Chapter 8: The Impact of Information Technology On Productivity and Quality of Life

Vignette

1. How important is access to ICT in children’s education?

ICT is a global phenomenon, and children who are computer literate at an early stage of their lives might deal better with the modern world. A sound knowledge of ICT makes it much easier for children to find and organize information. An Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) funded study (2009) that took place between 2005 and 2008 identified good practices in the teaching of ICT. Although the ICT curriculum was sometimes poorly balanced, its use contributed to children doing better in some subject areas. The study also found that the primary school children spent as much time on computers as the curriculum allowed.

http://www.ehow.com/about_6612110_importance-ict-primary-  education.html

2. What are the barriers that stand in the way of universal access to ICT for everyone who wants it?

Technological Advances Create Digital Divide in Health Care

Discussion Questions:

1. Can you provide examples that either refute or confirm the idea that a gap exists between the kinds of healthcare services available to the wealthy and the poor in the United States?

Inequality in economic resources is a natural but not altogether attractive feature of a free society. [ As health care becomes an ever larger share of the economy, we will have no choice but to struggle with the questions of how far we should allow such inequality to extend and what restrictions on our liberty we should endure in the name of fairness. “At its root, the lack of health care for all in America is fundamentally a moral issue. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have some form of universal health care (defined as a basic guarantee of health care to all of its citizens). While other countries have declared health care to be a basic right, the United States treats health care as a privilege, only available to those who can afford it... Americans purport to believe in equal opportunity. Yet, in the current situation, those who do not have health care are at risk for financial ruin and poorer health, both of which disadvantage them in society and thereby do not give them equal opportunity.

http://www.weegy.com/?ConversationId=9771CF9C

2. Should healthcare organizations make major investments in telemedicine to provide improved services that only the wealthy can afford?

Yes they should, we all pay our bills to health care but not have improved services.

3. What are the drawbacks of telemedicine? What situations might not lend themselves to telemedicine solutions?

Drawbacks of telemedicines are that they can be expensive and may or may not be completely covered by every insurer. Demand of telemedicine is pretty high as well. Situations where telemedicine might not be useful might be to the elderly.

http://www.chacha.com/question/what-are-the-drawbacks-of-telemedicine-what-situations-might-not-lend-themselves-to-telemedicine-solutions