Blog #7

The Wiki assignment has interesting because it is a “behind-the-scenes” look at how multiple author sites are made. I have always been told that Wikipedia cannot be trusted as a credible source, which to an extent is true. However, I was under the impression that just anyone on the Web could contribute anything that they wanted to the site. I found out, through the course of this assignment, that any additions or changes to Wikipedia have to be preapproved by the original author before the actual page is altered. Through this assignment, I have also been given the opportunity to experience how a web page is actually made. In addition, I have been researching the acceptable use policies and common computer lab policies for different schools, which will give me a head start for when I get my own classroom.

The article, “Bridging the Digital Divide: A Building Block for Teachers”, is full of important information. In fact, all of the articles that we have been assigned to read have been helpful and eye-opening in a lot of ways. I have created a folder on my computer in which I have been saving all of the assigned readings so that down the road I can reread them and refer back to them as needed. I think that the authors made an important point in saying that, as it pertains to classroom technology, there needs to be equal access to in addition to equal educational experiences with technology (p. 11). In my opinion technology is as important for students to learn as any other skill or subject. I believe that our future will be even more heavily based on technology than it is now. Therefore, students who are not given the opportunity to learn about technology will be at a serious disadvantage in higher learning and in the job market. Unfortunately, in this day and age, school funding is severely limited in most cases. Even worse is that fact that unequal school funding, and subsequent unequal technology access, follows along the same social hierarchy that is already in place; meaning, the schools that have less resources are the school that need them the most (usually the low socioeconomic and minority communities). In America we need a drastic shift in our political priorities that would allow more of our nation’s wealth to be designated for education. Having said that, I really like how the article both recognizes this problem but then shifts the responsibility back to educators. It is, after all, our job as educators to give our students the best education possible regardless of how much or how little we have access to resources.