Spring 1999
Vol 7 Issue 2
IN THIS ISSUE...
Multiplied or Divided by Technology
LEE: A Valuable Addition to Language Learning
Changing Face of Distance Learning Students
SEE ALSO...
The Forum
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
The Changing Face of Students ... Multiplied or Divided by Technology
Alan Levine, MCLI
We have likely all heard enough "Moore's Law" quotations (i.e. the information technology capacity doubles every 18 months) to drive home the impact of technology on education and society in general. And as members of the Maricopa family, we are well versed in our traditional role of meeting the evolving needs of our community.
What happens when the changing demographics of our student population, driven by the explosive population growth of metropolitan Phoenix, is compounded with the dizzying rate of change in technology-- where Internet time compresses the old business cycles of innovate-refine-disseminate? How might we know the changing faces of students if we never meet face to face?
The promise of technology is to minimize the barriers of physical distance between people and cultures. By enabling these electronic connections, do the vast and fast reaches of information technology provide opportunities to appreciate and learn in a more culturally diverse world? It should! Before the Internet, I may have only learned about Icelandic, Korean, Kuwaiti, Chilean, Russian people from static print media-- now I can immediately converse, exchange, and get to know them as persons and colleagues.
On the other hand, do the inequities of access to technology drive more of a wedge between the wired and non-wired? While recent surveys place Phoenix as one of the United States's most wired cities, with more than 50% of homes accessing the Internet, some local areas grossly lack the basic communication of plain old telephone service. The advent of "Free-PCs" may open more doors and make computer technology as common as television sets. Access to the electronic world may even be via our television sets.
In this issue of the Labyrinth, we probe different aspects of this complex combination of technology and diversity. Jack Clevenger describes how Mesa Community College is actively meeting the technology accessibility needs for students with disabilities, "not only because it is the law, because it is the right thing to do." Next, Dean of Instruction Ken C. Roberts shares the ways South Mountain Community College provides the diverse South Phoenix community access to campus technology resources. Then, Karen Schwalm provides a thoughtful overview about technology use with respect to age, ethnicity, and gender. Karen describes approaches taken by Glendale Community College to collect data from its networked computer resources and relates how this data can be used to direct interventions to address the needs of students that are using (or not using) technology resources.
Our correspondent from Egypt, Jon Lea Fimbres-Hetzel, illustrates a different view of cultural diversity she has seen as a minority Western visitor in the Middle East, where she is reminded "daily of the complexities of maintaining the balance of diversity and unity." Following this, we interview Angela Ambrosia to learn more about the changing face of distance learning students at Rio Salado College. Finally, Mary Jane Onnen tells us how LEE, a district developed CD-ROM program, is used to teach ESL and English courses for community members through a collaborative effort between the Dysart Unified School District and Glendale Community College.
These excellent articles by Maricopa faculty and staff clearly show the significant efforts we take to truly make community "our middle name." However, it can also seem we are only scratching the surface of something large and mysterious that is always transforming.
Paradoxically, technology seems to both multiply and divide the diversities of our world, our community.