The digital divide between university students and teachers in Hong Kong

A study presented at ASCILITE 2008 (Kennedy, Dalgarno et al., 2008) suggested that the digital divide between students and staff has been overestimated. This study, conducted at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, investigated the ownership and use patterns of a range of digital technologies by a stratified sample of 689 Year 1 Hong Kong students and 56 of their teachers. The study illustrated that our students on the whole are ‘digitally ready’. However, these so-called digital natives are not a homogeneous group and there is variation both in the level of ownership of digital devices and of perceived acquisition of appropriate digital skills. The digital divide between teachers and students is not straightforward and appear to relate, not to ownership, but to preferences and prior experiences with technology. Factor analysis revealed seven categories of technology-based activities with students reporting higher use and confidence in most areas. Implications for staff development and student-support services are noted.