The “Digital Divide”. It’s a term being used often in the news, but according to the University of Minnesota Duluth’s website, the official meaning is, “The gap that exists between those who have access to Electronic and Information Technology, and those who do not.” For example, high-income, Caucasian, married, and well-educated individuals have more access to IT as compared to low-income, African American and Latino, unmarried, and less-educated individuals (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2000, 2002), according to Bnet. Thanks to the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, the number of classrooms with Internet access went from 14% in 1996 to 95% in 2005, according to Wikipedia. "Enhancing Education Through Technology," part of Title II D of the No Child Left Behind Act has provided the sole source of federal funding under NCLB specifically supporting education technologies. It's designed to support state, district, and school efforts to "integrate technology effectively into the classroom with the goal of improving student academic achievement." Funding for EETT has declined somewhat consistently over the years, from $696 million in 2004 down to $267.5 million in FY 2008. In 2009, it was up slightly to $269.9, says “The Journal”. There are many ways to use technology in the classroom and campus. At Notre Dame, we use Blackboard, WebAdvisor, a virtual help desk and even the library has a 24/7 help line. However, at other schools, they have alternatives at an even larger scale. In Wisconsin, the Sun Prairie School district is considering using Openoffice, a free, easy alternative to Microsoft Office that is available in common computers and multiple languages. Timecruiser, software built for college campuses in order to improve campus communication, implements effective course management and builds cohesive campus communities in order to increase efficiencies campus-wide. Colleges such as Pennsylvania State University, Western International University and Western Iowa University have all begun to implement the software with great success. Even local schools like University of Baltimore have classes that use E-books as supplemental learning to go with the textbooks for classes.
So why bring technology into schools? Technology has many benefits and the digital divide can be bridged, it’s simply a matter of how and when. For example, E-books are an easy solution to a common all college students face: textbooks. Whether they’re used or new, textbooks are one of the biggest headaches that students face each semester. Buying and selling textbooks is a hassle as is maintaining them so they can be sold for a good price. With an E-book, not only can you read at your own pace and possibly skip ahead, there are interactive elements, external links for portions you’re curious about and if you get stuck, you can always print out certain sections. You can’t lose an E-book; you simply re-print copies. E-books would also reduce the budget for the staff and faculty as well, since there’s no need to buy a teacher’s edition. It even puts disabled students on the same footing, since E-books can be placed in special readers.
Speaking of disabled students, assistive technology is one of the biggest bonuses to come out of the technological era. Readers, voice recognition technology, writing software, things to help with organization, converters, portable notetakers, word prediction, electronic tests and many other options help students with disabilities level the playing field and feel like they’re able to keep up with their classmates. One of the newest technological devices out there is Kindle, an E-reader by Amazon. It supposedly makes E-books and various multimedia platforms more easily accessible. It claims to be helpful for the blind and schools have begun to consider using it, but not all agree. There is currently a lawsuit against Kindle and according to Cnet, 3 schools have already “agreed to refrain” from using Kindle DX, after an announcement by the U.S. Justice system. Case Western Reserve University, Pace University and Reed College all agreed that until Kindle is “fully accessible” for blind students, they will not consider it or any book reader. Despite these allegations, Kindle claims its text to speech feature, as well as it’s voice menu and other features will eventually become a breakthrough device for the blind and a positive educational tool.
Aside from just textbooks, technology in classrooms gives students other alternative opportunities they wouldn’t normally have. For example, students morally opposed to dissecting animals can now use software or technology to learn about anatomy and biology. Education majors who want to explore alternate ways to teach kids about the environment or important issues can use Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa to teach them all about the ecosystem, as well as endangered species, etc. Teachers can even have their classes have a teleconference with students from a country that speaks the language the class is studying or have it take place in Second Life. They can even assign projects requiring you go use Facebook, Twitter, Blogger or other forms of media in order to gain and access information. In this day and age, it would seem as if there isn’t just a chance for the classroom to be a place for to learn academics, but social, moral and life lessons as well.
However, this is only one way of looking at it. The “Information Superhighway” is just that and like an actual highway, you’re bound to run into drivers with road rage, trucks who block your path, accidents, long lines filled with traffic and people who cut you off when you least expect it. This is one of the biggest reasons many schools are just saying no to technology in classrooms. Two of their top concerns are invasion of privacy and cyber-bullying. These are the two newest ways to harass peers and in many ways, have replaced beatings, name-calling and actual face-to face gossip. In cases like the one currently in the news about the Philadelphia high school, Big Brother really is watching and monitoring student behavior goes too far. With most classrooms equipped to access the internet, instructors don’t always have a way to teach the class and monitor whether or not the students are paying attention or logging onto Facebook, AIM or even playing video games during class time. When students get mad at one another, face to face name calling can only go so far, but when something is posted on YouTube, JuicyCampus.com, Facebook, Twitter or someplace where the victim’s identity can be identified for the world to see, the humiliation goes a lot further. Not only that, many students aren’t always aware of basic privacy rules and settings, despite warnings and basic terms of service on most websites. As such, they chat with people they don’t necessarily know, add and friend people, use applications that may or may not have security risks and give away personal information without even being aware or it. They even agree to meet someone of these people or give them pictures of themselves, meaning predators have more access to students than they did in the past. It’s a lot easier to fool students than it was before. It’s not just older men and women pretending to be someone without a picture and speaking to a young person. They have actual pictures, fake records that are most likely from a stolen identity, fake Twitter and Facebook accounts and sometimes, they even have false credit card and social security card numbers. All someone needs to do is mention they go to a school and the predator can use their profile picture; they’ll google the rest.
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