Reading 11

Thursday, April 1, 2010
Reading Prompt #11
RICHARDSON Ch. 6. The Social Web: Learning Together
Warschauer, M., Knobel, M., & Stone, L. (2004).
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Share an idea of two about how you could use the ideas from Richardson with ESL students.

Re. Richardson, Chapter 6.

Regarding Twitter, Diigo and del.icio.us-- even after reading this chapter, I still don’t understand enough about how they work, so I must admit that I am unable to even imagine what concrete use they may serve in language classroom.

Somewhere in the middle of the chapter, as I was feeling more and more confused, I started wondering if this wasn’t going beyond the point of reason-- going a bit too far in terms of ‘piling on’ the digital technology. But then, I may just be too old and too slow. I suppose kids nowadays have a bigger appetite and aptitude for adapting to all the latest trends and applications, and I’m sure a skillful teacher will know how to selectively adopt some of these applications that actually contribute to effective learning.

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Warschauer, M., Knobel, M., & Stone, L. (2004).
Technology and equity in schooling: Deconstructing the Digital Divide. Educational Policy, 18(4), 562-588.

What is the "digital divide?' And why do Warschauer et al argue that this term may longer be applicable. What are the issues they found regarding differences in technology use with ELLs and other low socioeconomic students. What are some ways you could address this in your own schools or programs?

Warschauer argues that the term “digital divide” is less applicable today because the problem of unequal access to technology is far too complex a problem to be understood simply by counting how many students have access to computers or the internet. Simply comparing access to technology leads to misleading results.

In fact, as Warschaur points out, this question of access to technology is every bit as complex as any other of the many factors contributing to inequality in education. Regarding technology in schools, the central question is how technology is integrated into the curriculum. Other contributing factors include how well the systems are maintained.

One of the points that Warschauer makes repeatedly is that schools need to stop seeing mastery of various applications as an end in itself, and give more attention to helping students learn to use them for actual learning and research.