What If My Students Don’t Have Access to the Internet?

Bruce (2000) identifies three criteria for meaningful access to technology:
  1. Having access to the tools
  2. Having the ability to use those tools
  3. aving an access point — the connections to a social network providing the necessary knowledge to use the tools

For students who have access to Internet-connected computers at home, these criteria present little problem. For those whose sole access to the Internet is at school or the public library, time must be made within the day for students to use the computers. Because my own students like the computer and the interaction that occurs in a threaded discussion group, I find they are increasingly likely to read at home. In this way the students make time for themselves to respond on the computer at school. Threaded discussions also may take the place of some face-to-face discussion. Both face-to-face and threaded discussions provide valuable dimensions of literature discussion, so it is important to balance time spent on each for maximum benefit.

  

Teachers who wish to try a threaded discussion will need to devote additional time to showing students how to use the computer and Web browser or other software. An effective strategy for teachers trying out threaded discussion for the first time is to set up an electronic threaded discussion group with just one or two small groups of students. Once these students have mastered the technology and the asynchronous format, they can become the social network upon which other students can rely as the teacher expands the activity across the class.



From Wolsey, T.D. (2004, January/February). Literature discussion in cyberspace: Young adolescents using threaded discussion groups to talk about books. Reading Online, 7(4). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=wolsey/index.html

Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted January 2004
© 2004 International Reading Association, Inc.   ISSN 1096-1232