Lack Of Access To Technology Among Youth Of Color: An Unbalanced Impact Of Covid-19

Abstract

Anita McMurtry, Ronald O Craig, Komanduri S Murty

Throughout the world, people from all walks of life are enduring tremendous hardship and trauma amid one of the worst disasters noted in U.S. History, the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States reportedly lost over 500,000 citizens to the virus with variants lingering domestically and abroad [1]. Subsequently, the virus and overall global pandemic conditions have had unforeseen changes. These changes included disruptions in everyday life, from the way we work, play, and socialize with others at home and in outside settings. Suddenly society was faced with urgent needs to secure new means of delivering quality education primarily through virtual learning platforms. Learning Management Systems (LMS) were operationalized and entailed the implementation of delivering learning outcomes. Unfortunately, youth and particularly young adults of color, found themselves on the losing end of the technology gap. They not only lacked necessary resources such as updated computer models, but also lacked highspeed internet service and/or proper knowledge for surviving the abrupt transition [2]. Key issues will be discussed related to student and faculty experiences. Specific discussions related to the digital divide of students by household social economic status, as is represented by K-12 data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and other sources. Additionally, the impact of COVID-19 on faculty and on college level youth and the impact of sudden change in educational deliverables as reflected in their qualitative responses and interactive experiences are explored.

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