As her project for the Fall Action Research Seminar, Sarah Bergman (’15), a Political Science major, explored the digital divide in Bloomington. By partnering with Bloomington School District 87, she researched student access to the Internet in by surveying District 87 teachers. The choice to survey teachers was made because of their firsthand experience with the effects of the digital divide on students. In addition to Deborah Halperin’s assistance, she worked with two members of the District 87 administration, Dr. Barry Reilly (Superintendent) and Cindy Helmers (Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction). Both shared their ideas and thoughts on the matter, and they distributed the survey to the teachers. At the end, Sarah plans to analyze the data and create a report for the district to use. Little research exists on the digital divide in the local community, so this project will hopefully help people in the future that are interested in the issue.
