All Articles Tagged "tech education"
Tech is the New Basic
Recently I had a discussion on Facebook regarding technology integration in our schools. Many people still wish to hold on to this idea that our schools should not focus on technology and just focus on the basics. They are mistaken. These attitudes are why the digital divide still persists. I am so tired of hearing this silly argument.
This mindset must be changed. And to be honest I spend a great deal of time trying to do just that. I do not want the next generation of our young people to be the designated serfs of the information age. What exactly are the BASICS? Most folks would define the basics as reading, writing and arithmetic.
So, the idea is that we should not teach our young people about technology but focus on the basic subjects. Here is the problem with that. Do you think those subjects are taught without using technology? What exactly do these folks think a chalkboard, a pen, a book, a pencil or an overhead projector is? These things ARE technology.
What do you consider the basics? What do you consider technology? There is no such line between learning the basics and using technology. This is why I used the word INTEGRATION. It should all be one and the same the way it was when I was in school. I was not taught ‘the basics’ sans technology.
Technology was all around us while we learned the basics. Technology is now part of the basics. Those who are unable to navigate technology will be locked out the same way that years ago those who could not read or write were locked out. Remember we did not learn our basics without technology. A book is a form of technology.
No one said learn how to read, and you can use the technology (book) after you learn to read. No. You learned to read from a book. And now you may learn to read an ebook or an electronic book using an e-reader. Please tell me what is the difference?
Take a look at the comments from a PhD student in Carnegie Mellon’s Computer science department regarding the teaching of computer science in our schools. These comments are from a recent study:
The point is not that every student needs to become a computer scientist, but that all students have the basic knowledge they need to understand an increasingly technological world, said Leigh Ann Sudol, a PhD student in Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Science Department and another study co-author.
What is considered basic has changed and technology is the new basic!
Kai Dupé is a doctoral student at Pepperdine University where he is conducting research on Why African American Males Are Underrepresented in Computing. Kai can be reached by email at kai.dupe@kaidupe.com or by visiting his website at www.
In 2011, A Tech Education Will Only Cost You $0
Don’t let lack of money stop you from reaching your goals! This is the advice I share most often with young African-American technology aspirants. There is an abundance of opportunities available today for those interested in computing careers that were not available when I started my career in 1982.
For example, today there is free software available. That was not the case in 1982. In fact, I can remember struggling in one of my early programming classes because I could not afford a copy of the required software, Borland’s Turbo Pascal. My problem was lack of money. Today, there are many options for not only acquiring free software, but also for a free technology education.
Today companies such as Microsoft are looking to strengthen the pipeline of future technoloists in order to keep fill future technology jobs. As a result, students are alllowed to download free copies of development software from their DreamSpark website. The DreamSpark website states: “DreamSpark is about giving students Microsoft Professional Tools at no charge.” Unbelievable!
For the last few years there has been much in the media about how America is falling behind the rest of the world in terms the numbers of students who are majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). It has been written that what makes the most sense is to tap those groups that have been historicallly under represented in STEM: minorities and women.
One of the factors cited for the lack of adoption of technology in America is wealth. As such, many organizations have stepped up to provide opportunities to increase the participation of low-income families in technology. One such company is Comcast with their Internet Essentials program. Although the traditional digital divide (at least the definition that has to do with physical machines), has narrowed, a gap still persists.
The Internet Essentials program brings the power of the web to more students and more families all across the country. This program offers home Internet service for less than $10.00 a month. The program helps families connect to the Internet for less in 4 principal ways:
1. Internet service for only $9.95 a month, plus tax
2. No price increases or pay activation or equipment rental fees
3. The option to buy a computer at initial enrollment for the low price of just $149.99 + tax
4. Free Internet training–online, in print and in person.
Can you beleive that? You can get a computer for approximately $150.00 and it can be connected to the web for $9.95 a month. As soon as you get connected, navigate on over to the DreamSpark and download your software and you are in business my friend. In my opinion, these are the two most important pieces of equipment that our young people can possess in the 21st century.
Folks can talk about our connectedness to cell phones all they want but until someone develops an application on a cell phone and provides income for their families and their community I am not impressed.
If that is not enough. You can pay a visit to my friend Eric Hamilton’s offering The Web Academy, which provides free web design classes to the community and low cost web development services to non-profit organizations and low-income businesses. The course work is 100% distance learning taught by live instructors in real time. Students are required to work on at least 3 web development projects in exchange for the knowledge they receive. These projects gives their students actual work experience in the web industry.
There are many more opportunities such as these that young African American technology aspirants and others can take advantage if they only knew about them. There are scholarships, competitions, grants, equipment, websites and other resources that are available for free that are in place to help you thrive in a technology career. Take advantage of it. At the outset I shared that my advice to young technology aspirants was that they “not let a lack of money stop them from reaching their goals”. In this day and age, lack of information should not stop you either.
Kai Dupé is a doctoral student at Pepperdine University where he is conducting research on Why African American Males Are Underrepresented in Computing. Kai can be reached by email at kai.dupe@kaidupe.com or by visiting his website at www.
