During a recent ION
presentation titled “Making the Shift to Web-Based Teaching
and Learning,” a faculty member raised her hand and asked “What
good is it putting our courses online when our students don’t
even have computer at home or access to the internet?”
Good question.
Schools and libraries can provide computer labs with
Internet access, but to be able to fully take advantage of “any
time, any place” learning, students should have a computer and Internet
access at home. Benson and Wright observe in their article Pedagogy
and Policy in the Age of the Wired Professor, “There's no place
like home and there's no computer like a home computer, configured to
user specifications and connected to a server. Those with this freedom
enjoy doing online course work, those without find it difficult.” According
to the results of a survey by Nielsen NetRatings [link no longer active],
U.S. home Internet penetration reached 52 percent in July—the first
time more than half of all Americans had home Web access. But what about
the other 48%? Benson and Wright state, “In order that technology-infused
courses become tools for communication rather than measures of distance,
educational institutions need to consider policies that ensure students
have the necessary equipment.”
So how can we help bring
Internet access to students without it? One way is to help the students
at our institutions find affordable computers. Posting information on
campus bulletin boards and computer lab walls about where to buy affordable
or used computers is a good first step. Informing our students about
newsgroups [link no longer active] specific to computer sales can also
help. We should educate ourselves about programs like the Illinois
Community Technology Fund (ICTF) that are trying to help rural and
low-income areas in Illinois gain access to advanced telecommunications
technologies
But having a computer in the house is only part of
the solution that will allow students to participate in online courses. The
students need Internet access as well. Few schools have the resources
to be able to provide free dial-up Internet service and e-mail accounts,
and many students cannot afford to pay the monthly fee (typically $20/month)
that Internet Service Providers charge.
Luckily, there is an alternative. Since the end of
1999, free Internet service has become a reality, with many companies
jumping into the market. (Yahoo lists over 30 free Internet service
providers)
Editor's Note: As none of the sites in this
article are available anymore, the rest of the article is no longer
available.
