We live in an unequal digital world, although students are born into a digital world not everyone will have access to the same technology or the same understanding of technology. Many factors contribute to this divide which includes poverty within a society or a country as well as a lack of understanding as to what benefits digital technologies can provide for students not only in the future but also the present.
This week’s task was to create an Infographic with a Wordle included which represented the issue of a digital divide. I decided to use Piktochart to create my poster because I have previously used this web tool and I am familiar with how it operates. I have found Piktochart to be very enjoyable and effective in creating a visual infographic and the fact that all items are saved in the cloud, I am able to work on it no matter where I go. This feature also means that you can start a class project using Piktochart and have the students continue to develop the project at home, which makes it an ideal tool to use within the classroom.
I had some positive feedback from a fellow group member, Tehillah stated “I like the clear message given in the top 5 pictures. Looks great!, this is exactly what I was aiming to achieve from viewers a clear message without the overload of information which is what an infographic is meant to be. After viewing numerous info graphics from other members of my group I found that a lot had the clear message of digital divide presented with only important information, however I did find that a few had too much information presented.
I have discussed my thoughts on Wordle during my first blog post about identity theft where I stated that Wordle:
is an easy to use, easy to comprehend and extremely visual tool that helps to reveal what exactly a student believes to be important. As I have done with my example above, students can be asked to look at a text, read through it, analyse what they believe to be important and by inputting words into Wordle, they are able to reveal in with one quick glance exactly what they took out of the text.
I can see myself using Wordle throughout my lesson plans for all the reasons stated above and I can see it as being a great addition to any project.
Using Wordle with Piktochart in the classroom enhances both tools. As discussed already, Wordle provides a quick glimpse into how much a student understands about a certain topic and Piktochart allows that same student to delve in deeper on topics while still maintaining the strongly visual look that reveals instantly exactly what a student has grasped from the lesson.
I can see myself constantly using both these tools for quick classroom projects, however, it is imperative that after the project is completed, I spend time discussing the projects and making sure that the required learning has taken place.
References
Caird, D. (2012, August 12). [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/experts-warn-schools-to-brace-for-next-generation-of-tech-savvy-children/story-e6frf7kx-1226448337277
Cape York Digital Network. (2003, June 27). Remote Indigenous Australians Jump the Digital Divide [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://cydn.com.au/index.php/media-releases/
Courier Mail. (2013, April 13). Coalition and Labor NBN Plans [Graph]. Retrieved from
Fox, M. (2014, February 26). Digital divide still an issue for low income earners. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/digital-divide-still-an-issue-for-low-income-earners-20140226-33i7l.html
Guion, D. (2012, July 25). Caution Digital Divide [Graph]. Retrieved from http://www.allpurposeguru.com/2012/07/libraries-vs-the-digital-divide/
Miniwatts Marketing Group. (2014, May 28). Digital Divide – ICT Information Communications Technology – 50×15 Initiative.Retrieved September 23, 2014, from http://www.internetworldstats.com/links10.htm
Miniwatts Marketing Group. (2014, September 18). Internet Penetration Rates [Graph]. Retrieved from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
Neate, S. (n.d.). Fraudband [Drawing]. Retrieved from http://nofibs.com.au/2013/04/10/fraudband-is-an-nbn-fail-even-for-punters/
Steam Community. (2014). [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=279512345
Wordle.net. (n.d.). Wordle – Beautiful Word Clouds. Retrieved September 21, 2014, from http://wordle.net
teaching in a digital world 