Reflections
As the father of a beautiful daughter, I really could not imagine her not being able to have access to education, both traditional or delivered through distance education technologies. With this in mind, this artifact is very meaningful to me, as access to education should be available for all persons. However this is not always the case, in both impoverished areas and underdeveloped countries.
As I continued to read and absorb the course materials, it was clearly evident that a variety of influences, including culture, gender, stereotypes and limitations in technology, have excluded many women around the world from learning opportunities (1.1, 4.4).
For my assignment, which was a PowerPoint presentation, the focus was on the technological barriers that impede access to online educational resources. What I quickly realized is that learning, technology and social influences are factors that are intrinsically linked together. Interestingly, when I worked in social services, I do recall often that families were very limited in access to both technologies. Also believe that technology can facilitate great learning opportunities, which I discuss in my artifact #5.
After conducting online research, as well as disseminating the course materials, I discovered that limited access to the "necessities", such as food and clothing played a significant role in creating barriers for women, trying to obtain access to education technologies. “Lack of adequate food, clothing, shelter, health services present major obstacles in accessing education technologies” (Burge & Haughey, 2011). Even though I had experienced some of these hardships, both on a personal and professional level, this assignment was a true reminder how disadvantaged groups often need to focus on feeding their families first, before even thinking about education and technology (1.5).
As a component of the assignment, my presentation was posted in a discussion forum for my esteemed classmates to review and generate meaningful discussions. I really did find this commentary both enjoyable and very informative (4.1, 5.2). This was also a wonderful opportunity for me to improve my communication and facilitation skills (4.2).
One of the questions that I posed to my classmate's was “do you believe that gender stereotypes influence both availability and accessibility of technology for women”? Keep in mind that at Athabasca, 60 percent of the students are women. This topic generated some very interesting conversation, leaning towards supporting the notion that gender stereotyping of women really does play a role in limiting access to technology and education. I learned a great deal from my esteemed classmates, helping me to understand and realize that such barriers existed in many places throughout the world. The collaboration with my peers provided a means to participate and collaborate in meaningful discussion, respectfully supporting my views and opinions (4.8). This collaboration was a great training opportunity for me to hone my facilitation skills, which is a major component of my professional life.
I further learned that India was proactive in trying to remedy this issue, by creating the "Right to Education Act in 2009". This act made education accessible, free and compulsory for all children in the age group of six to fourteen years (http://india.gov.in/spotlight/right-education-act-0).
After reading this wonderful and informative post about India, I was both curious and motivated to research and seek information, relating to Canada and the impacts of poverty and education. What I discovered was both surprising and very saddening:
On average, 9% of people living in Canada are poor. However, some groups are much more likely to be poor than others:
- Aboriginal women (First Nations, Métis, Inuit)—36%2
- Visible minority women—35%
- Women with disabilities—26%Single parent mothers—21%5 (7% of single parent fathers are poor6)
- Single senior women—14%
- http://www.canadianwomen.org/facts-about-women-and-poverty
References
Spronk, B. (2001). Naming the learning technology issues in developing countries. In E. J. Burge, & M. Haughey (Eds.), Using learning technologies: International perspectives on practice (pp. 15-25). London: Routledge/Falmer.
In Summary
Both the course and artifact remains to be one of my most favorite and enriching experiences along my M.Ed. journey. I strongly believe that this experience greatly contributed to my further understanding of gender inequalities, which exist, both in the work place and society at large. In my opinion both women and men effectively utilize learning technologies, in an efficient and knowledgeable manner. The reality is that many women around the world are discouraged from pursuing both education and technology usage. We all must make efforts to dispel such negative stereotypes that have no place in a modern and evolving society.
