"One of the most serious issues that a diminution of the role of public school portends is the problem of equity of access to learning. We see this concern in the discussion of the "digital divide": i.e., the difference in access to computers and the web between rich and poor, and white and non-white people." (page 106)
Teachers need to be constantly aware that some of their students may not have access to the Internet at home or they could have a computer that is really old so it takes a long time to load or do anything on the computer. So unless the school is issuing laptops, students may not be able to work on assignments at home and may need class time instead to work on the computers at school. Using class time would take away time from other subjects then, but in order to be fair to all students, they need to be given class time to work on their assignment. I know what it is like to be a student and not have a computer to use to complete my projects with. I was in 5th grade when my family got out first computer. So when I had assignments that were suppose to be typed up I had to find a way to do that. I went over to a friends house a couple of times to use her computer, but otherwise I had to use my moms old typewriter from college. I bet there are very few of my classmates that can say they used a typewriter but I did and it was not fun when I made a mistake as I had to use white out and hand write my correction. I understand what it is like to not have the materials necessary to complete a project. I feel that this experience will help me in my future classroom by not assuming that every students has the materials necessary to do an assignment, especially one that involves a computer, so I will make sure that materials are provided for the class or that there is adequate class time to complete the assignment with the supplies at school.
"One of the most powerful promises offered by technology is that learning will become more engaging. Education will be more toward what people want to learn, and hence, they will be more excited and drawn to learning." (page 109)
I think that students will be excited about using different forms of technology in the classroom at first, but then they will get bored with it, just like anything else. What about students who are all ready up to date on the newest technology, having an ipad that is given to them by the school to use won't faze them especially if it is an older model than the one they have. School is always going to be school no matter what kind of technology it has. There are always going to be the students who like school and the students who don't like school. I also think that a lot of distraction is going to come from some of the technology that is used in the classrooms. If kids have access to ipads or are allowed to use their cellphones during class they are going to and will get distracted. Laptops are also a good way for students to get distracted as they can have multiple tabs open during class and just switch back and fourth between the website they are suppose to be on and the website they want to be on such as Facebook, or a gaming website.
"Technology also can make it possible to access knowledge anytime, anywhere, through the web." (page 110)
This is great for students as they can easily look up word on an online dictionary or they can look up information to anything that they are interested in. However, this can also be bad as it means students can easily send answers to each other over email or chat and they can also look up answers on the Internet to their homework. Parents need to monitor what goes on at home and what their students are doing on the computer. The teacher can only instruct the students so much as to what is appropriate to do on the Internet when it comes to homework.
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