BusyTeacher.

org - Free Printable Worksheets > ESL Essentials > What Do You Mean,
You Don t Have an Email Account? Helping the Nonwired Student Navigate the Electron
ic World
What Do You Mean, You Don t Have an Email Account? Helping the Nonwired Student Navi
gate the Electronic World
There are, believe it or not, those students who still don t have a home computer.
There are also those who don t have an email account, don t post on Facebook, or own
a smart phone. In this wired age, not having an email address is a little like
not having a street address or a telephone number. It seems strange, but some st
udents still live in the nonwired world. And while we ve come to take such technol
ogy for granted, not having electronic devices or not knowing how to use them is
usually not, at least officially, a part of most courses grades. So how does one
accommodate the noncomputer user in class while perhaps steering her toward a m
ore wired student life?
5 Challenges to Student's

Wired

State

1
Finances
An obvious reason for students not to be wired into electronic devices is lack o
f money for such devices. Even with prices for smart phones, laptops, and notebo
oks falling all of the time, the cost of a monthly smart phone bill or internet
service can be prohibitive for some students.
2
Motivation/Interest
Some people actually lack much interest in electronics. Their interests lie else
where, such as developing an artistic or physical skill. They therefore lack the
motivation to devote the hours it can take to learn new programs and new versio
ns of programs and software applications.
3
Skills Level/Prior Exposure
Again, we tend to think of younger people, those under thirty, as being almost g
enetically programmed to use electronic devices or at least having been exposed
to them since birth, but this is simply not the case. Many even younger people h
ave little experience with doing web searches, setting up a PowerPoint or websit
e, using text or instant messaging, and other such skills we almost take for gra
nted that they will have extensive experience in.
4
Cultural/Environmental Context
A major reason some students don t have Facebook accounts or know how to use text
messaging is the cultural context they were brought up in. Students who live in
rural poor areas whose families work in the farming industry might very well not
even have internet access near their home, or are not able to afford a personal
computer, and may have to travel miles to the nearest library to use the intern
et.
5
Personality Style
Neither my daughter nor a close colleague has a Facebook account. This seems sur
prising, given their youth (after all, isn t everyone under thirty on Facebook?) B
ut some people really are very reticent about sharing their personal life. Other
s are more physically active individuals and find it very challenging to sit in
front of a computer screen for long stretches of time. These are two issues of p
ersonality style that might limit an individual s use of technology.
There are actually a number of reasons students may not be very involved in elec
tronics. However, some understanding of and access to electronics and computers
is almost a prerequisite for upward mobility in contemporary society, so instruc
tors should encourage students to learn to use, if not actually love, a variety
of more common computer applications.

Apply 6 Methods for Helping Students Navigate the Electronic World

1
Discuss Benefits
One reason students do not become wired and are hesitant to engage with technology
is that they see no advantages, only disadvantages: it is expensive, time consu
ming, infringing on one s personal privacy, and so forth. A lot of this is true, b
ut then a lot of the industrial world has become wired for the very reason it brin
gs countless advantages over disadvantages, such as ability to access almost unl
imited information nearly instantaneously and effortlessly. Technology also open
s doors previously closed, such as ease in communicating with individuals around
the world, seeing a noted scholar in one s field speak via YouTube, for example,
or taking courses (online) at Oxford University all opportunities made available b
y technology.
2
Give Alternatives
Sometimes the technology is so complex and new that it is not accessible to much
of the class. For example, I have taught a course online for several semesters
that requires students to meet in Class Live Pro, program for online chat design
ed specifically for online classes. A number of students each semester face prob
lems with this program: it is very complex to learn, they do not have the correc
t hardware for it, and so forth. Suggested alternates should be made in cases li
ke this rather than asking students to log numerous hours installing and learnin
g the necessary skills rather than focusing on their coursework. Reasonable alte
rnatives might be a more traditional text-type chat session, a phone call to the
instructor, or use of email.
3
Demonstrate
Model use of technology in the class. Last term, I found my students didn t know h
ow to use the university s online library and databases. I created a PowerPoint th
at introduced them to the online library s resources and took them through the ste
ps of doing a search on Academic Search Premier, a premier database of scholarly
articles on a variety of subjects, and students now have a skill that they can
use for the rest of their college careers.
4
Suggest Appropriate Technology for Assignments
Another problem with use of technology in the classroom is appropriate use. It s
hould not be used just for the sake of using it. Rather, require technology appr
opriate to the assignment. PowerPoint is not the appropriate forum for presentin
g a research paper, for example. Rather, PowerPoint was developed for presenting
concise, broad concepts, bulleted lists, and visuals that can fit on a slide an
d be presented within a thirty-minute time frame at the most. More appropriate t
echnology for presenting a paper would be the discussion threads of the class we
bsite, for example, where students can post their own work and discuss each othe
r s.
5
Assignments
As you progress in the semester, introduce your students to different electronic
resources, giving assignments that will draw on the skills they have learned. T
each students how to access and search the library databases, set up a PowerPoin
t for the term presentation, and how to include Excel spreadsheets and other for
ms of data presentation within their research papers.
6
Devote Class Time to Using Technology
If competent use of technology is a value that the instructor wishes to communic
ate, time should be taken in class to model this value and spend time learning t
he technology associate with the subject matter, such as word processing program
s, excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and so forth. The class then co
uld be divided into portions for instructor lecture/presentation, group discussi

on, and then technology use, when something novel is created based on the teache
r lecture and class discussion. Also, if class time is reserved for use of techn
ology, students who do not have the needed electronics at home can use the class
electronics.
Not all students, even today, are wired for a variety of financial and personal re
asons. However, the instructor teach the importance of having some electronic co
mpetence through a variety of methods, such discussing the appropriate use of te
chnology and its benefits and providing opportunities to use it within the class
.
How do you help the nonwired student in class?
Back