The Digital Divide

This week we were looking at globalization and the digital divide.



We live in a time when working on computers in schools, texting our friends on our mobiles and playing on a games console at home are everyday things. But even in 2013 this isn’t the case worldwide.

Along with my friend and classmate Katie (she can be found at: http://www.learningsomethingnew1.blogspot.co.uk/) I looked at the digital divides globally.

When talking about the digital divide we looked at what separated us geographically, socially and economically from other places and people. We looked at places better and worse off than where we were.

An argument we had was whether computers in schools were a good thing, and if it is something that should be expected in every school.

We listed reasons for and against computers in schools, we looked at topics such as cost, availability and control.

In class we agreed that having computers in schools the pupils gained from having more advanced education tools such as interactive learning, revision websites and online communications between students and staff.

We also agreed that by using computers at school levels pupils were learning skills that would eventually make them more employable, they would learn advanced skills that could not be taught through a book.

However, productivity and cost were the two major downsides to computers in every school. To insist on computers being placed in schools where funding doesn’t even cover textbooks and building maintenance wouldn’t be appropriate. It would also be a lot easier for children to become unfocused and able to distract themselves along with other pupils.

To finish, I don’t believe computers in every school would be beneficial to the pupils. I think computers are a major part of the world we live in today but I do think basic education needs to be taught. A child that can write 4 levels of HTML but not their own name isn’t going to get anywhere.