Moving at the Speed of Creativity

Digital Divides

Published by Wesley Fryer in economics, edtech, literacy on January 4th, 2006

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Digital divides continue to exist in the United States between many groups, including broadband/dialup users and the ways students use Internet resources at home versus at school.

According to the October 2005 Pew Internet and American Life report on Digital Divisions, the number of adults in the U.S. reporting they use the Internet is up 68% from 2004. Divisions exist between people who are connected with broadband compared to dial-up connections. Just over half of survey participants reported having broadband connectivity. Access to high speed Internet connections is increasingly defining both consumer and citizen access to a flat digital world of multimedia content.

An August 2005 PEW report on “The Internet at School” reports that “68% of all teenagers have used the internet at school.” This statistic is not anything to be excited about, however, because it reveals nothing about WHAT TASKS students are being asked to do online. More than a third of teen survey respondants indicated “they believe that “too many” of their peers are using the internet to cheat,” which should not come as a surprise when many teachers are continuing to teach (and assign work) in the ways they always have– in the “pre-Google” educational era.

Communities and states must continue to strive to bring affordable (or even free) broadband access to all citizens in all areas, especially remote ones where the economic market incentive for companies to bring such access is minimal or non-existant. Open Communities Wi-Fi is one organization striving toward this goal.

Educational leaders need to find creative ways to empower teachers who are using engaging and challenging instructional methods to help students learn and authentically demonstrate their mastery of new knowledge and skills. Students need to practice and refine their abilities to think critically and solve problems in the 21st Century, not merely regurgitate knowledge and fill in the blanks on worksheets created by someone else for the informational enviornment of a bygone era.

On this day..

1 Comment »

Willie Hull

This article indicates that we need to help educators integrate technology in innovative ways. it also suggests that access includes more than a ‘connection’ to the Internet but how that connection is enriching students’ learning experiences. I tend to believe that the gatekeepers of change will be the teacher preparation programs and the Senate Bills they are tied to. For instance, the requirement that new teachers have to complete some technology certificate course may not be an adequate form of preparation for the new 21st century classrooms and sjills that students need to develop. The question then becomes, can we sucessfully move more teachers along the continuum for technology leaders when the approach is to provide a certificate or requirement to complete? This approach suggests that technology isn’t something that is ubiquitous but a requirement that needs to be ‘completed’- this approach to technology in the classroom may be the reason that teachers are not changing what they do in the classroom, only the method that students use to complete the ‘required’ worksheets.