Another Digital Divide: Rural Art Teachers' Technology Access Today

• In Event: 54.080 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 54.080-15 - Opportunities and Challenges for Technology in the Arts

Abstract

Rural students may be disadvantaged versus their urban peers in terms of access to arts resources. A museum of American art partnered with an online course provider to create two online courses for high school students - on art appreciation and studio art. Teacher training was performed and evaluated through qualitative analysis. Results showed that rural art teachers face a new digital divide, between arts and tested core content. Also, rural schools often use low-end computers that cannot run online courses. Recommendations include rural schools balancing purchases of quantity and quality of technology as well as recognition of the important impact of the arts on core content areas.

Authors

• Scott Joseph Warren, University of North Texas

• Dennis Beck, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville