We talk about access to computers for students and pat ourselves on the back when a school system reaches the point where there is a computer in each classroom...never mind that it took 10 years, and that the ten year-old models are one step up from an electric abacus (I regress). Susan Patrick is quoted a number of times in "Official: Schools lag - PittsburghLIVE.com", but the following jumped off the page at me:
"Education is the only business still debating the usefulness of technology," said Susan Patrick, director of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology.
"Most kids see their parents using computers in the work environment," Patrick told school technology directors at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit (Pennsylvania). "Could you imagine sharing a computer at work, the way most students do?"
To answer Dr. Patrick's question...NO !*$@! Way would I share my office computer with 30+ other people (particularly students, gasp). So why should we think that students who have access to that one classroom computer will take ownership in how they use it for learning? Having one PC (Personal Computer) in a classroom falls just short of an oxymoron. Are we defining a new PC Digital Divide?...those who have access to a (truly) Personal Computer and those who have access to a (shared) Public Computer?