Online Educational Resources for Schoolchildren and the Digital Divide

Daniil Alexandrov - Candidate of Sciences in Biology; Head of the Laboratory of Sociology in Education and Science, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Saint Petersburg). E-mail: dalexandrov@hse.ruValeria Ivaniushina - Candidate of Sciences in Biology; Leading Research Fellow of the Laboratory of Sociology in Education and Science, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Saint Petersburg). E-mail: ivaniushina@hse.ruDmitry Simanovsky - Post-Graduate Student, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Saint Petersburg). E-mail: simanogi@gmail.comAddress: 16 Soyuza Pechatnikov St., 190121 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.The authors examine the digital divides of the first and second levels and analyze the use of educational resources by Russian schoolchildren. Several specialized educational resources for schoolchildren are described. The first level digital divide is understood as unequal access to the Internet among different social groups; the second level digital divide means the differences in the practices of using the Internet. Empirically the study is based on two surveys of schoolchildren, conducted in 2014-2016 in St. Petersburg (94 schools, 3,739 pupils of the 10th-11th grades) and the Kaluga region (249 schools, 27,904 pupils of the 6th-9th grades). The results show no evidence of the first level digital divide in the megalopolis. In the Kaluga region, the differences in access to the Internet are due to the type of settlement (city-village), the family structure (two-parent/single-parent families), and the parental educational level. Schoolchildren living in a village with a less educated single-parent are in the most vulnerable position. No differences in Internet use were found between schoolchildren regardless of their family background, school type, or type of settlement, neither in the Kaluga region, nor in St. Petersburg. Most schoolchildren use educational resources, and the intensity of use increases with age. The most popular general purpose resource is Wikipedia; the most popular specialized resource for schoolchildren is Znanija.com. Only a small percentage of the surveyed schoolchildren (about 2%) use the sites that offer ready homework.