A Digital Divide? The Research Says No!
Aidan Rooney, CM writes, “Recent research informs us that web 2.0 (social networking, blogging, web- and pod-casting, video) skills are being learned by low-income students at a rate similar to those of wealthier students. Servants of the poor need to look into this. What the research says about education can be applied to formation, youth work, catechesis, etc.”
Read and article and watch a video HERE.
Share your reactions to his question about implications for formation, youth work, catechesis, etc. by clicking on the commment button for this post.
For other views
- Wikipedia “Digital Divide”
- DigitalDivide.org – 7 Fallicies about digital divide; 9 Truths
- The Digital Divide Network
- Jacob Nielson on the Three Stages of the Digital Divide – economic, useability and empowerment divides
- CNET on the Digital Divide
- Pew Internet in America Study
Tags: Aidan Rooney, digital divide, Youth
Here is another finding worth thinking about in the context of attempts to address the digital divide: The New York Times reported earlier this month of a survey of families in Romania who had been given vouchers for the purchase of computers for their children. “It turns out that kids in households lucky enough to get computer vouchers spent a lot less time watching TV — but that’s where the good news ends. ‘Vouchered’ kids also spent less time doing homework, got lower grades and reported lower educational aspirations than the ‘unvouchered’ kids.” The article went on to suggest that “If we really want to help poor kids, …we may want to focus on approaches that provide structured, supervised access through after-school programs or subsidies that bring technology into low-income schools. But just giving kids computers? Might as well just ship them PlayStations.” (The NYT article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/weekinreview/15read.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.) Here, here!2 Comments
Here is another finding worth thinking about in the context of attempts to address the digital divide: The New York Times reported earlier this month of a survey of families in Romania who had been given vouchers for the purchase of computers for their children. “It turns out that kids in households lucky enough to get computer vouchers spent a lot less time watching TV — but that’s where the good news ends. ‘Vouchered’ kids also spent less time doing homework, got lower grades and reported lower educational aspirations than the ‘unvouchered’ kids.” The article went on to suggest that “If we really want to help poor kids, …we may want to focus on approaches that provide structured, supervised access through after-school programs or subsidies that bring technology into low-income schools. But just giving kids computers? Might as well just ship them PlayStations.” (The NYT article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/weekinreview/15read.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.)
Here, here!