For this assignment we were asked to read multiple articles about digital divide/digital inequality. After reading the articles we needed to interview/survey other teachers, etc and see their response to the issues, create a presentation identifying problems within our own setting and discuss how we think it could be fixed. While discussing the results of the articles with others I really came to a new understanding of digital divide/digital inequality.
- What did you learn about multimedia principles in creating this artifact?
For all of the presentations, I have had to give I have been able to put it together putting all the information on one slide. Then I read the slide and explain it a little bit more. While this is effective, it is not the most effective. Putting a little bit of information on the page and having the listener or audience listen to you is much more effective. I knew this but never put it into action so that I didn't have to memorize things before the presentation. Creating a script is something I have never done before, and it made the presentation easier to create and much more effective. - What did you learn about digital divide and/or digital inequality that was new to you?
As stated multiple times in my presentation, I was amazed at the complete divide throughout the world. I know that not everyone in the world has access to food so they wouldn't have access to internet and computers to go along with technology but it was hard to believe that only about 6% of the world has access to computers and internet. We as Americans take this for granted. For most of us, it is almost readily available at our fingertips, and there are people in the world who have never heard of the internet or computers because it is not something that is established in their rural communities. - What do you plan to do with this knowledge in the future?
In past years, I have given students tasks to complete at home that doesn't necessarily require them to use a computer or internet but it does make it slightly easier for them. I give parents numerous resources on the internet to use at home to help their children but as I was reading and thinking about those exact students, I realized I never once asked if those families had a computer at home in order to access the resources. Later on in the year I have found out that some did have computer and internet access while others didn't. I will be more self-conscious in these activities and more aware of my students digital needs. - How might you change/improve this artifact if you had more time?
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the articles and creating a presentation. Looking at the statistics and the answers given by those who took the survey was interesting. If I had more time for this artifact, I might have tried to do more with the presentation. Although I figured out how to add the audio into a PowerPoint presentation and then make it a video in order to upload it to Youtube; there are so many other programs that I would like to play around with that after all the reading and gathering that had to be done it wasn't possible to utilize other tools that the internet has to offer.
