Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Wiki and Bridging the Digital Divide

The Wiki seems like it would be very useful in the classroom or as a school. A Wiki is a secure place for children to work on a project and for communication between teachers, parents and students. I am very interested in learning more about Wiki's. During the explaination of Wiki's I was taking the midterm which I thought was not so hard, but I realized shortly afterward that I had forgotten to do something. Another difficulty that I ran into during the midterm was my computer screen froze not allowing me to finish and then when I fixed it part of it was gone and I had to redo it. I love technology, but this was pretty frustrating.

"Bridging the Digital Divide," when I first read that I thought to myself what in the heck does that mean, but when I read the article it became more clear. The article was very interesting and really gave the teachers and schools suggestions for making technology more available in the classroom and to the student in labs. There are so many students that do not have access to technology because of various reasons such as race, income, etc. Technology enhances education so much that it is well worth it for schools to find a way to make them available to students as well as teachers. One of the most touching quotes to me said, "In addition, labs reinforce the idea that computers are simply 'extra' or 'special' instead of an integral part of the learning process." This is so true I remember growing up and at school going to the computer labs every once in a while and my teacher would base it on behavior. This was really hurtful to me because I was always good, but my classmate had some problems. It is very important to make technology a part of the learning process because it make learning more interactive and students need the use of a computer under there belts to go out into the today's world.

1 comment:

CAyakgirl said...

Hi Renae,
On one of my observations in Oceanside I saw about 10 computers in the classroom that were just for students. At first I was upset that my children's schools didn't have computers in the classrooms. Then I realized that these Latino and minority students didn't have computers at home. This was their only chance to learn about computers and technology. I was happy that they will also get a chance to compete in the technology marketplace one day.
Tristen