EDU – 223 :

LEARNING THROUGH WEB TECHNOLOGY

Unit - VI

Issues and Challenges in Web

Based Learning
 Challenges of Financing the Cost of
Web Technologies, Operations & Maintenance

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 Challenges of Financing the Cost of
Web Technologies, Operations & Maintenance
 Challenges of Financing the Cost of
Web Technologies, Operations & Maintenance
 Challenges of Financing the Cost of
Web Technologies, Operations & Maintenance
Issues of Language and Content Authenticity

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Issues of Language Content Authenticity

1. How can you say that technology is able to
meet the content related issue in the recent
times?

2. How regression technique can be further

used in digging factors addressing content
authenticity?
 The Digital Divide

The “digital divide” refers to the gap between those that have (or
lack) access to computers and the Internet.

2005, 70% of Americans use the Internet at work,

school or home

Home broadband penetration =59% of adults

Digital Divide data collected by land-line phone

“Digital Divisions”,
Report of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 2005

The Digital Access Project

 Digital Inclusion
focuses on how information and
communication technology (ICT)
affects individuals,
communities and countries

The Digital Access Project

 Digital Inclusion

The Objective: Social Inclusion

The Strategy: Individual and

Community Empowerment

The Tools: Enabling Technologies

> computers, networks, software,
the Internet

The Digital Access Project

 This Approach Asks:

 What social and political barriers to technology

access and literacy exist?

 How does technology affect human rights,

civic participation, and social inclusion?

 How does technology affect economic

development?

The Digital Access Project

1. Mention some instances of digital divide
you came across in your area of residence.

2. How age gap and technology learning are

related according to you?

The Digital Access Project

 Digital Inclusion Assumptions
 Technology should combat social exclusion,
not reinforce it

 “Access” is not about computers and the

Internet--it’s about social inclusion and equity

 Technology can have a profound economic and

social impact on communities--
“one cell phone”

The Digital Access Project

Why is Digital Inclusion Critical?

Economic & Social Realities:

 Participation in the global, knowledge-based
economy requires the ability to access and
manage information

 Underserved, marginalized communities have

the most to gain, the most to lose

 Technology literacy, like literacy itself, is an

essential prerequisite to social inclusion

The Digital Access Project

 Critical Drivers of ICT Use
ICT = information & communication technology

 E-mail, Search, Maps

 News
 Access to online job listings, applications
 Educational use, online learning
 Online transactions (travel,e-bay, banking, etc.)
 e-government services (taxes, licenses)
 Health information (Medicaid part D)
 Civic engagement & e-democracy
 User generated content-blogs, websites, music sharing

The Digital Access Project

 A Nation Online?
•70% of Whites
•57% of African-Americans
•38% of Americans with disabilities
•37% of Hispanics
•29% who have not graduated from High School
•26% age 60 or older

“Digital Divisions”,
Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 2005

The Digital Access Project

What About the Other 30%?
Persistent barriers include:

• Limited technology literacy skills

• Anxiety, fear of technology tools--
16% are “hard core resistors”
• Limited education, low literacy levels
• Language & accessibility barriers
• Irrelevant content
• Affordable broadband service
• Cost of entry (hardware)

The Digital Access Project

 Digital Inclusion Strategies
 Improve Access/ Connectivity
Provide broader access to the Internet, lower
cost of entry (municipal wireless??)

 Develop content that is accessible, relevant

and contextual

 Increase Technology Literacy

Help groups and individuals use technology to
do what THEY want to do, address underlying
social factors

The Digital Access Project

 Off-line in America

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, A Nation Online, 2004

The Digital Access Project

“Don’t Need it. Not Interested in it.”

 18% of those not online answered:

“I am not interested in anything on the
Internet.''

 This exceeds the 12 percent who said they

either weren't sure how to use the Internet or
couldn't afford a computer.

* Pew Internet & American Life Study, 2005

The Digital Access Project

Too Much (useless) Information?

A Children’s Partnership report on

online content reveals “not
interested” usually means

“content/information is not
designed for ME, or my family,
or my community”

Wendy Lazarus and Francisco Mora

“Online Content for Low-Income and Underserved Americans:
The Digital Divide's New Frontier”

The Digital Access Project

 Content MATTERS
Content Barriers Cited by Low Income Adults

 Lack of local information

 Provide practical information focusing on local
community
 Literacy Barriers
 Develop information at a basic literacy level
 Language Barriers
 Online translation tools
 Information in native languages
 Lack of Cultural Diversity
 Provide Relevant health, social and cultural
information

The Digital Access Project

 e-Lingua Franca?

 70% of website pages are in English

--70% of the worlds population doesn’t speak

English as their primary language

 2000 U.S. census:

18% of residents report English is not the

primary language spoken at home

The Digital Access Project

 Literacy and Accessibility

 48% of Americans have low literacy skills,

most online content is written at a 10th grade
level, should be 6th grade level

 8-10% of Americans have some kind of

disability ( +30% of seniors), few sites meet
Section 508, ADA accessibility guidelines

 Limited vision is the most common disability

The Digital Access Project

 Technology Literacy Is…
The ability to responsibly, creatively, and effectively use
appropriate technology to:

communicate;
access, collect, manage, integrate, and evaluate
information;
solve problems and create solutions;
build and share knowledge; and

 improve and enhance learning in all subject areas and

experiences.

The Digital Access Project

Improving Technology Literacy
Human mitigation is critical to improving technology
literacy skills.

Best practices include:

Demystify technology
Provide time and space to experiment
Build knowledge through incremental successes
Create relevant, project-based workshops
Encourage peer learning, mentoring
Involve learners in program design

The Digital Access Project

 Social Networks & Technology Literacy

 Weak social networks=low tech literacy within

communities

 CTCs (telecenters) address both ACCESS and

TECH LITERACY gaps --and create social
networking opportunities

 Neighborhood-based community technology

centers, not labs or computer rooms

The Digital Access Project

Digital Inclusion <is linked to> Social Inclusion

Both require

 Civic & Social Participation

 Access to Education, Literacy

 Economic Self-Sufficiency
(individual)

 Economic Development
(community)

The Digital Access Project

 21st Century Civic Engagement

 Small groups look BIG on the ‘net--

new opportunities for citizen groups

 Easier access to elected representatives, more

opportunity for public discourse (e-democracy)

 Greater access to government information and

legislation, increased transparency

The Digital Access Project

Social Inclusion & Democracy

“To communicate in the post-modern

society is the power to interact with
networks of information. It is not
sufficient to have a free mind, if our
words cannot circulate like the words of
others.”

--Sergio Amadeu de Silva

E-government director, San Paulo Brazil

The Digital Access Project

 Education
Information + Access + Literacy
= Knowledge?

 Educators are faced with

hypermedia-conditioned learners

 Youth have better technology literacy

skills than adult teachers and parents

The Digital Access Project

Coming Soon! Better Brains?

 Human brains like stimulation, more synapses

firing!~!! We seem to enjoy multi-tasking--
are we evolving??

 We have a generation of multimedia readers

and writers who prefer a combination of
– Audio
– Visual
– Text

The Digital Access Project

 Left Brain, Right Brain, New Brain
 The Internet is nothing less than the
equivalent of a phonetic alphabet

 The human brain is once again evolving to a

new level

 Students are acquiring new, desirable skills

• Networking
• Associative Logic
• Graphic Literacy
• Information Space
• Multi-tasking

Rodney Riegle, P.h.D

http://www.coe.ilstu.edu/rpriegle/wwwdocs/evolution.htm.

The Digital Access Project

 Good news, or?
 This could be good news in terms of global or
cross-cultural collaboration --reducing
language barriers

 Multimedia can accommodate diverse learning

styles, how our individual brains receive and
process information (“I’m a visual learner”)

 Students learn best from projects they

“present”, multimedia enhances project based
learning

The Digital Access Project

 “Producers Not Consumers”

 “Media” should not compete

with literacy, it adds layers

 Media projects reinforce

critical thinking
& media literacy skills

 Youth and adults can learn how to use

complex technology--but only if it’s relevant

The Digital Access Project

 Collaborative, Contextual Learning
Students collaborate and present work
internationally-- via PODCASTS and Blogs

 Radio Willow Web:

http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow/radio/

 Room 208:
http://www.bobsprankle.com/blog/

 Educational Podcast Network:

http://epnweb.org/index.php?openpod=16#16

The Digital Access Project

 Too Much Media, Not Enough Literacy?

 We respond to computer screens more like TV

than a book or newspaper

 We SCAN web pages--looking for a link!

 On-screen text is hard to read -- too much

overwhelms even the most determined
readers

 Have we, and are we teaching children to

become scanners instead of readers?

The Digital Access Project

 HYPERCULTURE
 How does hypermedia, coupled with ICT,
influence writers?

 As VIEWERS, we seem to want complexity

(and can process a lot of information)
--Popular screenplays and TV now contain
multiple/ simultaneous plot lines.
(e.g. CRASH, Amazing race, Lost, Alias, etc.)

 Do READERS want this same experience?

The Digital Access Project

Does Hypermedia Threaten Literacy?

Q. If ICT provides new

opportunities for knowledge
creation, should we expand
our (centuries old) definition--
and revisit our assumptions
about literacy?

The Digital Access Project

 From Hypermedia to Hip-Hop

“A hip-hop duo called Gnarls Barkley has risen to the top of

United Kingdom music charts without selling a single disc.

"Crazy" went to number one with 31,000 download sales,

before the song became available on a physical medium.”

(And why do we care?)

The Digital Access Project

 Digital Inclusion
-ensures greater social, civic, educational and
economic participation
-expands (improves)& diversifies networks

The Digital Access Project