Wednesday, April 26, 2006

ICT use by school children

An interesting post on Derek’s blog. I have had some exposure to the issue of ICT in schools and find that teachers constantly raise the argument that many children do not have access to computers/the Internet at home. This would seem to be at odds with the findings of this research.

Off the top of my head, this could mean one of two things (although there are no doubt other possibilities I haven’t thought of):

  1. the research is inaccurate due to an unreliable sample group, or
  2. it’s time we stopped hiding behind this excuse and identified the real problem
A possible candidate for the “real problem” comes elsewhere in Derek’s post:
Teachers have not had training in developing these uses of ICT, therefore do not have extensive understanding of what this might involve and are fearful about the potential impact on their time of home-school ICT links.

2 comments:

Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher said...

Also, kids have several great little computers, many of which ARE hooked to the Internet -- they are called Xboxes, entertainment systems, PDA's, iPods (which gotta synch w/ something), and cell phones (which now surf the net.)

This whole issues transcends computing by a long shot. The computer issue has bypassed us and now we're talking about not only ignoring computers but all of the other methods that CONNECT kids with their peers.

Most kids have access to the public library as well. I think many teachers are hiding behind "ubiquitous access" because they don't know how to use it themselves.

Great post! (Thanks for the birthday wish!)

Anonymous said...

"I think many teachers are hiding behind "ubiquitous access" because they don't know how to use it themselves."

I'm glad it was a teacher who said that - albeit an American one - but I think your point probably crosses the ocean fairly well!