In School District 21, approximately 70% of our families have Internet access at home and 30% do not. When breaking this number down further, even more interesting and important information is revealed. On the one end of the spectrum, a couple of schools have populations in which 95% of families do have Internet access. On the flip side, in another District 21 school, only 20% of families have Internet access. Approximately half of our English language learners have Internet access at home. We even know that Internet access is only related in a minor way to income--meaning that there are many low income families that have Internet access as well as families not classified as low income that do not have Internet access. Unfortunately, we do not know more about the nature of the Internet access in the homes of District 21 families. For example, we do not know who has dial-up connections to the Internet versus who has high-speed connections over cable or DSL. Nevertheless, the Internet is not yet completely commonplace in our community.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that the mobile telephone is establishing itself as the basic tool for connecting people around the world. It is now predicted that by 2012 nearly every adult in the world (and many adolescents) will have his or her own mobile phone, which, of course, will also include some form of Internet access.

For more information on this, read the article from The Guardian. Also, consider what this new technology means for the idea of knowledge? What does it mean for classroom instruction?

Tags: SmartPhones