Journal 4

Technology Divide
Mind the Gap: It’s a high-speed, high-def, Wi-Fi world. But not for everybody.
Cindy Long

In this article, Long talks about the “participation gap” which she states is when students have less opportunities to develop the digital literacy that is necessary for the increasingly technical world. The more a student is exposed to technology the more their experience and comfort level with technology develops. Pew Research states there are approximately 30 million American households still do not have a computer. Andrew Rasiej started a program in New York City public schools called Mouse.org in 1997. The program introduces inner-city kids to technology and informs them how to navigate the Internet and learn how to repair and preserve computers. Brian Crosby, a fifth-grade teacher took the 7-year-old Apple I-book laptops that his school had just replaced and now puts technology into everything. Crosby was afraid his students might feel intimidated by technology once they reached high school so he wanted to bring the technology to them so they would not be intimidated. In Flinton Pennsylvania, Dennis Bruno had the idea of BRAIN- Broadband Rural Area Information Network- a wireless high-speed Internet network that delivered broadband access to Flinton. Not only is it wireless compared to the slower dial-up services, it is cheaper. The network has also brought businesses and increased local economy to the city. Then go to Hattiesburg Mississippi, where Jonathen Willams drives an hour to be able to use one of 60 computers in the computer lab provided by a grant from Cisco Systems. Williams states the hour drive is worth it because he has unlimited Internet access. Through the help of technology nonprofit One Economy, they provided a grant for a home computer and one year of high-speed Internet for Lavonda Gray of San Francisco. Gray spends time teacher her neighbors about technology when she had time.

I think this article was very informative. It opens your eyes about how much of an inequality students can have when dealing with technology. Some students are lucky to have access to computers and the internet everyday at their residents as well as school. Other students are not as lucky and might only have the time at school to have access to the computers. Teachers need to take this into consideration when they are making assignments that deal with technology. If they make an assignment they need to be able to allow those students who do not have access to a computer, a computer to do their assignment. It is not fair for a student to do poorly in class just because they are not as privileged as their classmates and are not able to have access to a computer.

Questions:

1. According to the article what is considered the “participation gap”?
The participation gap is where they have fewer opportunities to develop the digital literacy necessary for an increasingly technical world

2. What are some ways that students were able to get access to computers and the Internet?
Andrew Rasiej started a program schools called Mouse.org that introduces inner-city kids to technology and informs them how to navigate the Internet and learn how to repair and preserve computers. Brian Crosby, a fifth-grade teacher took the 7-year-old Apple I-book laptops that his school had just replaced for his students to become familiar with computers. In Flinton Dennis Bruno started BRAIN- Broadband Rural Area Information Network. A computer lab provided by a grant from Cisco Systems or a grant for a house computer and Internet from a nonprofit organization, One Economy.