Starting a new class is always an interesting and exciting experience and a course on Internet Learning Resources is right up my alley. It is my firm belief that one of the biggest impacts of the Internet is that it makes information easily accessible to anyone. One of the biggest issues that people have always had in education is universal accessibility.
People's place in life is often determined by their level of education and for the most part people are educated at their neighborhood school. For most that means that they are left to whatever teachers and facilities they end up with. Although many argue that people all have a chance to make it and everyone has access to education, I don't know if that is necessarily the case. Internet Learning Resources have a chance to even the playing field for many people.
With all of the great sites out there it is possible for people to have access to knowledge that they previously couldn't have imagined. And not only that, for the most part there is something for everybody. Information is available from a variety of resources and presented in a variety of ways. With Web 2.0 tools becoming more popular it is now possible for people to discuss and interact with these resources as well.
Moving through this program, and I am still early in the process, has led me to believe that it is possible to offer and equitable education to all. The Internet gives nearly universal access to information previously only available to a select few. The next step will be finding a way to get everyone on board...
Yes, the net has the potential to make the playing field a little more level. However, I was teaching in an urban school in Milwaukee where a lot of the students still don't have a computer or Internet access at home. I can imagine that some families are still using a Pentium 4, 512 RAM and Windows 2000. Kind of hard to update these computers to use the web effectively unless you know how to find the right Linux distro. They certainly are not on a leveled field yet. They may get all the good stuff at school but don't have the chance to use it at home. Cloud computing means nothing to them. There is always the library but it's not the same as having your own computer.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the answer but to me it's still a case of the "haves" have and the "nots" don't.
The "digital divide" does not really seem to get much play in the news these days. I'm guessing it's still just as bad. I think access really opens people up to just experiencing more of the world. I was giving two older teachers their iPads and showing them the map app and they were amazed by the ability to see far off places so easily. We live in interesting times.
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