Digital equity is a complex and multifaceted concept. It includes not only access to hardware, software, and connectivity to the Internet but also meaningful, high-quality, and culturally relevant content in local languages, and the ability to create, share, and exchange knowledge. Participatory citizenship in the digital era involves the right to access and participate in higher education. Indeed, it is a key civil rights issue of the modern world. This editorial provides the context in which the articles in this special issue are located.

Mobile learning anytime, anywhere: What are our students doing?

The enigmatic and richly illustrative tarot deck reveals a host of strange and iconic mages, such as The Tower, The Wheel of Fortune, The Hanged Man and The Fool: over which loom the terrifying figures of Death and The Devil. The 21 numbered playing cards of tarot have always exerted strong fascination, way beyond their original purpose, and the multiple resonances of the deck are ubiquitous. From T S Eliot and his ‘wicked pack of cards’ in “The Waste Land” to the psychic divination of Solitaire in Ian Fleming’s “Live and Let Die” and from the satanic novels of Dennis Wheatley to the deck's adoption by New Age practitioners, the cards have in modern times become inseparably connected to the occult. They are now viewed as arguably the foremost medium of prophesying and foretelling. Yet, as the author shows, originally the tarot were used as recreational playing cards by the

Space, time and movement have particular meanings and significance for Australian prisoners attempting higher education while incarcerated. In a sense, the prison is another ‘world’ or ‘country’ with its own spatial and temporal arrangements and constraints for incarcerated university students. The contemporary digital university typically presupposes a level of mobility and access to mobile communication technologies which most Australian prisoners cannot access. This article examines the immobility of incarcerated students and their attempts to complete tertiary and pre-tertiary distance education courses without direct internet access. Drawing on critical mobilities theory, this article also explores attempts to address this digital disconnection of incarcerated students and where such interventions have been frustrated by movement issues within the prison. Prison focus group data suggest the use of modified digital learning technologies in prisons needs to be informed by a critical approach to the institutional processes and practices of this unique and challenging learning environment. This article also highlights the limitations and contradictions of painful immobilisation as a core strategy of Australia’s modern, expanding penal state, which encourages rehabilitation through education, while effectively cutting prisoners off from the wider digital world.

Virtual reality has the potential to vastly improve the experience of education for incarcerated learners, particularly those with limited levels of numeracy and literacy. It is estimated that nearly two-thirds of prisoners in New Zealand lack the functional numeracy and literacy they need to fully participate in everyday life. Many have had sub-optimal experiences with formal education, often leaving early and disengaging fully with education. Many more suffer from a range of learning challenges brought about by traumatic brain injury, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and a range of other conditions.The Methodist Mission Southern was contracted by the Department of Corrections New Zealand to deliver intensive literacy and numeracy training to prisoners in one of the country’s southernmost prisons. They have partnered with Animation Research Limited to design and deliver a literacy and numeracy program contextualized within a virtual mechanic’s workshop using virtual reality and tablet technologies.Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with participants and was analyzed using a thematic analysis. Gains in literacy and numeracy were also identified through a standardized literacy and numeracy assessment tool. Initial results from the pilot project are encouraging with all participants showing gains in their literacy and/or numeracy scores. Learner engagement was heightened, with all reporting positively about the program. Future iterations of the project are planned to accommodate higher-level learners and alternate scenarios.