Brigid Barron's recent study found differences in the style and use of digital educational technology based on income and access to high-speed internet.
Diversity Inc.
According to a new national survey, although Latinos utilize some digital tools, like smartphones, as much as whites, Latino households are less likely to own a home computer or have access to high-speed Internet, especially bilingual and Spanish-speaking only homes. Therefore, television remains the dominant medium to access educational content for children.
“Aprendiendo en casa: Media as a Resource for Learning Among Hispanic-Latino Families,” written by Dr. June Lee of Sesame Workshop and Dr. Brigid Barron of Stanford University, takes a closer look at the Latino subsample of 682 parents of 2- to 10-year-olds from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop’s educational-media use survey. One of three reports released last week by the Cooney Center, it examines the educational media and tech use of the children.
Families that speak only English have the highest income and education and own the most types of digital devices, followed by bilingual and Spanish-only households.
Access to Computer, Internet, Smartphone at Home
Computer High-Speed Internet Smartphone
English-Only 98% 86% 78%
Bilingual 73% 68% 59%
Spanish-Only 43% 43% 53%
In the study, some findings on Latino households include:
Families report their children are using educational content across traditional- and digital-media devices, though lack of access to computing devices constrains access to digital content for many families. Educational content is commonly accessed through television, rather than via the computer, mobile devices or video games. Spanish-only–speaking families experience the least access to digital technologies.
Many parents of children who are regular users of educational media reported that’s how their children learned academic skills. However, Spanish-only families perceive less learning in the domains of math and science.
Read the full article at DiversityInc.
Brigid Barron is a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and founder of YouthLAB.
