Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Lanshear and Knobel

Maybe I missed this in the reading, but I really had a bit of an issue with one section of this reading. I feel they missed the boat in not recognizing issues of access inherent in technology. In other words how can technology be this great socioeconomic leveling force if not everyone in our society has equal access to the resource? One need not go far to see this point driven home. The resources available in school and at home to students in the Rochester City School District are very different than those who attend Brighton, Fairport, or Pittsford. I agree that technology and the literacy needed to understand is is a powerful tool in our society, but it can just as well reinforce socioeconomic divides in our society. Thoughts?

2 comments:

Shannon said...

I was thinking the same exact thing somewhere along the line as I was reading. While I was student teaching in the Rochester district, I had students in my class who were on computers every single day at home, playing games, surfing the net, etc. At the same time, I had students in my class who couldn't even turn on a computer or shut it down without help. Obviously, in an urban district such as Rochester, you are going to have a wide range of students in ANYTHING, including their access to technology, which is a challenge for teachers. I don't have the answer as to how we can bridge the gap between these students, except spending time with the students who lack the digital literacy and teaching them how to use these resources...

Brittany Soper said...

I completely agree. I read an article the other day that said about 18% of all American households don't have internet access. It is definitely not as universal as it is sometimes assumed to be. But I feel like that makes it all the more important to teach these technologies in school, so that kids that may not have access to it at home can learn it as well.