In a message dated 3/29/05 3:31:49 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> > And I also personally think it would be best if there were always an > educational technologist involved, someone who could ensure, not that > the research is done before development, but rather that the > development takes education into account and builds in possibilities > for using new technology in educational ways. I would definitely love > to have an educational discount on one of these. Think what it would > mean to a small group of underserved people to be asked to FIND the > educational uses. > Sandy I have been lucky to be involved in several knowledgenetworks, one of them being CILT.org and the other at NCSA. But it is different when you are not a Phd, and you are talking to those who have Phd.s and there is a vast difference in the understanding of the classroom when people only look from afar and from places where what is called school is very different from. Those who are not in the culture of the classroom, cannot really always create for that group because they don't understand the politics, time, community aspects, and or the permission that is not there for many. The SITE conference is also small enough, as are some of the others that you know who the people are and can connect with them. For many people across the digital divide that is a problem. No one validates their thoughts, understands their issues and or problems. No one understands and the solutions that people pick are picked without their involvement understanding, or input. And sometimes those in the group pull my coattails, because there is a lot to learn from them. If we talk about the differences between communities they may understand that gulf of misunderstanding. There is a digital apartheid of place it is sometimes subtle and sometimes not.I remember the kids who went to visit in a suburb of Chicago and who cried on the way home, because the difference was so huge in what we call "school". Someone on the list told me that kids should not have an individual computer. Well, I worked in a lab where 30 kids came in and usually maybe 12 of the computers were working so I knew how to do peer tutoring, but the time was a terrible problem. Sharing is good, but all teachers don't have behavior modifications that are inclusive of the use of technology. I had to share. What I could not create was time. What I could not do was change the culture of the teachers working with them. Some punished them by keeping them away from the computer, some teachers wanted to control what I was doing. It was a good lesson for me to learn. The interface between me, at that time working as a computer lab person, and me as a regular teacher was different. Most of the men I worked with in the NIIAC thought for sure that there would never be this problem of training teachers to use technology, or should I say having teachers learn the use of technology, because to them if the purchase was made, the employee would participate. Like I said, they had no classroom experience. in 1999 ( old history) Only one in five teachers told a national survey that they felt well prepared to work in a modern classroom. Only about 20 percent said they were confident in using modern technology or in working with students from diverse backgrounds, with limited proficiency in English or with disabilities. PT3.org was born. But it was never universal. There are still people with computers who have had only just in time training , if that. Bonnie Bracey [EMAIL PROTECTED] com _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
