TITLE:
Exploring Socio-Economic Disparities in E-Learning: A Study of Bulgarian Students’ Online Educational Experiences
AUTHORS:
Svetlomir Zdravkov
KEYWORDS:
E-Learning, Educational Inequalities, Digital Inequalities, Sociology of Education
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.4,
April
25,
2024
ABSTRACT: New Internet-based educational technologies, platforms and applications are becoming increasingly popular among learners worldwide. In using them, students and learners are finding ways to make learning easier, more fun and more effective. However, the digitalization of education raises the question of the distribution of digital resources and who has access to educational resources on the Internet and who does not. Therefore, this research will also attempt to answer the question of how economic inequalities become educational in the context of the use of online educational resources. The analysis uses representative data from Eurostat for Bulgaria to show the effects of the unequal distribution of digital technologies on the use of educational resources online. The analysis utilizes Structural Equation Modelling to demonstrate the link between technological resources and the conversion of economic into cultural capitals. Using Bourdieu’s theory of cultural and social reproduction, the article examines how economic inequalities translate into educational inequalities in two ways. On the one hand, the results of the study show how access to digital technology leads to increased digital skills, and on the other, how technology and digital skills lead to greater chances of using online educational resources.