Digital Literacy to Bridge the Gender Digital Divide: A Phenomenographic Study of the Digital Diversity for Arab Graduate Women in the United States A dissertation presented to the faculty of The Patton College of Education of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Heyam F. Abo Alasrar April 2017 © 2017 Heyam F. Abo Alasrar. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Digital Literacy to Bridge the Gender Digital Divide: A Phenomenographic Study of the Digital Diversity for the Arab Graduate Women in the United States by HEYAM F. ABO ALASRAR has been approved for the Department of Educational Studies and The Patton College of Education by Teresa J Franklin Professor Emerita of Educational Studies Renée A. Middleton Dean, The Patton College of Education 3 Abstract ABO ALASRAR, HEYAM F., Ph.D., April 2017, Curriculum and Instruction, Instructional Technology Digital Literacy to Bridge the Gender Digital Divide: A Phenomenographic Study of the Digital Diversity for the Arab Graduate Women in the United States Director of Dissertation: Teresa J. Franklin The digital divide exists worldwide. One of the forms of the digital divide is the gender digital divide: the unequal access of Internet use among men and women. Typically, women are perceived as less capable of gaining digital skills. Through a phenomenographic approach, the researcher conducted an empirical and interpretative inquiry to map the qualitatively different ways in which Arab women in the United States understand the use of technology in their lives, the skills needed for technology use, and how they define a digitally literate person. The study also explored their relation with technology and compared their experiences in using technology in the United States to their experience in their home country. The purpose of this study was to show the variation in women’s perception of technology and to understand how to design strategies that can bridge the gender digital gap in the Arab world. Twenty women from different colleges at a Midwestern university were interviewed. Semi-structured questions were used to help women reflect on their experiences with technology. The data analysis formed five qualitatively different categories that described the ways Arab graduate women experienced the use of technology. These five categories described digital literacy as: a basic need, a contextual need, a need to connect, a life style, and as an awareness of 4 the Internet culture. The categories describe digital literacy as understood by those women and what skills, from their perspective, a digital person should possess. 5 Dedication To my parents who did their best to provide me with good education, to my sister and my coach who always believed in me, to my loving and caring husband, and to my precious daughters: thank you all, I would have never reached this point without your love, support, and prayers. 6 Acknowledgments I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Teresa Franklin, for her continuous support through my dissertation and my doctoral journey. She was a great mentor and a source of inspiration. I would like to acknowledge the members of my committee, Dr. David Moore, Dr. Greg Kessler, and Dr. Danielle Dani for their support and feedback. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all who participated in this study and generously shared their valuable time and experience. I would like to thank all my family members and friends for their love and support. 7 Table of Contents Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 Dedication ........................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... 6 List of Tables .................................................................................................................... 16 List of Figures ................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 18 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 18 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................... 21 Research Question ................................................................................................ 24 Research Methodology ......................................................................................... 24 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................... 25 Significance of the Study ...................................................................................... 25 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 26 Delimitations ......................................................................................................... 26 Definition of Terms ............................................................................................... 27 Summary ............................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 32 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 32 8 Digital Divide ........................................................................................................ 33 New form of the digital divide. ................................................................... 35 Divide in technology skills. ......................................................................... 36 Gender digital divide. .................................................................................. 36 Types of Technology ............................................................................................ 38 Levels of Digital Divide ........................................................................................ 39 Impact of Digital Divide on Women .................................................................... 40 Divide in the system. ................................................................................... 40 Connect women to their needs. ................................................................... 41 Different technology to different needs. ..................................................... 43 Digital Divide in the Arab World ......................................................................... 44 Overview. .................................................................................................... 44 ICTs in the Arab world. ............................................................................... 44 Connectivity and Internet penetration. ........................................................ 45 Internet use in the Arab world. .................................................................... 46 Arab women. ............................................................................................... 48 Studies in the Digital Divide in the Arab World ................................................... 49 Mentoring and training opportunities. ......................................................... 50 Technology, gender, and stereotype. ........................................................... 51 9 Gender discrimination. ................................................................................ 52 Promising virtual world. .............................................................................. 53 Cyber activism ............................................................................................. 54 Digital literacy. ............................................................................................ 55 Digitally literate person. .............................................................................. 56 Globalization, Migration and Information Technology ........................................ 57 Globalization. .............................................................................................. 57 Migration. .................................................................................................... 58 Migration and ICTs. .................................................................................... 60 International students’ migration. ............................................................... 61 Migration and gender. ................................................................................. 64 Gender and digital skills. ............................................................................. 66 Migration begins by imagination. ............................................................... 68 ICTs and digital inequality. ......................................................................... 69 Appropriateness of ICTs. ............................................................................ 69 ICTs impact on relations. ...........................................................................