Can teachers provide equal access to the digital world to all students. If so, what does it mean to do it and what might it look like. If not, why not and what would it take.
First thoughts are of the amount of funding that is needed to provide all students equal access. I imagine that many schools struggle to attain all the equipment necessary to provide for all the students. Affordability for up to date computers, software, servers, etc. is an ongoing issue. Even if there are enough computers for each student to take home there is still the problem of all of them having Internet access at home. Many low income families cannot afford to have Internet service. With so much of the work being done through Internet driven applications the students without access would fall behind. I think we are getting closer to equal access because there are a lot of ways to obtain free software and applications but the costs are still too high to cover every student. Maybe I am wrong. There must be some schools that can achieve equal access to all students. I just don't think we are there yet. Also I don't believe schools should be converting to such a digital driven curriculum. Students still need to know how to read and write properly. I am all for providing access to the digital world and using technology, I enjoy it. I just don't think it should overshadow the classic methods of learning. That is all for now. I now I could go on and on.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I completely agree. I think digital is the wave of the future, but what happens when we lose power or our computer goes down? Do we wait until we have access again or do we truck down to the library to sift through book, periodicals, etc to finish a research paper that is due, weather permitting or not. Life will go completely on hold if we have temporary loss of digital access. Students need to know how to access information without digital access, otherwise, we as a society will be completely at the mercy of the power companies and computer companies. The ramifications of allowing our society, schools, homes to be entirely controlled by another source other than our own is dangerous and leaves us very vulnerable.
ReplyDelete