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Advancing Digital Opportunity: A Higher Education Toolkit

Digital Divide Research

Digital Equity Act Population Viewer, U.S. Census Bureau and NTIA

  • View the % of the population in the 8 covered population categories.
  • Zoom to view counties/parishes & census tracts.
  • Use additional layers such as population lacking fixed broadband, computer or broadband, not using the internet, and not using a device.
  • Learn more about the data.

The Digital Divide Index, Purdue Center for Regional Development

  • Measures broadband infrastructure, adoption, and socioeconomic characteristics that may limit motivation, skills, and usage.
  • If a parish/county or census tract has a higher Socioeconomic (SE) score versus an Infrastructure/Adoption (INFA) score, efforts should be made to increase digital literacy and exposure to the technology’s benefits.

Digital Equity Data Dashboard, Microsoft

  • Helps organizations identify areas with digital equity gaps, which may be indicated by low rates of broadband adoption, low rates of education attainment, low rates of computer ownership, high rates of disability, high rates of poverty, and other indicators.
  • View multiple data inputs by state, county, or census tract.
  • Includes current data from the FCC, the U.S. Census Bureau, Code.org, Broadband Now, and Microsoft.

Bridging the Divide: Visualizing barriers to create bridges back to higher education to re-engage the potential adult student population, Katie Dawson and Rachel Lautigar (2021)

  • Provides interactive visualizations of the digital divide in Louisiana.
  • Focuses on adults with some college experience but no bachelor's degree.
  • Uses the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Federal Communications Commission open datasets,
  • Highlights geographical and socio-economic characteristics impacting internet access and technology use.

Closing the Digital Skill Divide (PDF, 2MB), by Amanda Bergson Shilcock, Roderick Taylor, and Nye Hodge, National Skills Coalition (2023)

  • 92% of jobs - across all industries - require digital skills.
  • Previous NSC research found that 31% of workers don’t have the foundational digital skills (PDF, 1.6MB) needed for today’s jobs.
  • These findings point to a significant digital skill divide and that public investments in closing this digital skill divide can generate measurable economic payoff for businesses, workers, and the broader economy.
  • In Louisiana, 90% of jobs require digital skills
    • From LOUIS-hosted webinar with NSC, “Closing the Digital Skill Divide: the payoff for Louisiana workers, business, and the economy” (slides and recording)

The Myth of the Digital Native: How Colleges Are Dealing With Student Digital-Literacy Gaps, The Chronicle of Higher Education (2023)

  • National survey of more than 1,200 faculty, higher education leaders, and students from a variety of institutions.
  • 78% of students said colleges strongly contributed to their digital proficiency.
  • 85% of students said digital skills should be a bigger part of their curriculum.
  • 84% of faculty and 89% of college leaders agreed
  • 36% of faculty and leaders think their college instructors are “somewhat unprepared” or “not at all prepared” to teach digital skills.
  • Only 32% of students feel “very well” prepared to use digital technology in their future jobs.
  • Only 15% of faculty and 16% of leaders think students are very well prepared to use digital tools in a work environment.

2022 Louisiana Survey (PDF, 3.3MB), Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University

  • Annual report on public opinion in Louisiana; The 2022 survey included questions about broadband access. (pages 6; 29-31)
  • Access to broadband and other internet services in the home (high-speed broadband service, such as DSL, cable, or fiber-optic):
    • 75% - have broadband internet service at home
    • 6% - home internet service, not broadband
    • 20% - no internet service at home
  • Access to broadband in home and smartphone use:
    • 75% - have broadband service at home
    • 18% - no broadband, but have smartphone
    • 6% - no broadband and no smartphone
  • “Among respondents who do not have high speed internet service in their home, most (54%) said they would like to have it. Yet, a significant share (42%) said they are not interested in the service.” 
  • Reasons for not having broadband service at home:
    • 64% - monthly cost of a home broadband subscription is too expensive
    • 51% - their smartphone lets them do everything online that they need to do
    • 42% - broadband service is not available where they live, or is not available at an acceptable speed
    • 37% - have other options for internet access outside of the home
    • 35% - the cost of a computer is too expensive
    • 20% - some other reason

State of Digital Equity: Lessons from survey data and focus groups (PDF, 3.9MB), John B. Horrigan, Ph.D. and Everyone On (May 2022)

Connect2Health: Mapping Broadband Health in America, Federal Communications Commission

  • This broadband health mapping platform enables data-driven decision making at the intersection of broadband and health as it relates to chronic disease, opioids, access to care, and maternal health.
  • Visualize, intersect, and analyze broadband and health data at the national, state and county levels.

Online Isn't Optional: Student Polling on Access to Internet and Devices (PDF, 1.4MB), Alyse Gray Parker, Janiel Santos, and Kimberly Dancy, Institute of Higher Education Policy (May 2021)

  • Approximately one in five community college students who left school during the pandemic reported not having reliable access to high-speed internet.
  • 13 percent of Black students primarily use a tablet or cell phone to complete their coursework, compared to just 8 percent of all college students.
  • Over 50 percent of student caregivers and over 30 percent of Latinx students reported some-
    times, frequently, or always sharing a device used to complete coursework compared to only 21 percent of White students.

Mejri, S. & Borawski, S. (2023). Predictors of Persistence and Success in Online Education. In G. Marks (Ed.), Proceedings of International Journal on E-Learning 2023 (pp. 239-257). Waynesville, NC USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

Warden, C. A., Yi-Shun, W., Stanworth, J. O., & Chen, J. F. (2020). Millennials’ technology readiness and self-efficacy in online classes. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 59(2), 226–236.

Gonzales, A. L., McCrory Calarco, J., & Lynch, T. (2020). Technology Problems and Student Achievement Gaps: A Validation and Extension of the Technology Maintenance Construct. Communication Research, 47(5), 750-770.

  • 20% of college students had difficulty maintaining access to technology.
  • These hardships were associated with lower grade-point averages, the research found, and were disproportionately experienced by students of color and lower-income students.

Covered Populations

Bridging the Digital Divide in Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Communities in the South (PDF, 1.8MB), Roberto Gallardo and John Green, Southern Rural Development Center (2023)

From Fear to Confidence: The Digital Skills Journey of Underserved Women (PDF, 2.8MB) by Norma E. Fernandez, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society (2024)

  • Focuses on African American/Black and Latina women’s lived experiences and offers valuable insights into how digital inclusion programs can be designed to fit into complicated lives and meet diverse needs.

Closing the digital divide in Black America, Ayebea Darko, Danielle Hinton, John Horrigan, Blair Levin, Kunal Modi, and Todd Wintner, McKinsey (2023)

Affordability & Availability: Expanding Broadband in the Black Rural South, Dominique Harrison, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (2021). Key findings:

  • In the Black Rural South, 38% of African Americans report that they lack home internet access.
  • Expanding broadband can help improve employment, incomes, education, and healthcare in the Black Rural South.
  • Many households in the Black Rural South lack high-speed broadband because it is either unavailable or they do not have the financial means to purchase service.

Applying a racial equity lens to digital literacy: How workers of color are affected by digital skill gaps(PDF, 2.5MB), National Skills Coalition (2020)

  • While 31% of American workers lack digital skills, workers of color are overrepresented among those with limited or no digital skills:
  • 50% of Black workers need digital skills (17% with no digital skills; 33% with limited digital skills)
  • 57% of Latino workers need digital skills (32% have no digital skills; 25% with limited digital skills)

Digital Literacy In the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Communities (PDF, 7.2 MB), Asian American Advancing Justice (2024)

  • A qualitative report of digital literacy in the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. 

Some digital divides persist between rural, urban and suburban America, Emily Vogels, Pew Research Center (August 2021)

  • Shows that while the digital divide between rural and urban/suburban areas has decreased some in recent years, "rural residents are still less likely than those living in suburban areas to report having home broadband." 
  • Reports a significant desktop/laptop ownership gap remains between rural residents and suburban (72% vs. 78%) and urban residents (72% and 80%).

Rural Communities & Digital Device Ownership: Barriers & Opportunities, Brian Whitacre, Digitunity (September 2022)

Affordability & Availability: Expanding Broadband in the Black Rural South, Dominique Harrison, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (2021)

  • Rural Black Southerners are more likely than other groups to report they lack home access to broadband internet and a computer.

Rural America at a Glance: 2021 Edition (PDF, 13.1MB) | Economic Research Service, USDA (November 2021)

  • “Internet availability and adoption in rural America" on pages 10-14. 

To Reduce Disability Bias in Technology, Start With Disability Data (PDF, 9.1MB). Ariana Aboulafia, Miranda Bogen, and Bonnielin Swenor, Center for Democracy & Technology (July 2024)

Bridging the Digital Divide by Addressing Barriers with Digital Literacy Strategies for Older Adults (PDF, 2.4MB), Hyewon Park, Community Tech Network (2024)

Aging Connected: Exposing the Hidden Connectivity Crisis for Older Adults (PDF, 3.2MB), Older Adults Technology Services (OATS from AARP) (2021)

The American Prison: A Site of Digital Exclusion (PDF, 1.8MB), Kurtis Tanaka and Ess Pokornowski, ITHAKA S+R (2023) 

An Open Letter to State Broadband Leaders on Digital Equity for Incarcerated People, Dan “April” Feng, Ameelio (2023)

Technology Education Programs in Prisons increase Prosocial Behaviors and Computing Attitudes, Jason Jabbari, Takeshi Terada, and Rosa Mayer, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society (2024)

How the Martha Wright Reed Act Moves Us Closer to Just and Reasonable Communications, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society (2023)

Leveraging Data to Ensure Equitable and Effective Adult Skills Programming for Immigrants, Jacob Hofstetter and Margie McHugh, Migration Policy Institute (2023)

  • Adults who were limited English proficient (LEP), low income, and had less than a high school diploma (a group comprised almost entirely of immigrants), 30% did not have access to the internet and 50% did not have a computer or laptop in their home.