Digital Literacies, Access, and College Readiness Among Mexican-Origin College Students on the U.S.-Mexico Border

• In Event: 41.060 - Forms of Capital: Latinas/os Overcoming Institutional Barriers

Abstract

Based on a two-year ethnographic study of a freshman pre-engineering course at a university on the U.S.-Mexico border, this paper draws on sociocultural theories of literacy and learning to: (1) identify a situated view of the “digital divide” based on the lived experiences of Mexican-origin student participants; and (2) analyze how a situated view of the digital divide shapes different forms of digital literacy. In this paper, we examine the significance of the digital divide and different forms of digital literacy on students’ sense of their own college-readiness with particular attention paid to how students’ view, talk about, and manage “college readiness” and the transition from high school work to university work.

Authors

• Christina Convertino, The University of Texas - El Paso

• Erika L. Mein, The University of Texas - El Paso

• Angelica Monarrez, University of Texas at El Paso