Saturday, June 15, 2013

computers and poverty

The community I live in is building a new library.  Best news is, it is right down the street from me.  Huzzah!  The millage increase is only the second tax increase I have voted for.  One reason for the new library is the need for internet.  In my small community, half the population does not have internet and uses public services.

The school I work at has a technology center for parents and students to use in the evening...awesome idea.

Then there is this...
http://edtechtimes.com/2013/05/28/buzz-nber-study-finds-computers-for-low-income-kids-does-not-change-educational-outcome/

Which says giving computers to low income families did not raise grades. 
I am curious...did the families receive any training?  What programs were on it?  How was the study and control chosen? How long was the study?  Was there monitoring of the situation?

Computer use _can_ just break down to games and looking up things and copying stuff from the web.  But also can open up a lot of things.  And it takes time.  As I told my students "read"...news online of any silly type is reading.

Let me plug for this...http://www.reglue.org/

It is out of Austin Texas  (Taylor).  They give new and rebuilt computers along with internet access to poor kids.  The computers run Linux, which is free and you can easily search for and install new programs, also for free.. (takes me less than 5 minutes to get a new program on counting a reboot)

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