Exploring the Impact of Technology Access on the Educational Success of Disabled Latino Students in Community Colleges

May 10, 2024

ABSTRACT

Southern California’s Hispanic and Latino population is among the most highly enrolled in college institutions, partially due to their involvement in Hispanic-serving duties (Tagami & Reagan, 2022). However, graduating, especially when a disability is involved, is not often discussed (Tagami & Reagan, 2022). This conference proposal addresses the exceptional progress in educational disparity experienced by disabled Latino students in community colleges, with a primary focus on the profound impact of digital media. Incorporating theoretical insights from critical scholars such as Jean Baudrillard, Laurence Tamatea, Michel Foucault, Tom Shakespeare, and David Harvey, this research examines the delicate balance of access to technology, disability, ethnicity, and academic outcomes within the framework of community colleges in the contemporary postmodern era. The disabled community benefits from online educational communities through videos, language, and discussion (Narciso Jr., 2023). This study aims to explore how disabled Latino students navigate the digitally mediated educational environment, drawing on Baudrillard’s analysis of hyperreality and Harvey’s examination of globalization. Simulated environments and global reciprocity influence this era, which remains characterized by images. Understanding the benefits of this demographic in utilizing and accessing technology is crucial.

The research question of this study concerns how digital media in the classroom positively impacts the educational success of Latino students with disabilities in community colleges. Some ways include flexible classwork, online educational digital media, and finding community through discussion boards and online classes (Narciso Jr., 2023). This pivotal research question on the ubiquity of digital media seeks to explore the intersectionality of technology access, disability, ethnicity, and higher education outcomes within the context of community colleges. As researchers delve further into artificial intelligence, it is more crucial than ever to investigate the ongoing impact of technology on educational success. The research question aims to explore how access to technology can facilitate remarkable educational success for disabled Latino students, particularly in the postmodern era characterized by hyperreality, simulations, and the proliferation of digital media. By examining the impact of digital media on an online community of education, one can see the benefits for community college students. The frameworks of Jean Baudrillard’s hyperreality and David Harvey’s globalization provide a comprehensive understanding of the implications of these phenomena on the educational experiences of disabled Latino students.

There are strategies and interventions that community colleges can implement to bridge the digital divide and significantly enhance the educational success of Latino students with disabilities within the context of postmodern social, economic, and technological dynamics. If effectively implemented, these strategies can offer a brighter future for these students and improve their educational outcomes. This study will employ a qualitative methodology, focusing on small cluster groups to interview students about how online coursework has changed their perception of schooling since the advent of online education. The study could include an end-of-year survey, in addition to interviews, to understand how the online course benefited the students. Other methods include mixed methods, utilizing an instrument to understand the GPA of students who enroll in online classes, primarily using digital media to teach their students.

The digital divide uniquely manifests among disabled Latino students in community colleges. They harbor specific upsides in accessing and utilizing technology for educational purposes. Jean Baudrillard’s theories of simulacra and simulations apply to the digital experiences of disabled Latino students, influencing their engagement with academic content and digital media. Hyperreality and hyperrealism refer to Baudrillard’s concept of living in a technological simulation, unlike nature (Baudrillard, 1994). With so much hyperreality and hyperrealism existing in our modern world, it is clear that there is a crisis of representation where traditional forms of knowledge, authority, and truth remain in question, and that crisis manifests itself according to Harvey in various domains, such as art, literature, and politics (2008). However, through the crisis, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. An analysis of interviews will reveal the conditions of postmodernity, as described by David Harvey (2008), that influence the educational experiences and opportunities available to disabled Latino students in community colleges, particularly in terms of globalization, consumerism, and cultural fragmentation. Community colleges bypass the problems of postmodernity and utilize them to their advantage, pushing forward certificate completion and two-year degree programs at the student’s pace (Tagami & Reagan, 2022; Narciso Jr., 2023).

There are two theoretical concepts that Baudrillard and Foucault have based on social truths, representing state-sanctioned knowledge and individually, self-selected valued knowledge (Foucault, 1972, 1981; Baudrillard, 1994). Some studies raise one fundamental question, such as Tamatea’s compulsory coding and education (2019). The question to consider in this study is whether we are becoming more like machines or machines are becoming more like humans. With the rise of artificial intelligence and technological advances in education and the media, Baudrillard wrote that the vast influence of digital competency was tangible (1994). However, the study aims to challenge the downsides Baudrillard felt were probable in his analysis of simulacra. Tamatea’s ‘yes theory’ points towards technological success in early schooling through coding, a way of simulation by machine (2019). Community college success remains significant to specific theories that consider this framework. The research question and its subsequent sub-genres aim to make a unique contribution to the broader discourse on educational equity, access to technology, and social justice. By drawing insights from Baudrillard and Harvey, we aim to comprehend the complexities of contemporary digital media proliferation, particularly in the form of online communities, highlighting the urgency of the issue and the necessity for ongoing action. Furthermore, it aims to highlight the strategies and interventions employed by these institutions to continue bridging the digital divide and promoting educational equity.

Introduction

This research paper aims to shed light on the composite directions at play, contributing to the discourse on inclusive education, informing policy and practice to foster digital inclusivity, and gathering data on educational outcomes for disabled Latino students in community colleges. There is an intricate web of individual and environmental factors in the lives of disabled people, along with marginalized groups. When one adds more of a marginalized community to that fact, it becomes so much more of a topic to discuss, and social models for disabilities are often separate (Shakespeare, 2010). Minorities’ issues cannot undergo naivety, however. It creates a slightly different topic because it is a universal experience shared by all humanity. The world as it is currently known is defined by what Jean Baudrillard calls “Simulacra and Simulation.” While Baudrillard considered hyperrealism a detriment to society and globalization, there are strengths in digital educational communities (1994). The way education looks today is shaped by technology, moving beyond technological convergence and addressing the digital divide. Unfortunately, marginalized communities will be the most affected by this digital divide and will likely find the most success in technological use as a result. Simulacra is especially important in combating the digital divide and promoting educational success among community college students. Understanding how the digital community helps students is one of the main questions to ask during a qualitative study.

Literature Review

The proposed qualitative study challenges the concepts of meaning and truth, making it clear that individuals must possess the literacy necessary to see through traditional notions of meaning and truth. In a world dominated by simulacra, meaning becomes arbitrary, and truth becomes relative. However, communities can come together to determine what is accurate, truthful, and not. David Harvey’s “Condition of Postmodernity” focuses on cultural fragmentation and how traditional structures and identities are stabilized (2008). Cultural fragmentation refers to the combination of multiple cultures rather than maintaining many separate versions, which often occurs in digital communities. Various aspects of society are reflected through culture, economics, and politics, indicating instability and fluidity behind identities and their meanings, which is further exacerbated by the proliferation of media, consumer culture, and globalization. Hispanic and Latino students in many counties across California make up most enrolled students completing their academic careers (Tagami & Regan, 2022). However, many do that part-time through a community college (Johnson, 2016). When researchers add the disabled community, it becomes apparent that this is even harder to achieve, especially when disabled people are not a community that defines itself through culture, gender, or race. Theoretically, individuals in college or community college may have a different viewpoint and success rates due to the use of hyperrealism and its impact on the conditions of postmodernity’s cultural fragmentation and globalization. In Baudrillard’s “Simulacra and Simulation,” it is clear that there are four orders of simulation, defined by hyperreality. The death of the real and simulacra serves as a control mechanism, contributing to the critique of postmodern society (1994). 

Theoretical Framework and Methodology

According to Tom Shakespeare, people with disabilities come from an oppressed viewpoint. A social model is proof of that, and it is logically impossible for a qualitative researcher to find disabled people who are not facing oppression, meaning that all marginalized communities have the disabled community within them, meaning that they are within and without accommodations universally because all disabilities are different (Shakespeare, 2010). Therefore, while a college can cater to the Hispanic community, they are not going to necessarily cater to the disabled community, creating a world that has a lack of free space. Only “barrier-free enclaves are possible,” which community college creates through the ease of digital courses. Researchers indicate that most accommodations occur at the community college level (Narciso Jr., 2023). This universal experience of humanity is shaped by the role of globalization in postmodernity. As Harvey argues, capitalism and its endless expansion and accumulation drive spatial and temporal restructuring processes that underpin the postmodern condition (2008). The restructuring process is evident through the expansion of the World Wide Web and the ability to connect with others who are not physically nearby. When one ties this in with Baudrillard’s concepts and framework behind hyperreality, it becomes clear that the significance of urbanization and the built environment helps individuals understand postmodernity and how there are focal points for the concentration of capital, culture, and power (Harvey, 2008; Baudrillard, 1995). How we view those things through digital media is significant for qualitative discussion. Capital culture and power find themselves through the digital connection of others and the sharing of capital experiences.

Conclusion

Therefore, the emergence and development of AI have accelerated the Age of Reason through the digital community. With the rise of online courses, educational digital media, including video content, online meetings, and discussions, are beneficial for student success at the community college level. As the work is decades old, being able to relate simulacra (simulation) to digital abstraction was an unintended beneficial consequence for individuals and society (Baudrillard, 1994). Digitalization’s existential status unknowingly brought educational ubiquity to the table. Ultimately, hyperrealism influences what people see and know, as well as how nature is perceived versus what the media wants us to see. However, it also creates an even digital playing field, where students can be part of a community while living their personal lives outside of school. Students should be able to distinguish between what it means to be digitally literate and what it does not. Baudrillard relates to David Harvey’s study of the “Condition of Postmodernity” because Harvey states there has been a change in cultural and political-economic practices since 1972 (Harvey, 2008; Baudrillard, 1994).

Furthermore, there are differences in communication, as well as the complexity and nuances of the industries of interest and the cultures. Consider a digital Plato‘s Cave, where reality is discernible through a digital shadow; therefore, Baudrillard notes, “Why speak when we can communicate” (1995). Their place in the simulacra brought them in contact with modernist theories and narratives. The success of community college students remains enhanced through communication technology.  

References

Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor. University of Michigan Press.

Baudrillard, J. (1995). Simulacra and simulation. In Body, in theory: Histories of cultural materialism. University of Michigan Press.

Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge and the discourse on language. Translated by Alan Sheridan Smith. New York: Pantheon Books.

Foucault, M. (1981). The order of discourse. In R. Young (Ed.), Untying the text: A post-structuralist reader (pp. 48–78). Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Harvey, D. (2008). The Condition of Postmodernity. In S. Sidema, & J. Alexander, The New Social Theory Reader (pp. 235–242). New York: Routledge.

Johnson, J. (2018, February 26). Accessibility and the California Community Colleges Online Education Initiative – Lessons learned. Accessing Higher Ground. https://accessinghigherground.org/accessibility-and-the-california-community-colleges-online-education-initiative-lessons-learned/ 

​​Narciso, F. E. (2023, May). Is online course-taking helping or hindering students with disabilities in U.S. community colleges? https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2320&context=etd 

Shakespeare, T. (2010). “The Social Model of Disability.” The Disability Studies Reader. Ed. Lennard J. Davis. New York: Routledge. 266–73. Print. (Pre-print copy.)

Tagami, M., & Reagan, M. (2022, November 17). Are California’s Hispanic-serving institutions living up to their name? CalMatters. https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat/2022/11/hispanic-serving-institutions-california/ Tamatea, L. (2019). Compulsory coding in education: liberal-humanism, Baudrillard and the ‘problem’ of abstraction. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, pp. 1–29.