Today I read an article called "Connecting Across Many Divides: Digital, Racial, and Socio-Economic" by Hinson & Daniel(2001). This article is a little outdated but that aspect helped me to gain some new angles of curiosity on this issue. The article was about a community in Louisiana that got involved with a project called WishTV. WishTV gave a free one year subscription to the internet to all fourth grade families, teachers and churches in the community. 4th grade was used because they had a high stakes standardized test coming up and they wanted to see if the internet access would help boost student scores. This types of internet could be accessed without a modem or a computer. Anyone with a TV could access this special type of internet.
Although the article offered no test results the effects of the program seemed very positive. Both students, teachers, and parents were engaged and motivated to use the technology for education purposes. Teachers and students helped each other to use the technology and find educational resources. Students taught parents to use the technology and parents felt more connected to the schools. Parents were able to check the internet to find out what student homework was and could also e-mail teachers. Overall, the program seemed to be a huge success.
I believe that in the nine years since this article our relationship to the internet has altered greatly. Most students, at least in many large Urban districts have had access to the internet, at least at school, and think of it as a recreational tool. They browse it too play games and watch music videos. If they had it at home I believe they would use it the same way.
The community involvement aspect from this article is something I view as very unique and important. In order to get a keyboard parents had to attend a training and sign a proper use agreement. Although children probably used the internet for nonacademic purposes, I believe that the parental involvement helped to focus internet use on academic subjects. Internet at home can be a huge help in accessing information to complete homework assignments but it's important that parents show interest and encourage kids to care about their education. This community seems to have something that I believe many communities lack. A positive supportive relationship between students, parents, and school staff.
TV and Internet Combination
I do think this program could be very good for many families, especially low income families because not only can the kids do homework, but the families can look for jobs and have access to other things they need.
ReplyDeleteI do not think it is fair to say that many students, especially from large urban areas, use the internet for mostly recreational purposes. When I observed in Fairport High School, which is a school in a surburban neighborhood, the students were always on facebook, myspace, twitter, and any other recereational useage of the internet. So this is not an "urban" problem. It's a people problem.
To increase scores on a standardized test is not why we should be implementing technology. It goes way beyond that. The power of the computer and the internet are reduced to drill kill activities. It's like when I saw companies publish multiple choice quizzes for ipods. Education ruins all the good toys :)
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