Abstract

Over the last five years, we conducted a longitudinal study to investigate a ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) initiative by a New Zealand School to integrate one to one digital learning devices into their learning process. Prior research from past projects has revealed adoption of ICTs give rise to three stages of digital divides in society, namely, digital access (i.e., equity in access/ownership of digital learning technologies among learners), digital capability (i.e., equity in digital/information literacy skills and usage) and digital outcome (i.e., equity in knowledge acquisition and progression). This study shares insights on how existing and new digital divides have evolved in BYOD classrooms with the increased penetration of digital technologies into teaching spaces and the wide usage of technologies by students both in and out of school by the BYOD initiative. Following the same path as the three level digital divide framework, we investigated issues pertaining to digital divide in the context of BYOD classrooms to make the following revelations. First, the BYOD classroom initiative did not end up accentuating existing gaps in access to digital devices and information, despite initial results indicating towards a potentially digitally divided classroom. Second, our analysis strongly indicated the presence of gaps in terms of information literacy and critical thinking ability, which was eventually bridged in the later stage, as students slowly adjusted to the classroom curricular structures in the BYOD classroom. Third, learner-self efficacy has been identified as a determinant of learning outcomes. In the earlier phase of ICT adoption, learner self-efficacy is influenced by a combination of information literacy, critical thinking ability, and positive motivation; however subsequently, self-efficacy influences affordances in various aspects of social cognitive abilities related to individual’s learning activities affecting how learners engage and apply technology to shape their learning outcomes.

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