Online Educational Resources for Schoolchildren and the Digital Divide

  • Daniil Alexandrov HSE University (St. Petersburg)
  • Valeria Ivaniushina HSE University
  • Dmitriy Simanovskiy HSE University
Keywords: first-level digital divide, second-level digital divide, internet use, online educational resources

Abstract

The authors examine the digital divides of the first and second levels and analyze the use of educational resources by Russian schoolchildren. Several specialized educational resources for schoolchildren are described. The first level digital divide is understood as unequal access to the Internet among different social groups; the second level digital divide means the differences in the practices of using the Internet. Empirically the study is based on two surveys of schoolchildren, conducted in 2014–2016 in St. Petersburg (94 schools, 3,739 pupils of the 10th–11th grades) and the Kaluga region (249 schools, 27,904 pupils of the 6th–9th grades). The results show no evidence of the first level digital divide in the megalopolis. In the Kaluga region, the differences in access to the Internet are due to the type of settlement (city-village), the family structure (two-parent/single-parent families), and the parental educational level. Schoolchildren living in a village with a less educated single-parent are in the most vulnerable position. No differences in Internet use were found between schoolchildren regardless of their family background, school type, or type of settlement, neither in the Kaluga region, nor in St. Petersburg. Most schoolchildren use educational resources, and the intensity of use increases with age. The most popular general purpose resource is Wikipedia; the most popular specialized resource for schoolchildren is Znanija.com. Only a small percentage of the surveyed schoolchildren (about 2%) use the sites that offer ready homework.

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Published
2017-10-04
How to Cite
Alexandrov, Daniil, Valeria Ivaniushina, and Dmitriy Simanovskiy. 2017. “Online Educational Resources for Schoolchildren and the Digital Divide”. Voprosy Obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no. 3 (October), 183-201. https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2017-3-183-201.
Section
Education Statistics and Sociology

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