update

alright, so i feel incredibly out of the loop after missing an entire week of classes (not to mention my job, and everyday life!). i was sick for what seemed like ever, and i am excited to FINALLY be blogging about some progress i have made in terms of my final project. although i fear that my direction may not be completely clear until its moment of completion, for now i must repport that my plan has deviated a bit. while i am still planning on creating a powerpoint presentation (this entails first LEARNING how to do so) on the free laptops for students initiative, throughout the course of my research (i.e. articles on this topic), i've found that this idea seemed to originate a few years ago here in the u.s. i had no idea! please excuse me if others of you knew about this, but anyway as a result of this new information i have decided that my presentation will include the proposals as well as programs that have been created both for students in underprivileged countries as well as here in the u.s. the information i've sifted through so far has been really interesting and i found myself reading articles last night at 1:30 am when i probably should have been catching up on some much needed rest! but i am encouraged to see that this topic is much more relevant (to myself and other prospective educators right here in new york state) than i'd originally thought. I had presumed that i would be looking among articles which consisted only of proposals to present students in libya, nigeria and argentina (to name a few) with their own laptops. BUT, the fact that in some areas of our country this has already happened has also given me an additional direction in my search for information -- what is the basis behind choosing the countries to deliver laptops to children? should we be focusing on providing students in THIS country with complete technological availability, before then looking to do so abroad? are laptops really what students in underdeveloped countries need? * i hope not to make myself sound biased here, because i am not certain what i think about all of this. the articles/arguments i've read are pretty intriguing. my goal, though, is to attempt to play devil's advocate in presenting this interesting technological issue.