Digital+Divide

= COLLABORATION ACTIVITY: Digital divide =


 * Aims of the activity:**
 * To establish communication between students in two schools in geographically disparate locations
 * To investigate the collaboration topics set out below

Inquirers: Students conduct local research and share findings with students in the other school Knowledgeable: Students increase their knowledge of IT systems Students reach conclusions about the impact of the digital divide Communicators: Students collaborate as part of an inter-school team Principled: Students are aware of cultural differences and show respect in their interactions  Strand 1: Social and Ethical Considerations> The digital divide and equality of access Strand 2: Education and training Strand 3: Hardware, Software, Networks, Internet
 * Link to Learner Profile:**
 * Link to Curriculum:**


 * Topics the students could investigate:**
 * Define ‘digital divide’
 * Describe the hardware, software, network, Internet access and technical support in your school
 * Compare hardware, software, network, Internet access and technical support between the schools
 * Discuss reasons for disparities in facilities, support and access
 * Analyse the impacts on students of any disparities
 * Evaluate solutions to address these disparities


 * Length of activity:** Approximately four weeks


 * Suggested step-by-step process:**
 * 1) The ITGS teachers discuss with their Network Managers any issues that may restrict the scope of the collaboration topic.
 * 2) Two ITGS teachers from geographically disparate locations connect through a forum, such as the OCC.
 * 3) Teachers discuss with their classes issues relating to digital citizenship.
 * 4) The class in each school discusses the concept of the digital divide and researches information using social bookmarking (eg. Delicious, Diigo ) and RSS feeds.
 * 5) The teacher in each school ensures the students are familiar with the concepts relating to the IT systems. This may involve creating a glossary of terminology.
 * 6) The teachers collaborate and pair up one student in Teacher A's ITGS class with a student in Teacher B's ITGS class to create a team.
 * 7) A wiki is set up by the teachers that will be used for communicating . The agreed guidelines for the wiki are added by the teacher.
 * 8) Students connect with their team using the wiki. Students communicate with their teams using the discussion tab feature of wiki on their topic.
 * 9) Teams choose one area (ie hardware, software, network facilities, Internet access, IT support).
 * 10) A team member will gather research (eg using Google Forms ) within his own school and share the findings with his partner (eg using Google spreadsheet ) in the other school. Teachers provide guiding questions for each team to enable them to research their topic in more depth. Students may add further questions.
 * 11) Teachers provide a mechanism to ensure the members of the team contribute equally.
 * 12) Teachers provide students with a template page to assist them to create the content for the wiki.
 * 13) The team collaborates to create a presentation of their findings on the wiki.
 * 14) The students celebrate by presenting their findings to their respective classes.
 * 15) Teachers and students evaluate the activities according to pre-determined rubrics.

Acknowledgment for the concepts found in "[|7 Steps to a Flat Classroom]" to [|Julie Lindsay] and [|Vicki Davis], co-founders of [|Flat Classroom™ Projects]

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