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Vol.12, No.1, 2022 1605 

 

 

 

 

Can Online Learning Promote Educational Equity? 

An Empirical Study on the “Digital Divide” in Online 

Learning of Primary and Secondary Students during 

the Epidemic 

By Liu, Y. J. & Zhang, D. X. 
Correspondence to: Yujun Liu, Dalian University of Technology, China. E-mail: 

2458797570@qq.com  

HE whole world including China has experienced a large-scale practice 

of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, “digital 

divide” induced by online learning has aroused wide concerns of the public. 

Recently, a study published in Journal of Schooling Studies sampled 508 

students from 15 primary and secondary schools in Henan Province to ana-

lyze the influence of urban vs rural, school, and social class differences on 

online learning of primary and secondary students, using binary logistic re-

gression model. 

The research findings: 

 In terms of online learning infrastructure, there are significant dif-

ferences in access to network, network connectivity, and quality 

of digital facilities between rural and urban students and among 

students with distinct social status. Students from underprivileged 

families are remarkably disadvantaged in basic resources and 

equipment for online learning. 

 Regarding online learning implementation, there are significant 

gaps in the teaching methods among different schools and consid-

erable disparities in home learning environment and network use 

preference in the spare time among students from different family 

backgrounds 

 The school background significantly affects students’ satisfaction 

of online learning outcomes, but urban vs rural and social class 

backgrounds do not have a direct and substantial impact on stu-

dents’ satisfaction of online learning outcomes. 

 The differences in access to network and the use of physical de-

vices as well as online learning implementation have significant 

influences on online learning outcomes.  

According to the above findings, this study made the following sug-

gestions. 

T 

mailto:2458797570@qq.com


 

Vol.12, No.1, 2022 1606 

 The government should undertake macro-regulation on the unbal-

anced distribution of information technology resources between 

urban and rural areas, offer specialized support to rural schools, 

and increase the investment in educational technology in rural ar-

eas. 

 Schools should vigorously strengthen teachers’ training in online 

instruction, enhancing their online teaching ability and improving 

their information technology literacy. 

 Families play a key role in promoting online learning equality. 

Parents should keep the pace of learning with the needs of the in-

formation era, provide children with stable and high-quality 

broadband network connection and reliable learning devices like 

computers, and create a favorable home learning environment.  

 

Source: Journal of Schooling Studies, 2022; 2022(2):58-68.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 


