A couple of recent posts by Linda Braun and Scott McLeod have got me thinking (not always a good thing) about the concept of the ‘digital divide’ in my school/community and how that impacts my library program as well as student learning.

Typically when people discuss the issue of the ‘digital divide’ they are referring to rural vs. urban access to computers and the Internet.   In Linda Braun’s post, “The Other Digital Divide,” she refers also to the ‘digital divide’ in software access (typically MSOffice products) between what is available at school (or not) and in students homes. She makes the argument that these technologies and access should be made available, not limited or eliminated, in our libraries BECAUSE they aren’t available to teens at home – this includes access to social networking sites like Facebook, to iPods/mp3 players, and to audiobooks/electronic materials!

Scott McLeod’s post asks “would you send your child to school with a laptop from home?“  His concern seems to be would the child feel awkward if they were the only one with a laptop?  Which is a high probability in my school!  Comments on the post are mixed and bring up interesting points.  The ones that caught my attention:

• laptops are/can be a distraction and detract from student participation in class
• puts the responsibility and care of the technology on the student/parents instead on the school for up keep and reduces tech cost to the school
• concerns for damage/theft/liability
• teacher buy-in and training on how to integrate the tech in the classroom
• educating students in the appropriate use of the tech during school
• if it’s just one more thing in a kids backpack it’s just another burden – however, if all of his/her textbooks were on it instead of hardcopy – how cool would that be!
• wireless access?  server security issues?

While most of the comments seem to bring up more concerns than positives, I have to say I lean on the side of why not let them bring them to school?  Of course the point is pretty much irrelevant in regards to my school, since we are a very rural and low socio-economic community – desktop computers and dial-up are are the norms.  I would be more interested in our district/schools developing policies/guidelines for using cell phones in the classroom – as I believe that the vast majority of our students have those mini computing devices instead!  Add iPods & MP3s in the mix and now we’re talkin’!  Unfortunately, all personal electronics are verboten.

Still what I take away from these discussions are that I need to push for technology, no transformative access for my students.  I need to look into the possibilities of iPods/MP3 players and downloadable materials, audiobooks/Playaways, relevant software, online access or cloud computing alternatives, filter overrides/unblocking of resources, etc. be made available in our school library.  Maybe I’m out of touch with my students and their needs.  Maybe it’s time for me to run a student tech and interest survey?!  Shoot, I should have done this last month before Teen Tech Week!  *sigh*

Photo Credit: “Laptop” by laRuth on Flickr

Okay, what do teachers mean when they add the statement “students may only use three Internet sources” in their research assignments?  How do you define “Internet” resources?  This question was posed on our SCASL Ning as to whether or not subscription databases (such as the ones found on our state’s DISCUS Virtual Library and others such as EBSCOhost, FactsOnFile, etc.) are “Internet” resources.  It was further explored in a post by my friend Cathy Nelson over at her blog.  (Please read her post then come back here)

Here was my response on the SCASL forum:

“In my opinion, electronic databases should NOT count as Internet resources. Yes, you access them through the Internet (the delivery method), but someone has to pay to access them – hence the name subscription database. In addition, these resources have already been “evaluated” in some form. When teachers refer to the Internet, they are mostly referring to the WWW and/or free web = sites that any john doe can create. Like you said above, electronic databases collect materials that were originally in print – magazines, journals, pamphlets, brochures, reference books, etc. as well as web resources that have been evaluated and approved to be of some authority. My teachers will allow students to use as many references from DISCUS/subscription databases as they can find, but limit the number of free websites/sources.”

But some would argue that you have to pay an Internet Service Provider in order to have access to the Internet.  True, but your ISP isn’t saying that everything you can access through them has been authorized or evaluated as authoritative sources.  I can tell you that I’m pretty sure Gale’s InfoTrac isn’t going to have an article taken from Mrs. Smith’s 5th grade science class webpage and have it indexed in it’s database.  But it will have an article from Scientific American, which was originally posted as a print magazine, which in turn meant that it had to go through some authentication process before it was ever printed.**

Which also brings up the fact that subscription databases contain information that if found on your physical library shelves would be considered PRINT sources.  You wouldn’t tell a student you can’t use that reference book article because you’ve already got three print sources.  Why would you tell the student he/she can’t use the reference article from DISCUS just because he accessed it via the Internet and he already has three WWW/free web sources?  Remember, most subscription databases contain information that was originally published in print (magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, pamphlets, brochures, etc.)

Bottom line, the Internet is a delivery method.  The Internet IS NOT A SOURCE! Sally student wouldn’t list AT&T as a source, but instead she would cite the telephone interview she conducted with Oncologist Dr. Smith for her cancer research project.  Johnny student wouldn’t list Time Warner Cable as a source, but instead A&E Biography (the specific show) for information he used in his biographical essay on Albert Einstein.

I believe that the real reason teachers put a limit on “Internet” resources is that they want students to use a variety of sources and not just “Google It.”  However, teachers need to be more specific when they write their assignment guidelines.  Instead of saying only three Internet sources, they need to specify only three free web sources.  As Cathy pointed out in her blog, and what I do for my teachers and students, is explain the differences between the free web and subscription databases.   I remind them that they can use as many subscription database/DISCUS articles as they want.

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** Note: I do remind students that articles in subscription databases must still be evaulated, less for “authority” and more for bias, relevance, and timeliness.

This past week the two Freshman Academy/English I classes were in the library for me to teach the students a few research skills.  Tuesday was spent familiarizing them with subscription databases – in particular DISCUS our states virtual library.  Wednesday was spent teaching them web evaluation skills and Thursday was spent learning how to find and use print resources.  After each lesson, students had to use the appropriate resource to find the answers to questions.  For example, using the web find the top grossing movie of 1999; using subscription databases, list three reasons why teenagers take up smoking.  For each answer they had to cite their sources using basic MLA documentation.

For print resources, the second question asked: “In what year did Mark Twain publish Tom Sawyer?”  Before turning them loose to find the answers to their scavenger hunt, the students were told they could only use the Card Catalog and the books on the shelves.  Of course, most of the students weren’t listening when I told them that the card catalog wasn’t going to provide them with the answers.  The card catalog would only tell them where they could find books on the topics.  When one group of girls got to the Twain question, they looked up Tom Sawyer and it gave them the the book info, but didn’t answer the question.  One of the girls asked “What do we do now?” to which I replied “Find the book.”  The girls all gave me incredulous looks and the one who asked what to do blurted “You mean I have to go get the book?”  I patiently answered (fighting the urge to laugh), “Yes, you have to get up from the computer, walk to the shelves, find the book, pull it down, open it up, and scan the introduction to find the answer.”  After a moment of silence, to which they all were staring at me like I was crazy, another girl asked “Why can’t we just use Google?”  Picture me holding my head.  The teacher came to my aid and reminded the students the purpose of today’s lesson was to learn how to use BOOKS not the Internet.  Still muttering to themselves about how stupid this assignment was, they went in search of the book.

What the students didn’t realize is that despite the fact that they “know” how to use the Internet/Google, they answered more of the scavenger hunt questions on the print exercise than they did on the Internet exercise.  Not because they couldn’t necessarily find the answers using the Internet, but because documenting their sources (finding the citation information) in the books was easier than finding the citation information for the web sites.  On the web evaluation scavenger hunt, most of the students only completed two of the five questions…and most had incomplete citation information.  On the print scavenger hunt, the students averaged answering 3.5 of the 5 questions in the 20 minutes or so they had to work on the scavenger hunt.

Flickr Photo Credit: “No Internet” by Graciolli

Another school year is up and running.  I’ve been very busy with training teachers in Moodle and the gradebook system.  I’ve also assisted with almost all of the English classes in taking the STAR (reading comprehension) and TRAILS (information literacy/research skills) testing and will finish up the last class tomorrow!    Now that I’ve got a few minutes to myself, I’ve been trying to clean out my RSS feeds (again).  Here are some odds & ends I wanted to share:

A Plethora of Technology: Trick My Truck – by Barry Bachenheimer – interesting ways to “trick out” your learning activities.

Blogging on the Bay: The Heart of a Teacher – by Bill Gaskins – All teachers should watch this video of a student giving a keynote address to his school district’s teachers.  It’s an embedded YouTube video, so you may not be able to view from work, but PLEASE take the time to watch from home.  You wont be disappointed.

Self Check #260 – by Emily Lloyd – Toung in cheek, “muliticultural” books.  I really love these doses of humor.  I think it would be a hoot to work with this lady!

CNN.com: “Monster mom’ – how to avoid being one” – 7 tips on how not to alienate your son/daughter’s teachers.

Both BBC News and The New York Times have articles about the Harold, TX school board allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons (guns) on campus.  How scary is that!?

Reader’s Digest: “13 Things Your Computer Person Won’t Tell You” – My personal favorite is #10 – get a MAC!  Hehehe! Told ya so!

I’ve taken some time off from the Odds & Ends posts, as well as with reading my RSS feeds. Hey, I deserve some time off for summer vacation, too! However, I’m ready to get back to sharing. Here are some articles and blog posts I’ve found interesting:

Washington Post - “Travelers’ Laptops May Be Detained At Border” – “Big Brother Is Watching”. Just another reason to ensure our students are reading 1984, and discussing the implications of these types of policies to the average citizen. “No, Mr. Smith, I don’t have to give you a reason why I’m taking your laptop/cellphone/iPod. Nor do I have to give it back anytime soon or at all. Just another way we’re stomping all over your civil liberties keeping America safe from terrorists.”

Endgadget – “Local public school students get assigned Zunes” – Students in Missouri are getting Zunes to assist them with their learning. It will be interesting to see the results of the study.

NYT.com – “Holding Back Young Students: Is Program a Gift or a Stigma?” – Thoughts anyone? Getting students up to grade level is important, but at what cost? What concerned me is this statement: “The special classes, which are limited to 15 students and follow a pared-down curriculum of reading, writing and arithmetic, are called the Gift of Time and come with extras like tutoring and field trips to a local farm.” Eliminating arts (again!) as a sacrifice to “the basics” – what student would look forward to that every day?

Washington Post – “The Odd World of E-School Teachers” – an interesting article about virtual schools and teachers who teach them. I’m all for providing opportunities for students to learn at their own pace and environment, but what is the cost to their education? If all of the “classes” are via computers, you’ve lost that face to face interaction that, for me, seem vital to connecting with your students. Maybe they do some Skype type interaction?

Steve Dembo – Teach42 blog – “Aaahhh, the joys of being a teacher” – Just for fun, take a look at these examples of student answers on tests. Boy, I wish I was as creative as these kids when I was in school – who am I kidding, I wish I was this creative now!