Service-Learning and the Digital Divide

This paper reports on an ongoing National Science Foundation (NSF) grant enabling two central Iowa institutions of higher education, Drake University and Iowa State University, to assess the efficacy of service-learning interventions in the dissemination of Information Technology Literacy (ITL). It introduces service-learning, a pedagogy that promotes mutually beneficial partnerships between academic institutions and communities, and reflects on the particular challenges it poses in the delivery of ITL to underserved communities. The results of a 2003 national computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) random sample survey are reported. Findings from the survey data establish some key relationships between citizen activities and access to computing resources, and support broader applications of a service-learning approach to enhancing ITL and civic education based on a sociotropic model of citizenship. This paper summarizes a service-learning component in a Digital Citizenship course, for which students explored the impact of digital communication and web-based access on citizenship. Students studied the ethic of volunteerism, and then provided service learning tutelage to teach computer skills to senior citizens.