Access to ICT for financially/geographically disadvantaged Australians

This article on the digital divide for financially disadvantaged families in Australia provides some insight into the extent of the gap entering the 21st century.

The data (from 2002) shows that less than a third of the families surveyed (low income families) had internet access at home and three-quarters of the students surveyed did not use the internet at home. This is compared to almost half of the corresponding Australia wide population using the net in their homes.

The article stresses the importance of home internet access in improving student performance. I would say that level of importance has only increased since 2002 with many assignments/projects in schools these days requiring extensive internet use for successful completion.

In addition, having access to ICT at home will impact on studetns' digital literacy levels. This will potentially give certain students immediate advantages/disadvantages over other students in classrooms that integrate ICT in learning.

Thinking about my earlier idea of ICT access in remote areas, I guess that if all students in a given community have restricted access to ICT then no one has any advantage over anyone else in the way mentioned above. However, looking beyond that specific rural/remote community, these students as a whole may be disadvantaged when compared to students in other (urban) areas. This could potentially restrict their educational opportunities in future (tertiary education for example).