As record numbers of Americans go online, the gap between those who have access to technology and those who don't may be widening. Education World looks at the digital divide and what it means to educators. You've heard about the digital divide. Everybody's talking about it. Journalists condemn it.
Government leaders scramble to close it.
Educators struggle to cope with it. The digital divide, in brief, is the gap between people who have access to computer technology and people who don't. It appears that, even as record numbers of Americans go online, the gap may be growing. The divide does appear to affect black and Hispanic households most. In addition, whites are more likely to have access to the Internet from home than blacks or Hispanics are to have access from any location.