by R. Renee Bembry

Created on: October 21, 2007   Last Updated: February 03, 2009

Acquiring classrooms full of students who have home computers or nearby access to computers can be challenging while teaching in the age of the internet. A single student in a class without an in-home computer or nearby access to a computer could be problematic for the teacher, the student, and the parent. Often times, parents, not prepared for the expense, become pressured to provide computers for school-aged children. But with the continued growth of the computer age, computers have become as vital as notebook binders, paper, pencils, and pens, as tools needed to provide students with adequate educations; and a must for students in classes where teachers are eager to take advantage of internet capabilities.

Although many parents have accepted their part in providing in-home computers for their children, a number of parents, for various reasons, including the cost of purchasing computers and paying for internet service, prefer school work associated with the internet to take place at school only.

Some Schools Cannot Afford Computers: Schools in urban and other low income neighborhoods don't have enough monetary resources to keep up with teaching challenges in the age of the internet. They cannot provide a sufficient number of computers for their students. Student-to-computer access in these areas are often much lower than student-to-computer access in higher income neighborhoods. If teachers don't have computers available for their students, they cannot teach them how to utilize internet resources.

Teachers And Computer Skills: Teachers, particularly older veterans, may not have computer skills necessary to train students in basic computer usage or internet usage; and many schools have yet to make sufficient training available to teachers. Often times, parents with children in schools/classes without computers available for their students complain that schools/teachers aren't providing opportunities for their students to become computer literate.

When teachers work for school districts that do not provide computer training, teachers must take it upon themselves to learn these skills in order to pass the information on to their students. This means, the teachers must bear the expense of obtaining this knowledge. Although there are self-improvement courses available for teachers such as a line of products available at futurekids.com, teachers taking the courses, as mentioned above, cannot pass their knowledge in schools with no computers available to students.

Internet

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