Date of Award
8-2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department/Program
English
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Melinda Knight
Committee Member
Emily Isaacs
Committee Member
Daniel Bronson
Abstract
This study examines the challenges faced by educators and students and how socioeconomics, the digital divide, and a lack of access can potentially lead to low digital-literacy rates. The digital divide describes those who have access to broadband (high-speed) Internet connections and those who do not. Since education has become reliant on technology, those who cannot access the academic-digital space are at a disadvantage. The primary focus of this thesis is to define digital literacy in online, hybrid, and face-to-face composition classrooms at the postsecondary level. A review of literature was supplemented by a brief survey to students attending Montclair State University in July 2011. The purpose of which was to determine their abilities to access the online-classroom space and to obtain information about what they do once inside online academia. The digital divide is a real space in the college-composition classroom, which unfairly impacts students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. It is, therefore, paramount that instructors work to narrow the gap by developing their own new literacy skills; thus, enabling the digital literacies of their students.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Nolan, Alison Lorraine, "Socioeconomics and the Digital Divide : Access, Literacy, and the Online-Classroom Space at the U.S. Postsecondary Institution" (2011). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 933.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/933