Inclusive online learning in Australia: Barriers and enablers

Abstract

While the pandemic highlighted the critical role technology plays in children’s lives, not all Australian children have reliable access to technology. This situation exacerbates educational disadvantage for children who are already amongst the nation’s most vulnerable. In this research, we carried out a project with three schools in Western Australia, conducting workshops, interviews and surveys with students, parents, and school staff from which we identified key barriers and enablers for digitally inclusive online learning at individual, interpersonal, organizational, and infrastructural levels. Our findings showed that language, credit rating, housing security, quality and affordability of infrastructural provisioning and teacher and family digital literacy all could act as barriers. Alongside provision of connectivity and devices, we successfully piloted a school-based Digital Inclusion Studio workshop to address aspects of this wider socio-ecology of digital inclusion. We conclude with recommendations for cultivating digital inclusion for learning at various levels: in the home, classroom and at the point of digital service provision and regulation.