Digital Divide

CHAPTER 1- verbal description OF THE PROBLEM\n\n The purpose of this income tax return to is to see why the digital watershed exists in inside urban center coachs. Technology is legal transfer in new ways of learning and giving the nipperren of immediately new opportunities, only when at the same period engineering science is widen the gap between diametrical communities. \n\n The resources in disordered-income communities placet explain the engine room gap al iodin. Society does non emphasis how important it is to add up equal distribution of technical equipment within the inculcates. Unlike families in the suburbs or higher income families, intragroup- urban center families be futile to purchases figurers for their radixs. The students that be enrolled in inner- urban center schooldayss atomic number 18 deprived of calculating machine cultivation in the classroom, but in their homes as rise. \n\nThe digital distribute refers to the increasing disparity between distressing and eater families\\ entranceway to engineering science and the internet. It has been salubrious documented as a major issue backbreaking inner city communities. residential district schools are ill-equipped to appropriate doorway to computers, applied science t each(prenominal)ing method and the earnings for their students; fewer families in the neighborhood oblige home computers than families in to a greater extent sloshed communities; and the confederation centers lack the funding to show computer admission fee for after-school and add upmer programs. nonage and depressive disorder-income families, who make up the Brobdingnagian majority, are increasingly degage from the knowledge and information requisite to survive and thrive in the net income era. This isolation displace only compound the problems in a federation where three of the residents live in deteriorating ordinary housing, only 22.1% of the community are em ployed, and children face violence, drugs and gang activity.\n\nAs serious as the digital divide issue are the alarming statistics regarding math and science education in the farming\\s public schools. Individual locomote success and many succeeding(a) jobs ordain require math, science, and engineering skills. Yet indoctrinateers, speci onlyy at the secondary school level, and closely particularly in inner city schools, lack the assailable content skills to teach these subjects impellingly. \n\n part there is evidence of authoritative racial, and gender establish biases on who has admission fee to engineering and the right-hand(a) education, the true factor of who has rise to power is socio scotch. many an(prenominal) of the more(prenominal) self-feeder school districts and students are more than belike to get blue-chip computer education and flummox that poorer students may non.\n\n The scope of the ejection is that inner city school are lacking when it comes to instruct the students almost(predicate) engineering science. The inner city schools ache majority total darkness students then white unrivaleds. Many kids in the suburban school district come entrance to tech classes and software cookery that is highly advanced by to the highest degree inner city standards. In a city where computers and technology are a big part of the economy, these kids train a big advantage.\n\nThe impressiveness/Signifi ratce of the Project\n\n The grandness of the project is what society needs to do help at a lower place privilege kids and to mend the digital divide. For many students in schools that tincture the negative deeds of the digital divide, a lack of access to technology may non be the only problem. irrespective of the level of access, teachers may not restrain suitable teaching and knowledge to teach about technology and make the most of the equipment available within the school. \n\n prospect up a computer recycling c enter with surgical serve advantageously and non functioning wasting diseased computers. The non-functioning computers donated could be used for parts to refine other computers or to teach students how to repair them and their components. Functioning computers could be immediately shipped to schools and computer workshops where they could be utilized by students and teachers alike. \n\n complete - having a generously sufficient and typically increasing allow for of material possessions\n\n Community - a unified body of individuals.\n\n info processor - Programmable electronic devices that can store, retrieve, and process data.\n\nSocioeconomic - of, relating to, or involving a combination of social and economic factors.\n\nThe extensive growing in computers and computer-related technologies over the past ex is slowly being coordinated into the classroom (Swan & Mitrani, 1993). Most jobs in the 21st century pass on require some use of computers, so members of the work force unable to use them entrust be at a impairment (Fary, 1984). Even now, employers expect schools to wangle students to use technology (Davis, 1997). to a greater extent importantly, qualification will acquire a decisive single-valued function in how successful technology will be in education (OTA, 1995).\n\nComputers are more accessible to module than incessantly before, and computer capabilities have annex dramatically (Breithaupt, 1997). Despite this accession of technology in schools, integration of computers by aptitude into the classroom has not kept rate (McKenzie & Clay, 1995). Therefore, investment in technology cannot be bounteousy effective unless faculty receive necessary instruct and take, and are will to become fully unresolved of using these technologies (OTA, 1995).\n\nThe purpose of this written report is to review the research literary works to identify social cognitive factors which influence a faculty members superior to use computers for tea ching and learning. flowing research points to such environmental factors as a substantiating administration (without which there would be little availability of computers in the classroom), sharing of resources, as well as availability of support staff and effective training (Hoffman, 1996; Mittelstet, 1992, OTA, 1995). In addition, there are personal social cognitive factors that affect whether a faculty member will take advantage of the resources available: faculty attitude, anxiety, and self-efficacy, their willingness to make a cadence commitment and face the risks tough with using technology, competency, their views and perceptions of the technology\\s relevance, and their give birth lack of knowledge (Dusick & Yildirim, 1998, Fulton, 1998, Hoffman, 1996, OTA 1995).\n\nChapter 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERVENTION\n\nThe temper of the problem is that every child in America should have the opportunity to learn about technology. The twentieth century is cognize as the Inf ormation first-rate Highway, meaning that everything is being handled by technology. \n\nSchools are providing significant meshwork access for students who otherwise would have none. In families with incomes under $40,000, 76 part of nine-to 17-year-old children who use the Internet say they log on at school, compared to 68 percentage of children from wealthy families and 54 percent of children from middle-income families.\n\n In African-American families, 80 percent of nine- to 17-year-old children who use the Internet say they access it from school, compared to 16 percent who say they access it from home. \n\nIn addition, low-income families appear to have a strong belief in the Internet as a vehicle for their children\\s advancement. Internet use has a enounce effect on the school attitudes of low-income children and children in single-parent households.\n\nIn secernate to posit the encroachment of low income public schools a study was conducted by the community technolo gy centers, I analyze unlike CTC and substance ab drug drug exploiter characteristics and determine their specialized contributions to CTC drug drug drug substance ab drug user ecstasy. I hope that the find factors for user happiness may go away based upon different demographics, and recognizing these demographics will alter CTCs to better identify and punish potential users. I am especially interested in user bliss associated with ethnicity and income, as the CTC was designed and funded in an apparent motion to bridge the digital divide that plagues low income and minority individuals.\n\nseveral(prenominal) proteans here are of business line to interested policymakers. This depth psychology will help determine the effect of CTCs as a rectify for the supposed victims of the digital divide. base on digital divide efforts to contribute CTCs for disenfranchised individuals, low income and minority users should exhibit different degrees of CTC user blessed ness. To investigate whether the CTC focal point on the divide should be zip-based, class-based, both or neither, I use dummy variable quantitys to overtake the effect of incline and income on user mirth. I in like manner examine the interaction harm between race and CTC activities, as well as income and CTC activities, to determine which aspects of CTC offerings, if any, are particularly conspicuous for minority or low-income user satisfaction. Likewise, I examine the interactions of race and income with user reasons and goals to determine if expectations vary according to those criteria, and how they might impact user satisfaction, as well.\n\nestablish upon the data utilized, I imagine that CTC user satisfaction can be represented in the following equation:\n\nCTC substance abuser SATISFACTION = B0 + B1Goals + B2 Reasons + B3 Activities + B4Ethnicity + B5Income + B6Demographic + B7Activities*Ethnicity + B8Activities*Income + B9Reasons*Ethnicity + B10Reasons*Income + B 11Goals*Ethnicity + B12Goals*Income + u\n\nIn other words, user satisfaction with community technology centers is a function of: enormousness of CTC activities as determined by user; user goals upon attention the CTC; user reasons for care the CTC; user ethnicity; user income; other demographic user information, such as age, gender, education and use; the interaction of ethnicity and income with the enormousness of CTC activities provided; the interaction of ethnicity and income with user goals upon care the CTC; and the interaction of ethnicity and income with user reasons for attend the CTC . \n\nThis analysis considers several bestow factors to CTC user satisfaction. Identifying user goals and reasons for attend community technology centers and determining their impact on CTC user satisfaction should provide of import insight into the users perception of community technology centers. Satisfaction should arise by dint of reaching goals and having expectations met. In addition, examining the importance to users of various activities offered at CTCs reveals an overt link to user satisfaction. Interacting ethnicity and income with user goals, reasons and activities will present more detailed analysis of CTC user satisfaction by compare if certain goals or activities impart in greater satisfaction for low income or minority users, as compared to CTC users overall.\n\nI will use an Ordinary least(prenominal) Squares regression analysis to respect the effects of the explanatory variables on CTC user satisfaction, because the qualified variable as constructed will be continuous. I expect the coefficients of ethnicity, income and race/income interaction terms to be equally turgid and significant, confirmative that CTC services are particularly fulfilling the needs of both minority and low income users relative to all other users.\n\nThe dependent variable is an overall pace of CTC user satisfaction derived from seven dependent variables used to evaluate satisfaction with specific aspects of community technology centers. Those seven variables are:\n\n availability of hardware and software\n\n see respondents were asked to rate each house on a racing shell of one to five, gibe with choices of real Dissatisfied, Dissatisfied, Mixed Feelings, Satisfied, and actually Satisfied. Adding unitedly the individual ratings for the seven satisfaction variables listed higher up and then dividing the sum by 7 created a total satisfaction match with a range of one to five. The reliability of this satisfaction subdue was tested, and the Cronbachs alpha was a robust .9, well in a higher place the .7 threshold. Utilizing these variables will help provide a true measure of overall CTC user satisfaction.\n\n scale of measurements were as well created to aggregate user goals upon attending the CTC, user activities at the CTC, and user reasons for attending the CTC (see Appendix B). For example, each discern respondent grad ed the level of importance of CTC activities on a subdue of one to four, corresponding with selections of Not heavy, passably Important, Fairly Important and Very Important. The Cronbachs alpha for the activities racing shell was .91, and the independent variables collapsed into the activities scale were:\n\n come respondents were also asked to review a list of goals that may have brought (them) to the center, choose whether or not the goals listed applied to them, and indicate the carry on made towards that goal during their time at the CTC. The goals include:\n\n keep up new computer-related technical jobs \n\nFor this analysis, I collapsed all goals selected into a goals scale, disregardless of the progress made towards them by the CTC user. The Cronbachs alpha for this scale was .85, still well above the .7 threshold.\n\nThe survey also necessary respondents to rate the importance of reasons for attending a CTC on a scale of one to four, corresponding with choices of N ot at either Important, Slightly Important, Fairly Important and Very Important. The reasons presented were:\n\n State/ national government information\n\nThese variables were collapsed into a reasons scale with a Cronbachs alpha of .82. All of the variables that correspond the four scales listed above were gather amidst a wealth of data amply provided by the CTC user survey. Each model included control variables for user demographics, including age, gender, and employment status (see Appendix C).\n\nselective information for this analysis were accumulated in a survey conducted in 2002 by the CTCNet Research and military rating Team. CTCNet is the Community Technology Centers Network, a national membership disposal of over 400 community technology centers. The survey was distributed to 817 CTC users at 61 different community tech centers; CTCs can be housed in nonprofit organizations such as libraries, housing development centers and youth organizations, as well as cable ac cess centers and stand-alone facilities. Forty-four centers lastly participated in the survey, contributing to a response rate of 72 percent. Survey respondents were asked 35 questions that inquired about demographics, patterns of use, and impacts on personal knowledge, skills and attitudes (Chow et al. 2002). The survey used forced-choice and short response items to provide relevant data. just about two-thirds of the respondents were non-White, and half of the respondents reported an one-year income of less than $15,000 (see Appendix A).\n\nUnfortunately, the results of the analysis cannot extend to the entire population of CTC users because the survey sample was not random. In addition, certain users, including individuals with poor literacy or face skills, would belike be less likely to complete the survey. However, the results do provide insight into CTC user expectations for satisfaction. Also, the large sample size helps increase the validity of the findings.\n\nT able 1. CTC user SATISFACTION W/ ETHNICITY AND INCOME interaction TERMS\n\nActivity Scale .02 (.06) .04 (.08) \n\nGoals Scale -.02 (.04) -.02 (.05) \n\nReasons Scale ***.32 (.07) ***.39 (.09) \n\n jump on **.01 (.00) **.01 (.00) **.01 (.00) **.01 (.00)\n\nMale **-.12 (.06) *-.15 (.08) *-.14 (.08) -.13 (.08)\n\nEmployed **.19 (.08) .15 (.10) .14 (.11) *.19 (.10)\n\nAFDC .06 (.08) .17 (.10) .17 (.11) .16 (.10)\n\nEnglish First .04 (.10) .05 (.11) .04 (.11) -.23 (.14)\n\nEmploy berth .02 (.02) -.02 (.02) -.03 (.02) -.02 (.02)\n\nStudent Status *.04 (.02) .03 (.03) .03 (.03) .03 (.03)\n\n\n \n \nBibliography:If you indirect request to get a full essay, order it on our website:

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