Team Members: Deniz Engin, Jade Kennan, Leo Zhang, and Shakir Mahmood.
Team 1-H aims to solve the problem of a lack of computer access found in K-12 schools; specifically, schools located in a lower-income neighbourhood. This problem fits within a larger system of inequalities present on a global level (UN Sustainable Development Goal #10), but is addressed at the subsystem level within the City of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Students, teachers, parents, and principals – the 4 key stakeholders – are concerned with the impacts that a lack of computer access has upon education, technological understanding, and life opportunities. A lack of computer access is significant as less than ½ and only ⅔ of students, elementary and secondary respectively, bring their own devices to school (People for Education, 2019). Solving this problem is crucial as ¾ of teachers believe that students’ academic success is linked to computer access (National Literacy Survey, 2019). Logistical complications, technical support barriers, monetary shortages, and technological incomprehension are all causes of this problem (B. Beckedorf, personal communication, 13 March 2023) (Abuhammad, 2020) (E. Francoeur, personal communication, 13 March 2023).
The solution proposal is to create a non-profit organization, the Montréal Technological Literacy Group (MTLG), that has the objective to, first and foremost, teach basic computer skills to students through fun and engaging workshops with the overall goal of empowering students to understand how computers work, how to seek out information, and how to use computers to improve themselves. The MTLG could also assist in the sourcing of computers through private and institutional donors like large companies and universities that renew their hardware and government programs such as Computers for Schools+ (CFS+). This non-profit would make use of government grants, monetary donations, and volunteer services to mobilize staff to hold workshops in schools throughout Montreal. These workshops will be focused on teaching how to use the basic functions of a computer, how to repair and maintain a computer, and, lastly, more advanced skills like research, interacting with people on the internet, and a range of other similar themes.
Team 1-H made the following assumptions concerning the problem and solution. If these assumptions were to be proven false, then significant re-structuring of the problem and solution would be required.
Assumption 1 was made as it is a necessary component to providing computer access at home but was not resolved in this solution proposal as it is a large enough problem to be allocated its own solution. Assumption 2 was made to provide Team 1-H a baseline from which to work – it was decided that a larger than expected degree of technological literacy would be less detrimental to the feasibility of the solution.
In a 2018 survey of 219 UK teachers, 59.4% of them said they believe that technology can help students overcome learning obstacles, and 76.7% of them said they believe technology should be available to all students to help their literacy (National Literacy Trust, 2019). In comparison, only 48.4% of teachers said their students had access to an iPad or laptop, and only 39.3% said their students had access to desktop computers (National Literacy Trust, 2019). Another study conducted by the National Literacy Trust in the 2014/2015 academic year looked at the effects of ebooks on students’ reading skills and attitude. The study concluded that, over an average of 4.2 months, the reading level of boys increased by an average of 8.4 months and the reading level of girls increased by an average of 7.2 months (National Literacy Trust, 2015). The percentage of students that considered reading cool also increased from 34.4% to 66.5% (National Literacy Trust, 2015). In a different study conducted at Michigan State University (MSU) in 2020, the effect of laptop non-ownership on students’ GPA was analyzed. The study found that the expected GPA of students without laptops was around 0.143 less than the expected GPA of those with laptops (Reisdorf et al., 2020).
While data on access to technology in Montreal schools is not available, data from the 2019-2020 Annual Ontario School Survey can be used as a close enough estimate. According to this data, while 85% of elementary schools in high-income neighbourhoods fundraise for technology, only 54% of elementary schools in low-income neighbourhoods fundraise for technology (People for Education, 2019). Principals also commented that less than half of elementary school students and about two-thirds of secondary school students engage in “bring your own device” initiatives (People for Education, 2019). When prompted with a reason for the lack of technology, principals noted that schools often rely on fundraising to purchase new technologies, which can prove to be a challenge, especially in low-income communities (People for Education, 2019). Ontario teachers also reported that funding was not enough to provide devices for every classroom (People for Education, 2019).
Assuming that the aforementioned statistics and comments are also valid for the City of Montreal, as there is no evidence to show otherwise, it can be concluded that a considerable computing device gap is present within K-12 schools. However, it is not enough to simply provide computers to students in need. Students must also learn how to use these computers effectively after receiving them (E. Francoeur, personal communication, 13 March 2023). To solve both of these problems, Team 1-H’s proposed solution is the MTLG (Montréal Technological Literacy Group). The MTLG is a non-profit organization that aims to increase the amount of computers within K-12 schools and improve the technological literacy of students. To do this, the MTLG will connect schools in need of technology with institutions that provide technology to those in need and provide fun and engaging workshops on various topics, such as how to use different softwares and how to analyze the hardware of a computer.
There are a total of 4 different key stakeholders for Team 1-H’s problem and proposed solution. Each key stakeholder possesses varying degrees of importance and influence, and as such can affect the problem and resultant solution in different ways. This is graphically conveyed in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Graph characterizing the level of importance and influence for each of the 4 key stakeholders pertaining to the problem of access to computers in Montreal schools located in lower-income neighbourhoods.