Digital Diversity

Description

Digital Diversity: Youth, Equity, and Information Technology is about youth, schools, and the use of technology. Youth are instrumental in finding novel ways to access and use technology. They are directly affected by changes such as the proliferation of computers in schools and elsewhere, and the increasingly heavy use of the Internet for both information sharing and for communication.

The contributors to this volume investigate how the resources provided by information and communication technology (ICT) are made available to different groups of young people (as defined by gender, race, rural location, Aboriginal status, street youth status) and how they do (or do not) develop facility and competence with this technology. How does access vary for these different groups of youth? Which young people develop facility with ICT? What impact has this technology had on their learning and their lives? These are among the issues examined. Youth from a wide variety of settings are included in the study, including Inuit youth in the high arctic.

Rather than mandate how youth should/could better use technology (as much of the existing literature does) the contributors focus on how youth and educators are actually using technology. By paying attention to the routine use and understandings of ICTs by youth and those teaching youth, the book highlights the current gaps in policy and practice. It challenges assumptions around the often taken-for-granted links between technology, pedagogy, and educational outcomes for youth in order to highlight a range of important equity issues.

Sujets

• Education
• Cultural Studies

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 04 août 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554582860
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

DIGITAL DIVERSITY
DIGITAL DIVERSITY
Youth, Equity, and Information Technology

E. Dianne Looker and Ted D. Naylor, editors
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Digital diversity : youth, equity, and information technology/E. Dianne Looker and Ted D. Naylor, editors.
Includes bibliographical references and index. Also available in electronic format. ISBN 978-1-55458-185-6
1. Technology and youth-Canada. 2. Educational technology-Canada. 3. Computer literacy-Canada. I. Looker, Ellen Dianne II. Naylor, Ted D. (Ted Dewar), [date]
LC149.5.D54 2010 373.133 4 C2010-900910-X
ISBN 978-1-55458-203-7 Electronic format.
1. Technology and youth-Canada. 2. Educational technology-Canada. 3. Computer literacy-Canada. I. Looker, Ellen Dianne II. Naylor, Ted D. (Ted Dewar), [date]
LC149.5.D54 2010a 373.133 4 C2010-900911-8
Cover design by David Drummond using images from Shutterstock. Text design by Brenda Prangley.
2010 Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo, Ontario, Canada www.wlupress.wlu.ca
This book is printed on FSC recycled paper and is certified Ecologo. It is made from 100% post-consumer fibre, processed chlorine free, and manufactured using biogas energy.
Printed in Canada
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Table of Contents
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
CHAPTER 1
Introduction - E. Dianne Looker and Ted D. Naylor
CHAPTER 2
Digital Distance: Geographic and Cultural Divides in Access and Use of Computers and the Internet - E. Dianne Looker
CHAPTER 3
Bridging and Bonding Social Capital: Computer and Internet Use among Youth in Relation to Their Cultural Identities - Victor Thiessen and E. Dianne Looker
CHAPTER 4:
Gendered Technologies as Divide, Diversity, and Distraction - Brian Lewis Campbell and Alyssa Henning
CHAPTER 5
In the Ditch or on the Proverbial Information Highway : An Investigation of Equity and Technological Literacies in the Preparation and Practice of Teachers - Ted D. Naylor and Blye W. Frank
CHAPTER 6
Maybe It s Not the Teachers? Investigating the Problem of ICT Integration into Education - E. Dianne Looker and Ted D. Naylor
CHAPTER 7
Being hooked up : Exploring the Experiences of Street Youth and Information Technologies - Jeff Karabanow and Ted D. Naylor
CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX
List of Tables and Figures
LIST OF TABLES
1.1 Survey respondents by gender
1.2 High school student respondent characteristics
1.3 Teacher respondent characteristics
2.1 Type of Internet connection at home by rural-urban location in Nova Scotia
2.2 Average time spent on different computers by rural-urban location and type of connection in Nova Scotia
2.3 Average skill levels and self-reported competence, Nova Scotia, by rural-urban location and home connectivity
2.4 Multiple regression analysis of (a) computer skills and (b) self-reported competence, Nova Scotia
2.5 Home access to ICT by north-south and rural-urban location
2.6 Home access to ICT by rural-urban location and ethnicity in Nunavut
2.7 Multiple regression analysis of home ICT access in Nunavut, all respondents and Inuit only
2.8 Hours spent using ICT by rural-urban location and ethnicity in Nunavut
2.9 Multiple regression of total time spent on computers in Nunavut, all respondents and Inuit only
2.10 Mean skill levels by rural-urban location and ethnicity in Nunavut
2.11 Multiple regression of self-reported computer skills in Nunavut, all respondents and Inuit only
2.12 Multiple regression of self-reported competence with ICT in Nunavut, all respondents and Inuit only
3.1 Mean ICT competence, skill, and disposition by cultural identity
3.2 Traditional culture and the Internet
3.3 Communication via the Internet by first language
4.1 Most common use of the Internet by gender for Nunavut and Nova Scotia
4.2 Interpersonal communication technology use of at least a few times a week by gender for Nunavut and Nova Scotia
4.3 Website and web log use creation by gender for Nunavut and Nova Scotia
4.4 Game orientation and frequency by gender for Nunavut and Nova Scotia
4.5 Technology use cluster groups by gender for Nunavut and Nova Scotia
4.6 Computer and Internet high-level skills by gender for Nunavut and Nova Scotia
4.7 Confidence in ability to create web pages by actual web-page creation and gender for Nova Scotia
4.8 Mean self-rating of skill level by gender for Nunavut and Nova Scotia
4.9 High computer and Internet skills by grades and gender for Nova Scotia
4.10 High computer and Internet skills by grades for Nunavut
4.11 High self-rating of computer skills by grades in Nova Scotia
4.12 High self-rating of computer skills by grades in Nunavut
4.13 Computer use by grades and gender for Nova Scotia
4.14 Communication-gaming cluster groups by grades and gender for Nunavut
4.15 Communication-gaming cluster groups by grades and gender for Nova Scotia
6.1 Use of ICT by teachers in class for student learning
6.2 Teacher use of ICT for other tasks
6.3 Teacher attitudes to ICT
6.4 Student teacher attitudes to ICT
6.5 Teacher-reported needs to use ICT more effectively in classes
6.6 Teacher concerns with ICT
LIST OF FIGURES
3.1 Home ICT configuration by cultural identity
3.2 Learning medium preferences by cultural identity
3.3 Perceived effectiveness of learning mediums by cultural identity
3.4 Accessed information on own cultural group in the last month
3.5 Accessed information about other cultural groups in the last month
5.1 Ratio of students to all computers in Nova Scotia across school boards
5.2 Classrooms with three or more current computers in Nova Scotia
Chapter 1 Introduction
E. Dianne Looker Ted D. Naylor
This book is about youth. The focus on youth reflects our recognition that young people are at the forefront of change as we move more solidly into the twenty-first century. They are initiating and developing change through regular access and use of technology in ways that are thought to be novel in relation to previous generations. In addition, youth are more deeply affected than older age groups by some of the key changes taking place, including the incredible proliferation of computers and the increasingly heavy use of the Internet for both information sharing and for communication.
We are interested in understanding how the tools and resources provided by information and communication technology (ICT) are made available to young people and how different groups of youth do (or don t) develop facility and competence with this technology. Many argue that computers constitute the new literacy (Snyder 1998), at least for youth. This belief is reflected in the incredible investments that have been made in ICT in schools. Giving all students access to this technology and the skills to use it effectively is seen as key to Canada s success in the global, information-based economy. The questions we address in this book include how this access varies for different groups of youth, which young people develop facility with ICT, and what impact this technology has had on their learning and their lives.
The term information and communication technology can cover a wide range of technologies, from telephones and televisions to text messaging on cell phones. Because of our interest in the link between government policies on ICT and education, we are focusing on just the two related components of ICT that we believe are most central to teaching and learning practices: computers and the Internet.
We are interested in how and where youth use these technologies and what impact these technologies have for different subgroups of youth while recognizing also that youth have an impact on the development and use of technology. We are also interested in how these technologies are being used within the domain of education, and how student teachers and current teachers are using technology for educational purposes and routine classroom use.
Throughout the book, contributors are critical of the linkages made between technology and fundamental change in either the education system or pedagogical outcomes. Accordingly, we draw attention to how technology is actually being used by educators, students, and teachers. To date, use remains largely at the level of low skills and tasks, not deeply integrated into curriculum and pedagogy as originally imagined by proponents of ICT integrated education. We argue that what is required, in part, is a more systemic educational and pedagogical consensus around the links between ICT, teaching practices, and educational outco