Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 12:24:44 -0500
From: Hartwig Stein <[email protected]>

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS A NON EDITED MACHINE TRANSLATION FROM THE ORIGINAL IN SPANISH

Dear partners:

With pleasure I answer to the questions of Pierre, documenting only my personal opinion here about the questions, it is not an institutional opinion of the ITESM:

What to think of the politics of the ITESM about the laptop?
The politics of the laptop should guarantee an access of the students to a computer. Likewise the institution avoids the expenses for maintenance and buy of this equipment, even the maintenance in the ITESM is free for the students. It puts to the few students inside the ITESM that don't have so many resources in disadvantage. Also closing the one in route to students with few resources to study in the ITESM.

Does it favor the student's autonomy?
The design instruccional of the courses is the most important thing to favor the autonomy. Most of the courses, in my opinion, they are focused to pass knowledge and to make exams, not in the development of autonomy. The pure access to a tool doesn't favor the autonomy.

Does it obey economic or pedagogic reasons?
Both, the economic ones are even more obvious and the pedagogic ones are not verifiable. Nobody until nowadays it has checked that the use of a computer favors the learning.

Does it allow a reflection on the social use of the ICT?
Undoubtedly it allows it. In the courses students that have access can only participate to and knowledge of handling of these technologies. This educational system becomes this way more elitist.

Does it allow a social impact of the ICT? A friend that studied the ITESM told me that in that then had available desk computers for the use of the students. No longer. What to think of this evolution?
This development is to put the expenses of this technology in charge of the students, it puts in disadvantage the students with few resources. They are not only the computers, also the access to the net, previously offered by the ITESM, nowadays it is favored that the students hire services like TELMEX or infosel.
One can argue that the computer is a tool indispensable in a virtual university and for that reason the student should have one. In this case the access should be facilitated to computers but cheap that don't have so much capacity.

All your comments are welcome, greetings: -)

Hartwig I

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Last modified: 06/10/1999