Another interesting article--this time on helping students get access to technology. They don't mention EveryoneOn.org/adulted but they do have some interesting ideas.
7 Strategies To Support Students Who Can’t Afford Technology
Is this a challenge for programs and students in your area? Have you tried any other strategies?
Comments
Here's half an idea, which I learned about from TechSoup. This Providence library offers internet hotspot devices for free checkout. Great idea!
http://www.provcomlib.org/borrow-internet
(Should I be embarrassed that I am responding over a year later? I can't be the only member who is hopelessly behind in her reading!)
Hi Lori and others,
New York City Public Library also has a great technology loan program, providing laptops for extended loan, and perhaps more. I wonder if other libraries are now doing this.
Everyone, let us know if your public library has a laptop, tablet or hotspot loan program and, if you can, share a link to it here.
David J. Rosen,
Moderator, Technology and Learning CoP
djrosen123@gmail.com
T & L Colleagues,
When Nell posted this message in 2014, she pointed out that a major strategy for our field, Everyone On http://everyoneon.org/adulted was not included. Co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, all adult education students, regardless of income, and all teachers -- not only those in adult education programs and schools funded by U.S. Department of Education -- are eligible for inexpensive computers, broadband access for about $10.00 per month, home and classroom hotspots at around $75, and free digital literacy training. Although the program is not available everywhere, where it is, it can provide many more students who can't afford technology with access.
David J. Rosen
Moderator, Technology and Learning CoP
djrosen123@gmail.com
For those who live in areas without adequate Internet access and where EveryoneOn doesn't work, inexpensive tablets could be a partial workaround. I noticed this morning that Amazon has a holiday special on its entry-level Fire tablet. If you buy 5 at the normal price ($49.99), you get a 6th one free. What caught my eye was that this tablet also has a microSD slot. Although you can't navigate a website that's been downloaded and copied to the card, you can put pretty much else on it -- videos, podcasts, PDF and text, and so on -- which gives a lot of flexibility. A teacher, for example, could load a "flipped" assignment onto a card, pop it into the tablet, and lend it to learners to take home and watch or read as a homework assignment. During the next class, the teacher could remove the old SD card, insert a new one with a new assignment, and repeat the process. This would also give the teacher more control over fair use materials.
Learners who have access to wireless could also use the tablets to navigate the Internet.
Here's the link to the Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TSUGXKE/ref=ods_gw_d_h1_gv_tab_fd_bnb_3T?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-hero-kindle-A&pf_rd_r=0A7898064WJ498CPZ8B5&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2293080962&pf_rd_i=desktop
I mention the Fire tablet, because that's the one I noticed. Other tablet manufacturers should have similar features on their inexpensive tablets.
Using inexpensive tablets in this way is a brilliant strategy for helping to get more students connected. Perhaps time consuming but no doubt worth it.
It makes me think of how we might adapt our use of apps to this need. As you know, some apps are native, meaning they do not depend on being connected to work, while with others, one needs to be connected. Yet, some may not realize that most portions of the Quizlet app will work unconnected. And with Google translate, one can convert text (on signs for example) without being connected. (Note: Fire does not have all Android apps in store still as far I know. ) So let's keep an eye for and use more apps that might help unconnected learners.
Steve Quann
EdTech Center @World Education
Amazon uses Android with its own user interface on the Fire. From time to time, I install an app that is not in the Fire store on my 3-year-old Fire HD. The complicated part is getting ahold of the installation file for the app. Last year, Amazon changed the UI, so I don't know how it works on the newer models. I just ordered a 7" on a Black Friday sale and will play around with it when it arrives. I'll post what I find out.
The problem I am facing is that my program is located in a rural region with extremely limited Internet service. All but two teaching sites have no Internat access, and EveryoneOn hotspots provide 2G speeds at two of the non-served sites and 0G at the remainder, making it unfeasible. Because knowing how to use a variety of computing devices is now essential for accessing and creating content in many areas of our lives, I am constantly on the lookout for ways to compensate for this handicap and come up with workarounds that emulate Internet access as much as possible for learners and tutors who are not able to connect to the Internet.
The 7" Kindle Fire caught my eye for 3 reasons: (1) the quality, (2) the price, and (3) the ability to add a microSD card. Amazon sells its tablets at or less-than cost, so the build quality is better than similarly-priced competitors. At buy 5 get one free, the total price of a tablet and a microSD card is less than $50. Not only is the total price of 6 tablet setups less than that of a budget laptop, but because the cost of having one lost or damaged is not excessive, they can be loaned to learners who do not have devices of their own. Finally, you can't do much with 8GB of onboard storage. The ability to add up to a 128GB microSD card allows loading as much content for offline use as most tutors and learners are ever likely to need.
For the past couple of days, I've been stress testing a 7" Fire with a 32GB microSD card to see if it's feasible option for our non-Internet sites. It's not perfect, but it does have potential. It is something I would be able to use with my learners and that I would be able to train other tutors to use as well. I'd like to share what I've learned so far, in case anyone else in the group can use this information.
Loading files onto the microSD card: So far I've been able to get files on to the microSD card by (1) inserting it in the SD card reader of my desktop, copying the files to it, and then inserting it in the tablet; (2) using a USB cable to connect the tablet, with the microSD card inserted, directly to my desktop and using the file explorer to copy files from the desktop to the microSD card; and (3) transferring files from a wireless flash drive to the tablet's main storage and then moving. There is also a OneDrive app that gives access to the Microsoft cloud. I haven't tested it on this tablet yet, but I've used it successfully on others, so I see no reason why it should not be a 4th option for transferring data from a computer to the tablet or vice versa.
Audio and Video files: I placed both .mp4 video files and .mp3 audio files on the microSD card and was able to successfully play them using the native media player. I also installed the VLC media player app, which allowed me to slow down the playback speed on both types of files. This feature is useful for ESL learners who find normal playback speeds a little too fast.
Presentations with embedded audio: I used SoftMaker Presentations (the academic version of SoftMaker Office is free) on my desktop to create a multimedia presentation on my desktop (PowerPoint should work, too) and saved it in .pptx format. I transferred it to the microSD card and was able to successfully run it with the free version of SoftMaker Presentations I had installed on the laptop. By tapping on the speaker icon on a slide, I was able to replay the audio. I had also installed WPS Office on the tablet, but it wouldn't play the audio.
PDFs and text (word processor) documents: I was able to view PDF files with Adobe Reader and WPS Office. Both WPS Office and SoftMaker Office could read (and edit) text files, but it was easier to work with them in WPS Office.
There is more, but these are the offline capabilities that are most useful to me, and this follow-up comment is getting long. I'll be happy to expand on this if anyone is interested.