the access of cellular service to be able to even use data but that is a whole other can of worms.
ReplyDeleteI was also was in a rural setting for my placement and we experienced many struggles as well, which were enhanced by the COVID-19 protocol. When the province went code red, one week into placement, my classroom was split into two room and we had to use teams to connect the two rooms. Unfortunately, the internet was not strong enough to hold the connect, particularly in the afternoons so the instruction had to be done twice, once in the one room and again in the other. It also made me think, it the internet at the school in that community wasn't strong enough, than the students at home must experience a similar issue if they are fortunate enough to even have access at home because, like you mentioned, so many live below the poverty line and internet is expensive.
Thank you for your review Alicia. I appreciate you connecting this discussion to your student teaching experience; it is unfortunate that the ratio of devices to students was so low. I do know that access to school funds and shipping times has made it difficult for some divisions to get supplies; many of the purchases I've placed for our schools have been back-ordered for 3-4 months.
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