http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/DigDivide.htm
Riba, E (2002, November). The digital divide. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from Elisabeth Riba Web site: http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/DigDivide.htm
Above is the link to an article titled "The Digital Divide," by Elisabeth Riba. Although my focus is on the digital divide between students of different socioeconomic status, we all know that the "divide" is not just made up of that one category. The "digital divide is a term used to describe the inequality between technology haves and have nots" (Riba, 2002). This divide could be between countries, races, age groups, socioeconomic status, rural and inner city, and many more. In reality, for my area of concentration, I think that the divide between rural and age groups strongly affects the divide between socioeconomic status in my district.
That being said, I chose to start with this article because I think it does a really good job of summing up the idea of the "digital divide" as a whole. Riba also makes a great point in saying that the "divide" can't necessarily be solved by giving computer access to everyone. This plays into the divide of age groups. Just because people have computers, doesn't mean they are going to use them. "According to Lenhart's 2000 Pew report, only 39% of non-Internet users thought they were missing out on things by not being online. 51% didn't think they were missing anything and 10% weren't sure" (Riba, 2002). 51% is an insanely large number of people who think that the internet is not important. For me, that is very hard to believe, considering the amount of time and the amount of information I get from the internet on a daily basis. I honestly don't know what I would do without the internet anymore!
So, how does all of this relate to education and the use of the internet in the classroom you ask? Well, in order to even get technology into the classroom, which is the only place that some of my students even get the chance to use the internet, you have to have teachers who are willing to use technology, regardless of how often they use it on their own. In this day and age, it's crucial for our students to be computer proficient if they are to succeed in the real world. Isn't that our goal as teachers, to help them succeed? In today's world, computer skills are a must for success to even glimmer in our students' futures.
I leave you with a fantastic quote from Riba, regarding teaching technology to our students, "Many people choose not to read for pleasure, however the schools still ensured that everyone learned basic literacy. That's how we need to think of the digital divide" (Riba, 2002).
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3 comments:
Hey Jenn! I like your area of interest. I agree that computer skills are crucial for success and many children NEED to learn those skills at school, because they do not have access to the equipment at home. That means that regardless of how you personally feel about technology you still have a responsibility to teach it to your students. I personally don't like science very much, but it would never occur to me that just because I don't use it in my everyday routine that I don't need to teach it! I love your final quote from Riba...it was really powerful. Thanks for sharing!
Sabrina
Hi Jenn,
Glad to be in a group with a familiar face! I enjoyed reading your post. Your topic of choice will be interesting to explore. Two things...
First, I also agree that it is important for teachers to get out of comfort zones and try technology since our kids are so programmed that way. I have a great article about digital immigrants (the non-tech teachers) and the digital natives (the students) and how they relate. http://online.education.ufl.edu/file.php/2916/Resources/NativesImmigrants.pdf
Second, I also experience the digital divide; however, I don't think I ever knew there was a term for it. :) What types of things do you do with students to accomodate the varying levels of technology? I find many frustrations trying to have all of my students perform on technology projects.
Annette
Hi Annette! In order to accomodate the varying levels of technology in my classroom, I started the year with doing a partner activity on the computers. This allowed students to use each other for help and not feel like they couldn't complete the assignment. I also gave every student a computer help sheet that I typed out. This sheet tells how to do some of the more common functions in the programs, in case they need some help. It seems to work for my students, and it has helped some of them advance tremendously!
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