Including All Students on the Internet

Chapter 11

Internet equity is a very important issue with regard to Education. It indicates that all students should have the opportunity to access the vast amount of information that the Internet has available. This equity needs to be present not only with regard to schools and districts, but also, within each school and individual classrooms. Teachers can organize classroom environments to make sure equitable access to the Internet is available to all students. This will guarantee students’ appreciation and understanding of what the Internet has to offer. Also, Internet equity fosters interaction among students and communities.

Could certain students in a classroom be getting more time on the computer than others? Just because a classroom has an internet connection, does not mean it is used equitably for each student.
Carefully keeping watch over this one aspect will help distribute access evenly among students. Being aware of each student’s abilities and learning their needs is key to accommodating those needs. Collaborative tasks help the students appreciate each other's abilities and makes learning more enjoyable for all and it fosters confidence. Besides keeping watch over time distribution, another area to keep in mind is the fact that some students’ navigational skills may not be as good as others. This could result in their time on the Internet not being as productive; therefore they begin to get behind. One way to help with this is to pair them up with a student who has acquired these skills and make sure they have opportunities to work together navigating the Internet. They should also have time to work on their own to practice their new skills.

What about students who have been formally identified as having special learning needs? The book suggested that we could share with these ones the information about navigation strategies before we share it with the other students. This could give these students the opportunity to help teach some strategies necessary to navigate the Internet. In turn, it could help these students be more interested and give them confidence. In addition, many useful resources on the internet offer assistance on ways to include all students in classroom activities. One of these is Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI) http://seriweb.com/. Here you will find many links for addressing special education issues.

Many sites on the Internet can provide teachers with practical ideas for instruction and many other informative resources. They can help teachers with important assistance as they seek to include all students in all classroom activities. Assistive technology tools such as online text readers can help students who have reading or language problems. A text-to-speech reader reads text out loud from webpages to help in this area as well. Some sites where these can be obtained are Read Please http://www.readplease.com/rpfree.php and TextAloud MP3 http://www.nextup.com/textaloud/. The internet also offers opportunities for those who are visually and hearing impaired. For these students, the internet browsers allows them to enlarge the print size appearing on the screen to whatever size they need and feel comfortable with. For those who are hearing impaired, American Sign Language Browser http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm provides helpful information on communicating with persons who are deaf or hearing impaired. This is a useful link to have and could be incorporated into any internet workshop. For the student who may have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, a very good resource is LDOnline http://www.ldonline.org/. Here teachers will find help with establishing effective instruction for students who are challenged in this way.

In closing, a key element to keep in mind is to remember that all students have special and unique needs that have to be recognized in order to make any instructional decisions. As teachers, we have the responsibility to learn about each student’s background and abilities, which will allows us to address the needs of each and every one of them. The Internet and its equitable use in our classroom offers many resources to allow for the creation of instruction and learning experiences that address all learners. New literacies need to be accessible to all students. It is vital to understand that these new literacies will prepare them for their future. Teachers have a key role in determining the success of each student with regard to learning by developing and constantly improving these skills.