Access to a computer and a stable and reliable internet connection are fundamental requirements for online learning, but it’s far from universal across the USA. America is the world’s wealthiest country but ranks just 13th for the quality of its infrastructure.
Figures for higher education students struggling to get online are hard to come by, but an estimated 12 million K12 students lack a network connection. In a recent report, How States and Districts Can Close the Digital Divide, the Boston Consulting Group and partners conclude that students in all 50 US states are suffering.
They conclude that the digital divide “contributes to significant and inequitable learning loss”.
In the UK, a poll by the National Union for Students found that one in four higher education students could not access online learning during the early phases of the pandemic. Some of the reasons included lack of IT equipment and software, insufficient course materials, and poor internet connections.
Perhaps inevitably, it’s rural, low-income and students with special needs and disabilities that are most acutely affected.
A 2015 report by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) found that in remote rural areas, the percentages of students who had either no internet access or only dial-up access at home were higher for Black (41 per cent) and Hispanic students (26 per cent) than for White (13 per cent) and Asian students (11 per cent).
The lack of access can translate into a lack of opportunity, cementing existing inequalities. For example, a 2020 report by McKinsey & Co found that the shift to remote school in the spring set white students back a month, but students of color lost between three to five months of progress.