2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Beyond Access: A Systematic Literature Review on the Role of Digital Literacy and Human Support in Addressing the Second-Level Digital Divide

As digital technologies become integral to daily life, disparities in digital access have evolved beyond connectivity to include differences in skills, usage patterns, and outcomes. This is a phenomenon known as the second-level digital divide. Second level digital divide outcomes are also influenced not only by connection, but also by how well people have the skills and support needed to make effective use of digital tools. This paper provides a synthetic overview of evidence of the impact of digital literacy interventions and human supports on digital skills, engagement, and equity impacts. Using a structured extraction workbook that was created for an oriented systematic literature review, 65 studies were analyzed (labeled Included after a full text review). We coded intervention format, support roles, settings of delivery, outcome measures, and equity impacts before performing descriptive and thematic synthesis. The included studies were published between 2014 and 2025, with most being empirical (around three quarters). Hybrid and online instructions were the most common delivery format and instructors or facilitators occupied the dominant role as support persons. A large majority of coded studies reported that human support had improved at least one proximal outcome, such as engagement, confidence, self-efficacy, retention, or task performance, and almost two thirds reported some reduction in disparities for underserved groups. We propose a Human Supported Digital Literacy framework that bridges intervention design choices to equity mechanisms, and we use findings to make actionable recommendations for engineering educators and community partners designing digital inclusion programs. A salutary, which means beneficial, implication of this is that digital literacy curricula should be supported by sustained relational support and explicit referrals and pathways to broadband, devices, and services.

Authors

Sarah Halleluyah Adeyemi Morgan State University [biography]

Sarah Halleluyah Adeyemi is a Master student in the Department of Bioinformatics at Morgan State University. She holds a B.Sc. in Microbiology from Mountain Top University, Nigeria. Her research interests focus on gene expression analysis, cardiovascular genomics, antimicrobial resistance, and the application of computational tools in biomedical research. She is also currently working towards being a Data Scientist.

Sarah has research experience from the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, where she contributed to infectious disease diagnostics and antimicrobial studies. She also worked in the R&D division at FrieslandCampina WAMCO, gaining insight into food safety, quality control, and process validation. Currently, she serves as a graduate assistant on interdisciplinary research projects funded by NASA and ETA-STEM, supporting data analysis and science education initiatives.

She is a member of ASEE, IEEE, passionate about STEM education and is passionate about integrating bioinformatics and molecular biology to solve health-related challenges and promote inclusive scientific research.
Johnson Boluwatife Odumosu Morgan State University
Julius Ogaga Etuke http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2710-2803 Morgan State University [biography]

Julius Ogaga Etuke is a seasoned civil engineer and Ph.D. Candidate in Civil Engineering at Morgan State University, where his research focuses on sustainable and resilient infrastructure engineering. With over 15 years of consulting and project leadership experience, primarily in Nigeria's infrastructure landscape, he brings a robust, practical perspective to academic inquiry. His doctoral research is at the cutting edge of transportation resilience, integrating virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), climate adaptation modeling, and data-driven solutions to improve disaster preparedness and risk mitigation in complex transportation systems. As a COREN-registered engineer and member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, his work emphasizes impactful research and consultancy that bridges structural design principles with urgent sustainability and resilience challenges.
Dr. Oludare Adegbola Owolabi P.E. Morgan State University [biography]

Dr. Oludare Owolabi, a professional engineer in Maryland, joined the Morgan State University faculty in 2010. He is the director of the Sustainable Infrastructure Development, Smart Innovation and Resilient Engineering Research Lab, Department of Civil Engineering at Morgan State University
Dr. Uttam Gaulee http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3010-2812
Dr. Olushola V. Emiola-Owolabi http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-8521-5769 Morgan State University [biography]

Olushola Emiola-Owolabi is an engineering pedagogy specialist, researching active learning in engineering classrooms and specializing in qualitative methods research on teaching and learning – particularly in remote synchronous learning environments.
Abiola Olayinka Ajala http://orcid.org/0009-0001-8848-1843 Morgan State University [biography]

Abiola Olayinka Ajala is an AI researcher for the National Airspace System (NAS) at Morgan State University, pursuing a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering with a focus on Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI. Currently working on a research on climate resilience and aviation security using AI-driven solutions. With a Master’s in Advanced Computing and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science, Abiola has expertise in data science, cybersecurity, networking, business analysis, and system administration. A member of ASEE,IEEE who is passionate about STEM education to introduce K1-12 students to computing/ engineering skills and digital literacy.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026