Theresa Eugenio 21F.034 Project Proposal 10-17-2005 Digital divides exist on the local scale as well as the global scale. Even within a community where many of the residents have access to information and communication technologies (ICT's), there will still be those who are at a disadvantage. K-12 students suffer most in this situation; schools may think they're solving the problem if the infrastructure exists on campus, but, as there is limited time during the already-rushed school day for students to access these resources, they still cannot fully integrate the technology into their schoolwork and lifestyle. To increase access, I propose that the computer labs of the Maria Baldwin School in Cambridge be open and staffed during evenings and weekends. However, just because something is open does not necessarily mean it's accessible; to that effect, my project would also include starting a volunteer-staffed shuttle service. Should the project expand, these volunteers could also provide supervision at community centers and libraries in areas where the schools themselves lack the infrastructure. Even within technologically developed countries such as the United States, and even within generally developed communities within those countries, a digital divide can and does exist. In any school district in which the students do not universally have home access to information and communication technologies (ICT's) such as computers and the internet, it is impossible for teachers to fully integrate technology into their curriculum. It would be unfair to require a student who lacks ready access to ICT's to use them in her daily assignments, but, given the state of technology in society, it is also unreasonable to not train students to incorporate technology into their lives. A school can have a top-of-the-line infrastructure, but as long as those resources are only available at odd times during the school day, the digital divide cannot truly be bridged. There is a key difference between having resources and having accessible resources, and I propose that keeping schools' technological facilities open outside of school hours, in conjunction with running a volunteer-manned shuttle service among these facilities, community centers, libraries, and students' neighborhoods, would take the status of ICT's from the former to the latter.I would like to implement a trial run of this project at the Maria Baldwin School, which is a K-8 school in the Cambridge School District, in the spring. Between now and then I would have a lot of preparation work to do. I would spend the fall making the necessary contacts; the most important step would be to meet with district and school officials to receive approval to use facilities outside of school hours. Once that hurdle was passed, I would recruit staff supervisors as well as parent and student volunteers; if necessary, these volunteers would have to be trained to use the technology themselves. During January, I would organize such training and take care of other logistical issues, such as scheduling these staff members and volunteers, drawing up shuttle routes, and coordinating with any community centers or libraries which might be involved. However, even if all these logistics were taken care of, this project would not be truly successful without detailed input from the students. It must be determined what hours and what locations would be most beneficial to and most used by students, and that would take a lot of research. A survey would need to be drawn up and distributed to determine these things so that limited resources could be distributed in a way that maximizes student benefit. This would take place before January so that the necessary information would be available when logistics were being arranged. I think that increasing the accessibility to ICT's will allow students and teachers to view technology as a tool rather than a self-contained entity. As it stands right now, many members of the educational community see computers as something which live in a lab and are visited for an hour a week. My ultimate goal would be for the distinction between "class" and "computer class" to disappear. I want students and teachers to view ICT's the way they would view pencils or books: as tools and resources that are applicable in every aspect of the curriculum. The first step thisprogram would have to take towards achieving that goal would be to raise the students' general computer skills; this could be accomplished during the first few weeks of the program through basic tutorials on skills such as e-mail and using search engines. When students have access to ICT's as well as the skills necessary to use them, teachers would have the freedom to fully integrate ICT's into their classrooms. These integrations would improve every aspect of the student experience; changes could be as small as e-mailing out assignments or grades and as large as utilizing the internet and presentation software to give the students an almost unlimited source of information and hands-on experience at skills they will certainly require later in their careers. Interactive multimedia educational software and online resources (such as the math and physics java applets found at http://www.ies.co.jp/math/java/ and http://www.ngsir.netfirms.com/englishVersion.htm) could be used to better reach out to students whose individual learning styles are not always suited to traditional lecture and textbook formats. Motivated students could also use the resources to pursue their own interests. Rather than being limited to subjects studied in class or covered by the school library, a student would have an unlimited source of information at her fingertips. Volunteers could organize students into groups based on interests; aided by their group mentors (who would ideally be high school or college volunteers) and the resources at hand, the groups could learn more about their topics and develop a way to display their findings to other groups, building real-world skills such as teamwork and presentation skills as well as technological skills. I chose this project because I have witnessed first-hand what occurs when there is widespread- but not universal- access to ICT's among the students of a school.When access is common, many teachers take it for granted and bear no qualms about requiring students to do research on the internet or type their papers. This makes
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