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Chapter 4 - Social Exclusion and the Digital Divide

Digitalisation’s Dark Side

from Part I - (R)evolution of the Higher Education Sector

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2022

By
Mmabaledi Kefilwe Seeletso
Edited by
Andreas Kaplan
Andreas Kaplan
Affiliation:
ESCP Business School Berlin
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Summary

This chapter explores the digitalisation of higher education in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), where technology is used to support teaching and learning. This conceptual chapter contends that technology uptake and use by institutions of higher learning has been inevitable in the recent past due to a number of factors, with the latest being the COVID-19 global pandemic. Central to the argument of the chapter is the fact that technology is pertinent for the transformation of teaching and learning. However, in some developing countries, especially those of Africa, digitalisation, noble as it is, has resulted in undesirable consequences. Many citizens of the developing countries have been affected by the dark side of technology uptake, which has brought with it social exclusion and digital divide. As much as they need technology for teaching and learning, findings are that factors such as lack of access to internet, shortage of equipment and lack of skills, among others, have proved to be barriers to effective online teaching and learning. The chapter is guided by van Dijk’s Resources and Appropriation Theory.

Keywords

COVID-19crises situationsdeveloping countriesdigital transformationdigital dividedisruption of educationhigher educationsocial exclusiononline education
Type
Chapter
Information
Digital Transformation and Disruption of Higher Education , pp. 34 - 44
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

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