Digital Inclusion

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Abstract

The digital age, enabled by the internet, provides seemingly unlimited opportunities for far-reaching improvements in the daily activities of commerce, government, the individual, and society at large. In this there is general acceptance of a correlation between education and social and economic prosperity with an underlying assumption that universal education and better educated populations will foster innovation, prosperity, and the enhancement of human well-being. This article discusses the impact online education models have had in the advancement of digital inclusion. In addition, it explores the contemporary environment and observes the disruption that advances in digital technology have had on educational models and how this contributes to digital inclusiveness. This is achieved through an analysis of demographic data gathered from 6,000 Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) learners with a MOOC case example used to evaluate the level of adoption achieved and to explore the pedagogical lessons learned for educators adopting a MOOC delivery approach. The contribution made by this study is the proposal of a two-tiered pattern of adoption, which has implications for digital inclusion theory. These tiers can be conceptualised thus: foundational level characterised by access to basic education resources for those seeking to acquire fundamental literacy capabilities; and a post-literate level for those already with foundational literacy capability looking to enhance career or general knowledge.