An Analysis of the Reasons and Ways of Bridging the "New Digital Divide" for Urban and Rural Teachers: A Knowledge Gap Perspective

Urban and rural education is gradually moving from basic balance to high-quality balance. At the information age, a new phenomenon in the imbalance between urban and rural education, i.e., the new digital gap, has gradually become prominent. While the "physical gap" of infrastructure facilities and equipment has not been bridged, the "application gap" of people using facilities and equipment is further deepened. The difference between teachers due to different ways of using information technology is an important manifestation of the "new digital divide" for urban and rural teachers. From this point of view, the reasons for the digital divide and the countermeasures for bridging it are analyzed, based on the specific performance of teachers in the application of information technology in the education and teaching process, focusing on the three levels of motivation, skills and use, and using the communication theory of "knowledge gap".