pros and cons of distance learning

see it in a multi-layered context.  The volume addresses four basic questions:  (1) 
What are the underpinnings of the digital divide: the data that substantiated the 
concept? (2) What is its historical context? (3) What do some advocates say 
about the consequences or the remedies for the divide? (4) What research or 
analysis provides other perspectives on this issue?








19


Crandall, Robert W.  (2000, December).  Universal Service, Equal Access, and the
Digital Divide. Retrieved October 11, 2001 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.ccst.ucr.edu/cpa/bdd/Crandall.pdf.

This paper notes that the digital divide is, in reality, simply an observation that 
higher-income households are early adopters of the newest technology, whether 
it is a fad or not.  Ironically, given the incredible rate of technical progress in all 
things digital, once we understand that a new service or device is very valuable 
to all households, it is likely that virtually all will be able to afford it and will 
have it.  The author suggests that it is hardly clear that there is a digital divide 
that needs immediate bridging through a deliberate public policy.  As incomes 
grow and the cost of anything digital falls at a dizzying rate, even the newest 
digital technology begins spreading across demographic groups.  Two of several 
recommendations are:  (1) rely on competition to reduce the market prices of the 
new services as rapidly as possible; and (2) target any support or subsidies to 
truly needy households, not to the general population.


Damarin, Suzanne K.  (2000, July/August).  The Digital Divide versus Digital
Differences:  Principles for Equitable Use of Technology in Education, Educational
Technology, 40(4).

This report suggests that digital differences is a more appropriate view of the 
situation facing educators than the concept of digital divide.  Five principles 
are introduced that provide direction for the design and development of 
technology-enhanced educational activities appropriate to the diversity of 
students with computer access:  parsimony, accessibility, multiplicity, 

	

	

		

			

				

					

						





						

							
								
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