ANALYZING DIGITAL DIVIDE AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OF PAKISTAN
Abstract
An emergency shift to online education after Covid-19 brought many challenges for students and teachers, especially the university students living in the rural areas of Pakistan. So this study has focused on assessing the problems students faced while acquiring online education with special reference to the theoretical background of digital divide. It is a quantitative study which employed Heckman’s treatment effect model to analyze the impact of digital divide on university students’ performance. The results of the study indicate that online education further increases an already existing digital divide between have and have nots. Online education is a good alternate of face-to-face education in many cases however for ensuring maximum benefits of online education requires proper availability of gadgets and internet access along with training. Existing online education system in developing countries like Pakistan may be more suitable to teach theoretical subjects like social sciences which are subjective in nature however it is not much appropriate for teaching numerical subjects. The findings of the study direct a positive impact of digital divide due to the scarcity of necessary gadgets, internet access, family income, gender, field of study, age and location.
Keywords
Digital divide, online education, socioeconomic status, have and have nots, rural, internet access
References
- Abbasi, S., Ayoob, T., Malik, A., & Memon, S. I. (2020). Perceptions of students regarding E-learning during Covid-19 at a private medical college. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 36(COVID19-S4), S57. https://doi.org/10.12669/PJMS.36.COVID19-S4.2766
- Adnan, M. K. (2020). Online Learning amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Students’ Perspectives. Online Submission, 2(1), 45–51. http://www.doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.2020261309
- Akhter, H. M. (2018). Study of the Impact of Online Education on Students’ Learning at University Level in Pakistan. Online Submission, 3(2).
- Azionya, C. M., & Nhedzi, A. (2021). the Digital Divide and Higher Education Challenge With Emergency Online Learning: Analysis of Tweets in the Wake of the Covid-19 Lockdown. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 22(4), 164–182. https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.1002822
- Azubuike, O. B., Adegboye, O., & Quadri, H. (2021). Who gets to learn in a pandemic? Exploring the digital divide in remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 2, 100022. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJEDRO.2020.100022
- Brunei: share of rural population 2020 | Statista. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/760953/brunei-share-of-rural-population/
- Gaziano, C. (2016). Knowledge Gap: History and Development. The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118783764.WBIEME0041
- Gnanasegaran, G., Paez, D., Sathekge, M., Giammarile, F., Fanti, S., Chiti, A., Bom, H., Vinjamuri, S., Pascual, T. N., & Bomanji, J. (2021). Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic mediated changing trends in nuclear medicine education and training: time to change and scintillate. In European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (pp. 1–9). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-021-05241-2
- Gu, J., & Fedeli, L. (2021). Family Conditions and the Accessibility of Online Education: The Digital Divide and Mediating Factors. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158590
- Jamil, S. (2021). From digital divide to digital inclusion: Challenges for wide-ranging digitalization in Pakistan. Telecommunications Policy, 45(8), 102206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102206