During the COVID-19 pandemic, school moved online almost overnight. In Nashville, the public schools got tens of thousands of laptops and hotspots into students’ homes. A device, though, is only the start. Families also need the skills and support to use it.
In 2021 I joined a team from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College that worked with Metro Nashville and community partners on the Nashville Digital Inclusion Needs Assessment, the first countywide study of its kind in Davidson County. The survey looked at access, adoption, affordability, and the skills people need to take part in an online world.
Out of that work came a poster, led by Rachel Hanebutt and published in TMS Proceedings 2021, from the American Psychological Association’s Technology, Mind, and Society conference. It asks a simple question with big implications: what does digital literacy mean to the people in the community themselves?
Why definitions matter
Programs follow definitions
How a city defines digital literacy shapes the classes it funds, the skills it teaches, and how it measures success.
Experts aren’t the only voice
Official definitions are usually written by agencies and researchers. Community members may stress different needs.
Equity needs local knowledge
Closing the digital divide means meeting people where they are, in their own terms and settings.
Digital equity starts with listening to how people describe their own needs.
Why a counselor cares about this
This project sits close to the heart of my work. Students’ lives now run through screens: their schoolwork, their friendships, and, too often, the harm they experience. A student whose family has limited digital skills may have fewer adults at home who can help them handle cyberbullying, privacy settings, or an online threat.
School counselors are well placed to see these gaps. We talk with families, we know which students are struggling to connect, and we can advocate for digital literacy support that respects how families actually use technology. That idea also runs through my current work on uniting caregivers and school counselors in digital advocacy.
The needs assessment data were shared publicly so that local organizations could put them to use. That is research serving a city directly.
The article
Hanebutt, R. A., Mohyuddin, H. A., Roth, R. L., Kissinger, M. S., Karkhanis, S., Knotts, M. G., & Jeon, S. (2021). Understanding community definitions of digital literacy: Findings from the Nashville Digital Equity Study. In TMS Proceedings 2021. PubPub.
