Digital Literacies and Digital Inequalities: Concerns and Wishes from Elementary Teachers

Citation

Cotnam-Kappel, M., Slezak, V., & Ventrella, F. (2026). Digital Literacies and Digital Inequalities: Concerns and Wishes from Elementary Teachers. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 52(2), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.21432/cjlt29274

Abstract

While research on digital inequalities in education has focused on gaps in access and skills, less is known about teachers’ perspectives, particularly those grounded in their direct experience of what may help address these gaps. Within the context of a larger SSHRC-funded project, this article centres teachers’ voices by exploring the concerns and wishes of 53 teachers working with students in grades 4 to 6 in relation to digital literacies and digital equity. In this qualitative study, we draw on semi-structured interviews conducted during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March–June 2020) to document teachers’ reflections on students’ present digital conditions and their anticipated futures within increasingly digital contexts.Teachers framed their concerns and wishes regarding their students’ digital lives not as isolated issues, but as interconnected tensions embedded in students’ everyday experiences. Their reflections consistently oriented toward students’ digital being, referring to how students are supported and participating in digital environments, and digital becoming, referring to who they may become as citizens over time, surfacing across eight interrelated themes: digital literacies, access, safety and privacy, support, learning gaps, digital citizenship, health and well-being, and perspectives on technology. This being–becoming lens reveals how digital inequalities are experienced as both immediate constraints and enduring forces shaping students’ educational and civic trajectories. By centring teachers’ perspectives, the study extends digital equity debates beyond access to include questions of literacies, agency, well-being, and participation over time.

Authors

• Cotnam-Kappel, Megan
• Slezak, Vivien
• Ventrella, Frank

Reference Type

Journal

Keywords

• Digital literacy