Is there a Second-Level Divide in Students’ Internet Skills Is there a Second-Level Divide in Students’ Internet Skills? – A Cross-country Analysis of Denmark & India A paper by Aparna Purushothaman & Susanne Dau, Aalborg University and University College of Northern Denmark

Agenda Introduction Aim The digital divide The younger generation The scenarios from India and Denmark Data collection Results Recommendations

A cross-national comparison of student from HE Scenarios from Denmark and India Two countries with contrasting socioeconomic environments, ICT development and network connectivity Denmark ranks first on the ICT development index, and India ranks 137th in the world (ITU, 2014). In terms of total population, India is one of the world’s least connected countries, compared to Denmark, where 95% of the population uses the Internet, with a highly developed ICT infrastructure (ITU, 2014). In terms of the networked readiness index, Denmark ranks at 15, and India ranks only at 89 (World Economic Forum, 2015) India represents an emerging knowledge economy, with infrastructural and connectivity issues still making access a challenge for its students. On the other hand, Denmark represents a highly developed economy where infrastructure and access are no longer issues for online access for students, giving these students an enormous advantage over those in India.

Aim To present students’ use of available Internet technology - scenarios of higher education students from Denmark and India To provide insights into how different types of literacy skills influence students’ successful access to relevant online learning and knowledge retrieval.

21st-century skills Creativity Communication Collaboration Critical thinking Information literacy Problem solving and knowledge development Digital literacy: To use technology efficient To find, share and produce new knowledge

Digital Divide The countries with the best access to ICTs are the Netherlands (186), Denmark (185), Luxembourg (184), Sweden (183) and the UK (182). Of the BRICs nations, India (39) is the only country to be classified as ‘extreme risk’, meaning that the country’s population suffers from a severe lack of digital inclusion 2012 http://www.nextbigwhat.com/digital-divide-in-india-and-bric-countries-297/

The first and second order digital divide First order digital divide: Access to and the usage of the internet technology is unequally distributed across the world Second order digital divide: Differences in efficient usage of the available access, producing disparities in usage (Ji & Skoric, 2013)

The younger generation The younger generation’s Internet skills in successfully retrieving information. The younger generation are considered Internet experts or digital natives (Prensky, 2001), They are a highly Internet-connected or wired group, which may prompt the assumption that disparities regarding Internet usage are not relevant among this group (Correa, 2010; Hope Cheong, 2008). Students from developing economies are at a disadvantage with respect to adequate Internet skills due to inadequate access (Purushothaman, 2013), what is interesting is that Even in economies with high internet penetration access, younger students are not always successful in finding online content and services that are easy to access and use (Correa, 2010; Livingstone & Helsper, 2010).

Indian context University of Calicut in Southern India The objective of the research was to provide an understanding of the process involved in getting accurate information, developing reflective and critical thinking skills and learning by doing 12 female master’s students A study on how to empower female users use the Internet An intervention-oriented ethnographic action research project to address the second-order digital divide a workshop Internet training

Danish context University College of Northern Denmark (UCN) The research addressed students’ orientation in blended learning environments A narrative case study among undergraduate radiography and teaching students A mixed method approach

India Denmark Design Questionnaire Informal interviews, Brainstorming in workshops A reflection session in action research workshops. (N=9) One online survey among all students (radiography N= 16, teacher N= 19) 3 focus group interviews (n=7 & n=8) Observations Data 3 out of 9 had a personal computer at home. 2 had an Internet connection. None owned a laptop 9 students did not know how to get connected to the Internet Most of the students did not know the names of the different web browsers and even lacked the knowledge of how to click the mouse and get connected All teaching students and 94% of radiography students owned laptops 10% - 20% had stationary personal computers All students had daily internet access All students used social media daily or more than once a week The students were also using the LMS several times a week or daily, to gain knowledge on educational matters

Quotes from Indian students We were confused which one to take…even though all information is there we are not able to take the information I face difficulties in searching for information for seminar topics. I know the information is there, but I’m not able to download it. I got many options through the search, and got confused which was the correct information to be taken.

Quote from Danish students Well, it is the Internet-flow. When you search for literature you fall into something and then get to read about it, and all of a sudden you end up on YouTube where you look at a cat playing the guitar…It runs as a huge reflection process when you are online, because all the time there will be new windows and new messages and everything it runs just in such a great hotchpotch, so you never have 100% focus

Results India Denmark A lack of knowledge and skills in using the available Internet access certainly represented a barrier for the students in the study Even though they had the opportunity to access the Internet, most of the students did not have the requisite knowledge to make use of the available access at Internet Café´s Internet speed came up as a barrier to using the Internet Knowledge and skills was based on a familiarity with the digital systems primarily gained from leisure activities and social networking The habits and patterns they had developed using the Internet for social and leisure activities seemed to limit their online retrieval skills and literacy search when it came to academic activities Internet opportunities came up as a barrier to the academic use of the Internet

Recommendations In some cases, students’ ability to do structured research is based on its practical applicability in the professional practice of which they are members. Therefore, initiatives such as monitoring of students’ online orientation, continuous evaluation and new initiatives must be taken into consideration followed by a facilitation of students digital literacy skills.

Thank you for your attention Questions? Comment?