Response to Intro. and Ch. 1

I will be responding to the Introduction and first chapter of Richard Beach’s textbook, teachingmedialiteracy.com. There was one area specifically that I connected with during my reading, the “Advantages of Using the Web” section of the Introduction.

In the “Advantages…” section, Mr. Beach stated that his students “can readily access visual images, video clips, magazines, and newspapers on the web anytime and anywhere.” While I do not disagree with this out of hand, I do think that there are limitations that he does not address.
The first is that of socio-economic status. A percentage of students at my school do not have access to a home computer because their family is a new immigrant family. They are working to attain funds to support the basic necessities of food, shelter, and clothing; they often cannot even afford medical insurance, let alone a computer. This problem is further exacerbated by the current economy. Yes, families can go to the local public library and sign up for computer time, but that does not help those who have few if any transportation options, like a high school freshman who’s parents work nights with only one vehicle.

Another related issue, at least at my school, is that of limited in-school computer facilities. My school has three computer labs; two have thirty computers, one has seven. None of the labs is large enough for all students to have their own computer. Often a class cannot get into a lab because they are full months in advance.

My district has a “big brother” Internet policy. Many websites are blocked; even the Lego website, which I would’ve used for my Lego/Computer Club. A teacher needs to fill out a request form, submit it to his or her building principal, the principal then sends it to the district office and, after review, the site can be unblocked. The process takes, at minimum, three days. By that time the website the teacher wished to use could have changed or been deleted. Also, the process can work in reverse; a teacher can request that a particular site be blocked just as easily.

Finally, there is a person at the district office whose sole job is to monitor computer usage at all schools. I had my students in the lab a few years ago; they were typing research papers. When the students were done I allowed them to go to an educational website and play. As any good educator would, I walked around and monitored. No student was on what I would’ve considered a questionable website. The phone in the lab rang; I answered it. It was the district computer person asking me who was on computers 13 and 21 and what they were doing. I told the district monitor that they were playing an educational game. He told me that I needed to have them get off the computers because they were playing streaming games, which apparently wasn’t allowed. When I looked in our staff handbook I saw nothing about online streaming anything. I am amazed that a district can afford to pay an administrative position to sit and watch computer usage, but can not or will not purchase enough computers or bandwidth!

I would love to have my students have as much access to computer media as Mr. Beach’s students do. Until such a time as the economy improves and more students have home access, or the district gets serious about upgrading their technology and changing their archaic policies I will need to make do with what little I’m provided.