{"id":219,"date":"2017-06-04T18:40:24","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T01:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/?p=219"},"modified":"2017-06-14T20:48:07","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T03:48:07","slug":"the-digital-divide-rural-vs-urban-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/the-digital-divide-rural-vs-urban-in-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"The Digital Divide – Rural vs Urban in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following blog post was co-authored\u00a0by Michael Chow, Marshall Hartlen and Andrea Livingstone<\/em><\/p>\n

You can follow Michael here<\/a> and Andrea here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Marshall\u2019s thoughts:<\/b> I \u00a0am in the privileged urban side of the have\/have nots. I have taken the availability of wi-fi and fast connection speeds for granted, and I am easily frustrated with lags in connection speed (this happens when working in my bedroom as our modem is not robust enough to deliver consistent full speed access at all hours) and then I am reminded of Louis CK\u2019s frustrated<\/span> rant<\/span><\/a> \u00a0\u201cIts going to space! Would you give it a minute to get back from space!\u201d (Tyler, 2015).<\/span><\/p>\n

I am becoming aware of this divide; however, in my professional day to day I deal with a lot of students who, like Andrea stated above, have poor or no access to the internet once they leave the school. The majority of these students live in rural areas, and the biggest percentage of this group live on any one of the three reserves that are nearby. This has an impact on the way I teach these students, I cannot expect them to engage in the plethora of e-based activities I have created, and I can also appreciate the strong disadvantage this puts these kids at. The sad thing is, that I see it affecting their social lives as well. Because they do not have access to the internet when they leave the school their digital network disappears, and with it the important social aspects of the high school experience, to a degree at least.<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrea\u2019s Thoughts:<\/b> I can certainly relate to this topic since I have recently tried to get a decent internet connection at the farm that I inherited. Currently, in that area only dial-up exists which makes it near impossible to utilize the software system that my current employer is implementing to all franchisees. If I do not have a decent internet connection when I am at the farm, how will I be able to work?<\/p>\n

In Burlington (urban) where I live, I have access to unlimited internet at very fast speeds for a reasonable cost, about $80 per month. In order to get a faster speed at the farm (Rural), I would need to spend $224.99 per month and $200 to $300 for installation for the satellite depending on a one year or two year contract. This would only give me a download speed of 25mbps and and upload speed of 4mbps and 200gb of data. This would just barely make the connection speed required to run the software required for my job (download speed of 20mbps and upload speed of 4-5mbps) and I could pretty much say goodbye to streaming NetFlix with only 200gb of data per month at that cost. The sad truth is, this is the best package they offer and it just came into effect over the last two weeks. I am sourcing other internet providers but the costs are much higher for what I would consider \u201crun of the mill\u201d internet service in my particular experience.<\/p>\n

This topic certainly struck close to home and I sourced out some other articles on the topic to figure out how this rural divide in Canada is currently impacting Digital Learning.<\/p>\n

Michael\u2019s Thoughts:\u00a0<\/b>The tech sector in BC is growing so quickly that companies are running around to find qualified employees to work here in the information technology. BC has become the Silicon Valley North! \u00a0With that statement, am on the opposite ends with Andrea and Marshall in this sense that I have always lived in a city where easy access to high-speed technology, computer technology hardware and software is literally down the street from home and work and easy wi-fi spots (if I don’t want to turn on or buy a data plan.). I expect to have hi-tech in my area, and if I don\u2019t, I look for a new provider. I can only imagine how frustrating it would be if I had interrupting service, or lack of internet service especially in the field that I am in now. Granted, if I living in a rural area, I would most likely would have chosen a different career field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Current and former learners of mine don’t have an issue either as they are in the courses of graphic design where one needs to have hi-speed connections to run Adobe Creative Cloud, an online subscription for their classes. The only problem that I have seen is the cost of software for learners because as learners, they already are paying for their education. The monthly or yearly rate to buy Adobe Creative Cloud is bit much. In the past, learners could buy the software and install this on the computers. The software would be great for a couple of years, then the new version comes out. Nowadays, any updates to the software get done through the updates in our subscription. In honesty, I think it\u2019s a money grab from Adobe!<\/span><\/p>\n

Bullet Pointed Findings:<\/b><\/h4>\n