As a student from a very small town, I arrived at Michigan
Tech and immediately felt intimidated by the technology that surrounds us here;
from Mac computer systems to SmartBoards, to MatLab, I had no idea how to
operate a great deal of it. I was forced to learn as I went, asking questions
often and relying on others’ advice; I was fortunate in finding a job at the
J.R. Van Pelt and Opie Library where I was given hands-on training and valuable
work experience. However, not all are given the same opportunities I was, or
are as readily able to ask questions. It is these students who find themselves
falling behind their peers in all aspects of their education, as Michigan Tech
demands its students use technology in nearly all aspects of their educations.
The majority of students from small school districts with significantly less
money to appropriate to technology arrive at Michigan Tech at a disadvantage to
those with more technological experience.
Graduating
with a class of 91 students, I can very easily relate to this topic. I attended
Manistique High School for four years, and experienced a variety of budget cuts
during my time there; loss of revenue was one of many effects of the economical
downfall our nation experienced. I first researched the 2010-11 budget
for Manistique Area Schools, and found that approximately $49,000 was
appropriated to “high school supplies,” which I assume includes technology such
as new computers and software. During that fiscal school year $11,000 was cut
from the same supplies budget, meaning over 20% of the money for computers and
other necessary supplies was needed elsewhere. As a result, students go another
year without new technology in school, and fall further behind in their
technological educations. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Livonia
Public Schools; though this district consists of several different schools,
including 6 high schools, it still had a comparatively massive technology
equipment fund of $1,000,000 during the 2010-11 school year. Stevenson High,
one of Livonia’s high schools, has pages on its website dedicated to the many
educational programs it offers as well as a link specifically directed toward “academically
gifted students.” It can be assumed that this school focuses on giving its
students only the most advanced technology in order to be competitive with
other schools in the state as well as across the country, thus giving them the
opportunity to become more technologically fluent.
Fluency
in technology, as described by Kate
Williams, is having “contemporary skills, foundational concepts, and
intellectual capabilities.” In other words, one must be reasonable, able to
problem solve, have knowledge of computers and their systems, and be able to
use basic computer functions and programs. Growing up as “digital
natives,” today’s students automatically have some of these requirements, as
they are exposed to technology from birth, and receive some form of formal
education on the subject regardless of what public school they may attend. As
stated in the article by Kate
Williams, “there is a literacy divide between school and home.” This
statement is entirely true, as many students do have access to technology at
home, on which they can learn a great deal more than is offered in school.
Unfortunately, not all students have any access to computers or internet, and
therefore are restricted to what their school can offer. Thus, the rate at
which students learn to use new technology as well as their comfort with
technology depends heavily on the amount of money their school districts invest
in new technology, as well as how often these systems are updated. As Samantha
Blackmon states, students who are unfamiliar with technology and who lack
competency, comfort, and confidence in their abilities are more likely to shy
away from learning to use new technology. Though Blackmon’s piece is in
reference to minority high school students, the same idea applies here.
Students who come from school districts with less money for technological
advances will come into college with less experience and potentially a fear of
learning to operate new technology, or to ask questions about it. Speaking from
my own experiences, I was extremely intimidated by some of the programs we were
expected to use in my first semester here.
Speaking
with fellow classmates as well as an employee for MTU’s IT services, it was
fairly easy to conclude I was not the only freshman to feel this intimidation
during my first semester. During my struggles I banded together with others
whose schools hadn’t offered them the technological head start we saw many of
our classmates had been given. It was easy to relate to others whose schools
had offered only basic knowledge of computers and their programs; we were the
ones spending endless hours in the learning centers struggling over what many
considered basic concepts. Chris, an IT employee, stated that he has dealt with
many freshmen who have no idea where to begin when it comes to dealing with the
technology we use here at Tech. Though he couldn’t be sure where each student was
from and how much they had been exposed to technology at their respective schools,
he did say that he’d often encountered students with issues that had simple
solutions to someone with his experience. One potential solution to this common
occurrence may be to offer a course educating students in some of the more
advanced technology offered by Michigan Tech. Similar to “Creating Your Success,”
this course would be optional to incoming freshmen who may feel that they need
an introduction to those programs that are unfamiliar to them. The university
could even require a placement test for all first year students, similar to the
spatial visualization test given during orientation week, which would determine
which students absolutely needed to course to be successful. I feel that there
are many opportunities to even the playing field when it comes to technology,
and Michigan Tech should make the effort to give all incoming students an equal
opportunity to succeed. Regardless of where students come from or what their
technological literacy is upon arriving here, they all deserve the opportunity
to be a successful Husky.
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