Equal access in schools is a complex problem in today’s society.
I say complex because of the touchiness of student privacy. We as teachers try
to keep this atmosphere of an even playing field for all students. This doesn’t
always happen though because of the socioeconomic status of some of our
students. Its weird though, In today’s schools some of our poorer students do
not look or dress poorly. So it is hard to differentiate between which students
will have access to technology or not. To add to this deception government
programs give smartphones to low income families. With all this being said the
“Digital Divide” is something real that exist in all schools across the country.
This divide describes the lack of access between students in schools and in the
community. My personal experience with this is in my short tenure as a teacher
I have always had students who did not have equal access to technology. This
has not always been a problem until recently. With education making the move in
recent years to teaching with technology, the issue is coming more to the
forefront. It is really hard to combat this problem, but there are a few ways that I have been able to help
this. In my classes I have always given students time in the Library when
needed, extra time before and after class with classroom technology, and lastly
printed versions of assignments that we are completing. At my present school, I
have access to a 2:1 ratio, so a lot of work is done during class time and
homework is not needed. If assignments did need to be completed at home students
would be able to check out a laptop under certain conditions. From our readings
this week the authors made some really interesting statements. One that I agree
with is from “Connecting schools, community, and family with ICT.” The author
states that schools are important to bridging the gap in universal service and
access, as well as awareness and training to family and the community. This
statement puts a lot of pressure on the school and its teachers. The pressure is
good pressure though, and who other than educators should this fall on.
Educators will all the experience and knowledge are great connectors of
information. We as educators are the most responsible answers to making this
connection. I feel that this is what the author is talking about. It being our
duty to make sure this generation and others get a fair shake at technology. The
next statement is one I also agree with, but it is because I am a parent as
well. It comes from the article “Predictors of creative computing
participation.” The author says that “The amount of parent-child coactivity
around computing predicts children’s interest and engagement for computing. My
argument here is, how can children understand technology is they are not
introduced to it at a young age? This hits home because I have young child and
do not want her to fall behind in this technological world. But how do parents
who cannot afford this things be able to introduce these technologies? This only
makes the argument stronger for educators and their purpose of breaking this
“Digital Divide.”
I say complex because of the touchiness of student privacy. We as teachers try
to keep this atmosphere of an even playing field for all students. This doesn’t
always happen though because of the socioeconomic status of some of our
students. Its weird though, In today’s schools some of our poorer students do
not look or dress poorly. So it is hard to differentiate between which students
will have access to technology or not. To add to this deception government
programs give smartphones to low income families. With all this being said the
“Digital Divide” is something real that exist in all schools across the country.
This divide describes the lack of access between students in schools and in the
community. My personal experience with this is in my short tenure as a teacher
I have always had students who did not have equal access to technology. This
has not always been a problem until recently. With education making the move in
recent years to teaching with technology, the issue is coming more to the
forefront. It is really hard to combat this problem, but there are a few ways that I have been able to help
this. In my classes I have always given students time in the Library when
needed, extra time before and after class with classroom technology, and lastly
printed versions of assignments that we are completing. At my present school, I
have access to a 2:1 ratio, so a lot of work is done during class time and
homework is not needed. If assignments did need to be completed at home students
would be able to check out a laptop under certain conditions. From our readings
this week the authors made some really interesting statements. One that I agree
with is from “Connecting schools, community, and family with ICT.” The author
states that schools are important to bridging the gap in universal service and
access, as well as awareness and training to family and the community. This
statement puts a lot of pressure on the school and its teachers. The pressure is
good pressure though, and who other than educators should this fall on.
Educators will all the experience and knowledge are great connectors of
information. We as educators are the most responsible answers to making this
connection. I feel that this is what the author is talking about. It being our
duty to make sure this generation and others get a fair shake at technology. The
next statement is one I also agree with, but it is because I am a parent as
well. It comes from the article “Predictors of creative computing
participation.” The author says that “The amount of parent-child coactivity
around computing predicts children’s interest and engagement for computing. My
argument here is, how can children understand technology is they are not
introduced to it at a young age? This hits home because I have young child and
do not want her to fall behind in this technological world. But how do parents
who cannot afford this things be able to introduce these technologies? This only
makes the argument stronger for educators and their purpose of breaking this
“Digital Divide.”