Digital Access

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, there was a sudden shift from face-to-face to distance education in all schools and universities in Saudi Arabia (SA) starting March 2020. Many instructors and students were not technically prepared for this abrupt transition as some did not have devices and Internet access. On the other hand, some households have high-speed Internet and even a device for each child. This study investigates the digital equity in accessing online courses by students in low-income families, orphanages, and remote areas. A sample of school and university teachers and students from different regions in SA was interviewed. The subjects reported that lack of devices/Internet access was overcome by: (i) Governorates donating thousands of tablets to disadvantaged students; (ii) charity organizations and affluent individuals donate tablets/laptops and financial aid; (iii) some school teachers collect money to buy tablets for needy students; (iv) students who do not have devices and/or Internet go to school few times a week and meet with teachers face-to-face to teach them and help them with homework; (v) needy college students are allowed to use devices and Internet at their college computer laps or library; (vi) some underprivileged students reported borrowing a smart phone/laptop from relatives or neighbours and/or use relatives and neighbours' Internet; (vii) Saudi mobile companies offer special Internet packages for students and teachers. Sample regions, types of disadvantaged students and help provided to bridge the digital and distance education gap in SA during COVID-19 are given in detail.

Public librarians –even librarians who only know English – can assist multilingual patrons who are using the internet in other languages including New Americans such as immigrants and refugees. Multilingual Information Literacy (MLIL) is a subset of information literacy. As Nzomo et al. explain, a person with MLIL is “someone who is able to find, read, evaluate, and use information regardless of what language it is written in” (2021, p. 914). In addition to supporting multilingual internet access with MLIL techniques, librarians can also facilitate comprehension of English language digital content. Through free multilingual options in the Vermont Online Library and the internet, public libraries in Vermont can increase digital access for patrons with language backgrounds including Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, Nepali, Pashto, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, and many others.

Online learning has taken center stage in the times of COVID and is being lauded as a feasible alternative for imparting education to learners. In many developing countries, the school education sector, which had rarely tried or tested the online mode, came at the forefront in rapidly adopting the online means for delivering instructions to learners. However, the question remains: Is all well with this swift adoption of online mode? Is educational access same as pre-COVID times or has it been impacted for worse? Educational access (through online schooling) largely depends on e-readiness of learners. Therefore, two fundamental points, viz. digital access and requisite digital skills among learners must be mooted before arriving at any conclusion vis-à-vis the quality and effectiveness of online schooling. It is feared that the already existing disparities in educational access will further exacerbate with the inability to access online schools. The chapter consists of a two-part stu...

Online learning has taken center stage in the times of COVID and is being lauded as a feasible alternative for imparting education to learners. In many developing countries, the school education sector, which had rarely tried or tested the online mode, came at the forefront in rapidly adopting the online means for delivering instructions to learners. However, the question remains: Is all well with this swift adoption of online mode? Is educational access same as pre-COVID times or has it been impacted for worse? Educational access (through online schooling) largely depends on e-readiness of learners. Therefore, two fundamental points, viz. digital access and requisite digital skills among learners must be mooted before arriving at any conclusion vis-à-vis the quality and effectiveness of online schooling. It is feared that the already existing disparities in educational access will further exacerbate with the inability to access online schools. The chapter consists of a two-part study. First part, a cursory analysis of a) how school-closure affects a large learners' segment, b) technology prerequisites of online schooling, c) pre-existing status of digital infrastructure and digital access, and d) the governments initiatives to bridge the digital divide in India to provide a background for the study of e-readiness among learners during the pandemic. Second part, a comparative study for finding out the e-readiness among the learners in three types of schools, viz. Kendriya Vidyalayas (under Ministry of Education, Government of India), the government schools run by respective states governments, and private schools managed by private entities. The study uses a quantitative descriptive survey method on a sample of 250 students from two regions (NCT-Delhi and Bihar). A questionnaire comprising of 8 Likert-type items was administered. The findings were used to extrapolate the extent of disparity in terms of access 10 0 137 The impact of COVID19 on the international education system to online education (impacting the overall educational access during COVID) between the learners of the three types of schools. The study indicates an urgent need for addressing the widening educational disparity due to an indefinitely prolonged pandemic.