Re: Equitable access to technology

I think that equity has more to it than access in school. We have to consider students that don't have access at home either. I have come across students who have been hindered in my class or others because they didn't have internet access or a computer at home. It's another thing to think about when we consider equity.

Re: Equitable access to technology

Well said, Chris. What if LPS provided technology in such a way that the school technology was the home technology? In other words, if the student’s laptop went home with him, doesn't the entire family benefit? Yes, a wireless signal is needed, but there are bookstores, libraries where a free wifi signal is available. I'm hoping a well designed program provides equity and access for the greater LPS community.

Re: Equitable access to technology

Why are the school board member's names not listed ANYWHERE on the site?

Re: Equitable access to technology

@xc:
The Board of Education is fully disclosed at this link under "District Information > Board of Education > Meet the Board"

http://www.littletonpublicschools.net/DISTRICTINFORMATION/BoardofEducation/MeettheBoard/tabid/286/Default.aspx

Re: Equitable access to technology

What if LPS had a wireless intranet (3650 GHz) that is lightly regulated by the FCC (Part 90.org) specifically for public and private non-profits,
small businesses and homes. Yes, a subscriber owned co-op. A membership could include an x86 desktop or sub-notebook with 4 (2.0) USB ports. One of these ports could be used by a multi-GB USB stick as a computer on a stick with a Linux OS, the Standard Portable Applications Suite and Wi-Fi for peer to peer mesh intraneting (peers as the member-owner-subscribers of the Co-op).

As we look at an energy crisis, the threat of pandemic quaratines, a debt crisis and the consumer religion of global media cartels and the moving from the analog age to the digital age on Feb 17, 2009 can we see
where a LPS Co-op would use the digital to analog converter vouchers and the tax rebate where many homes, churches, schools and small businesses are backed-up by solar? Call me at [removed for your privacy-DM]

Re: Equitable access to technology

@Charles... I removed your phone from the log entry, but recorded it. I will call you about this.

Re: Equitable access to technology

Encumbent barriers to equitable access to technology that do not want any competition from public and/or private non-profits using 3650 GHz spectrum that is lightly regulated by the FCC using open source software, open architecture hardware and open spectrum (like 3650 GHz for Wi-Fi/WiMax) are being challenged by The New American Foundation. As I continue with my effort for Colorado Wireless Communities (CWC) who have chosen a small telco to build their wireless network using BelAir equipment I can compare this to the fiber optic access points of LPS and its security system connected to each school.

In our face to face conversation I pointed to bear bone technology used at school that can then be taken home and used also. Yes, like with a sub-notebook. I will send you by snail-mail some documents from the New American Foundation web site. Airspan is a leader using a USB stick module for wireless meshing that has a transceiver for self-configuring and self-healing. Yes, for Wi-Fi/WiMAX. I sense that use at school not having barriers. Use at home may have barriers by the encumbants. Hence a justification for community wireless mesh intranetting like in school/home neighborhood wireless.without encumbant barriers.

Use at school as portable. Use at home, etc as mobile. These are very important differences, especially for the have nots. The New American Foundation's staff is keen on these differences, especially for the digitial divide. Hope this this will help.

Re: Equitable access to technology

Equitable Access to Technology. I am a bit older then most parents of a middle scooler but I do recall the when I was in school kids did not have all the books required for each and every class and everyone had to wait to check what they needed from library and we shared books. We did not need to spend a fortune for 150 to 200 copies of each book and some how we made it. We have forgotten the reason we send our kids to K -12. To get a basic education, but what we are teaching is we all have to have the biggest and the best or we are not doing our best. Phooey our best is hard work and trying hard, not waiting for someone to give us another hand out. We all can find excuses for our failures.

In China where there are still very few computers in schools there kid are excelling and doing better in math and science then American kids. I think it is equitable access to effort we should be striving for from the kids, parents’ administrators and teachers. We seam to think just because Billy has a Bling, that Bonnie should have on too. It is true that would be nice but it does not mean that Billy’s parents should have to buy Bonnie a Bling. Leaning to live within life’s budgets, socially and financially are lessons that could serve all of us well.

But that is just what I think, call me old fashion.

Re: Equitable access to technology

Sure, it's important to have access in our schools, but the PC is just one tool; is it really neccessary to have them parked in front of computers in order to learn? What about hands-on, experiential learning, and discussions? These are also paths to learning.

Re: Equitable access to technology

My daughter is in First Grade and although she has access to her own computer at home, she does not require it for learning. It is just a nice tool. Having internet access at a young age is wonderfuld exposure, but also needs plenty of parent interaction as well as troubleshooting. I would guess that homes without a PC do not have the skills to troubleshoot their kids PC.

To provie EVERY student with a laptop seem very extravagent. Logistically in the classroom, there is not enough desk space or electrical outlets to support this, let alone bandwidth on the network. LPS must also consider the maintenance cost to these laptops as technology is outdated every 3-5 years. What about loss or damage, would that burden fall on the families as it does with textbooks? As a parent, I have needed to pay for the repair of a high school text book, I would not want to be required to pay for the repair of a laptop. If we are talking about families without a PC in the home, are we to assume this is an unfair financial burden? Perhaps these families already struggle.

Also, I have attended adult training sessions where adult students brought in laptops where the adults were distracted by games and email. What would children do? We already need to limit cell phone usage & texting in the classroom.

Perhaps an alternative would to be to create a process where a student could petition their school for a laptop. The student would need to provide teacher endorsement as well as establish a need. Also, a monthly or quarterly log of usage, or maintain a certain GPA.

Lastly, as a parent, I would not like my child to have a laptop with internet access where they could be online anywhere. We already have issues protecting our children from online predators. We are constantly advised that our children's computers should be in a public area of the home so that the computer can be monitored.

Regards,
Sandy Abernathy

Re: Equitable access to technology

Digital equity refers to the social-justice goal of ensuring that everyone in our society has equal access to technology tools, computers and the Internet. Even more, it refers to the goal of all individuals having the knowledge and skills to access and use technology tools, computers and the Internet. Obviously the hardware is the physical access to the equipment. But, conceptually in order for the hard ware to be used, the person must have the knowledge of how to use the technology to succeed. Simply dropping off Dell computers in the middle of a third world country or even a rural American high school without support will not enhance the student’s technological skills.

Re: Equitable access to technology

Should LPS provide one-to-one computing? If so, in what grades?

Yes we should provide computers for all LPS students in every grade.

We should not be sending our students to preK and K-12 for a basic education we send them there for a verity of reason. Some simply send their kids to school because they would be arrested for child neglect if they didn’t, some because they want their kids out of the house. Others still send their children to school in the hope that through education they will better their situation and increase their place in the world beyond where they as parents have gotten. Some will send their children to school to learn more how to become part of a civil society.

A society can create a public education program for many reasons but it seems a powerful side effect is the likely increase of Democracy. As information and knowledge are transferred into wisdom and understanding the society is likely to benefit as a whole. Our kids need to learn how to learn and how to relate to others, computers provide a powerful medium to increasing one’s ability to learn.

Virtual learning may very well translate easily into hands on doing. Those that plan are likely to succeed. When I draw up a exit plan at home for my kids to follow during a fire or an emergency I am helping them mentally prepare for actually leaving the house safely during a fire. Many other cases can be stated for mentally preparing for a physical activity and being more likely to succeed because of the thought put into the action. At some point we will all stand up from a computer or a book and actually do something however we are better able to prepare ourselves for that task we should do. Some kids will learn best from a book, some from watching TV others from doing the activity many times. Also computers are a very large part of our daily lives, potentially hands on learning and experiential learning would be best spent on a computer or some form of technology because we will someday not ride a horse to work so we will need to know how to pilot a piece of technology from one point to another rather than our horses. I no longer need to know how to do anything it is much more important that I know how to learn to do what I need to know how to do, because of a “blog” on a web site I was able to pull the dash out of our van and re-solder (never soldered before) a pin and replace the dash allowing us to know how fast our van was going, theoretically increasing our safety.

Computers do not have to be online in order to be useful. It is very beneficial to be able to have them online long enough to download several items to review later. If a laptop were provided to every student for home and in school use it would not have to be online at home to still be a consistent useful tool for personal improvement. Although I do personally look forward to the day that all computers are always able to be online I do not think it needs to be considered an obstacle or requirement for students to gain from the system.

There have been cases in India where people have dropped of computers in small brick buildings with no instruction and the locals figured them out, quickly and very well. The internet allows a person to connect to a global community that is for the most part very helpful. COVA is a computer based school and it sends computers to student’s houses with decent but limited instruction on how to setup the system. We are a society of service providers, if you do not know how to do it you can find someone to provide you a service to either do or teach you how to do it. Computers have spread as easily as they have because of many reasons but one is they are easy to support, another is that many of our citizens are literate and have been through a strong American public education system. It is likely true however that a component of providing equitable access to technology should also include a formal and budgeted support system.

Also looking to a personal experience I have had with a very talented computer programmer has shown me that you do not need a computer to learn how to work a computer. He grew up in India without a computer, attended collage without a computer. He wrote code on paper and sent it off to be entered into a system and the results were sent back as a print out. Sometimes weeks went by between writing code and knowing the results. It is possible to win without a computer or equal access to technology however unfair or unlikely it may seem to those with computers.

Before or as we move towards a computer for every student I think we need to move towards no more than 18 kids per class room or per teacher. Even though a computerized educational environment may allow teachers and students to be more productive we need them to be active engaged members of society much more then we need them to be productive. We need them to be creative individual expressions of their true selves.

Re: Equitable access to technology

Should LPS provide one-to-one computing? If so, in what grades?

Yes we should provide computers for all LPS students in every grade.

We should not be sending our students to preK and K-12 for a basic education we send them there for a verity of reason. Some simply send their kids to school because they would be arrested for child neglect if they didn’t, some because they want their kids out of the house. Others still send their children to school in the hope that through education they will better their situation and increase their place in the world beyond where they as parents have gotten. Some will send their children to school to learn more how to become part of a civil society.

A society can create a public education program for many reasons but it seems a powerful side effect is the likely increase of Democracy. As information and knowledge are transferred into wisdom and understanding the society is likely to benefit as a whole. Our kids need to learn how to learn and how to relate to others, computers provide a powerful medium to increasing one’s ability to learn.

Virtual learning may very well translate easily into hands on doing. Those that plan are likely to succeed. When I draw up a exit plan at home for my kids to follow during a fire or an emergency I am helping them mentally prepare for actually leaving the house safely during a fire. Many other cases can be stated for mentally preparing for a physical activity and being more likely to succeed because of the thought put into the action. At some point we will all stand up from a computer or a book and actually do something however we are better able to prepare ourselves for that task we should do. Some kids will learn best from a book, some from watching TV others from doing the activity many times. Also computers are a very large part of our daily lives, potentially hands on learning and experiential learning would be best spent on a computer or some form of technology because we will someday not ride a horse to work so we will need to know how to pilot a piece of technology from one point to another rather than our horses. I no longer need to know how to do anything it is much more important that I know how to learn to do what I need to know how to do, because of a “blog” on a web site I was able to pull the dash out of our van and re-solder (never soldered before) a pin and replace the dash allowing us to know how fast our van was going, theoretically increasing our safety.

Computers do not have to be online in order to be useful. It is very beneficial to be able to have them online long enough to download several items to review later. If a laptop were provided to every student for home and in school use it would not have to be online at home to still be a consistent useful tool for personal improvement. Although I do personally look forward to the day that all computers are always able to be online I do not think it needs to be considered an obstacle or requirement for students to gain from the system.

There have been cases in India where people have dropped of computers in small brick buildings with no instruction and the locals figured them out, quickly and very well. The internet allows a person to connect to a global community that is for the most part very helpful. COVA is a computer based school and it sends computers to student’s houses with decent but limited instruction on how to setup the system. We are a society of service providers, if you do not know how to do it you can find someone to provide you a service to either do or teach you how to do it. Computers have spread as easily as they have because of many reasons but one is they are easy to support, another is that many of our citizens are literate and have been through a strong American public education system. It is likely true however that a component of providing equitable access to technology should also include a formal and budgeted support system.

Also looking to a personal experience I have had with a very talented computer programmer has shown me that you do not need a computer to learn how to work a computer. He grew up in India without a computer, attended collage without a computer. He wrote code on paper and sent it off to be entered into a system and the results were sent back as a print out. Sometimes weeks went by between writing code and knowing the results. It is possible to win without a computer or equal access to technology however unfair or unlikely it may seem to those with computers.

Before or as we move towards a computer for every student I think we need to move towards no more than 18 kids per class room or per teacher. Even though a computerized educational environment may allow teachers and students to be more productive we need them to be active engaged members of society much more then we need them to be productive. We need them to be creative individual expressions of their true selves.

Re: weather

Does anyone out there know what the grade schools policy is regarding at what point they will not allow the children to have outside recess???Temp, weather factors??