Bridging the Digital Divide

Before taking EME5432 I probably would have said, "no, I do not think students need digital access to learn." However, I realize now that this would be a great disservice to my students in today's day and age. Although different classrooms will inevitably vary in regards to the amount of digital access that they posses, students need to be at least introduced to technology in order to be tomorrow's successful citizens. After all, isn't one of the main purposes of education to create effective citizens? It would have been perfectly fine for our parents, or maybe even ourselves, to lack technological access, but the same does not hold true for our future students. Students can learn the content perfectly fine without technology, but teaching the content is not our only job as teachers. Plus, technology does enhance the learning process greatly!!

If I find myself working at a school with very little digital access, I will write grants to gain such technology. A teacher that I volunteered for last year wrote a grant for a SmartBoard and his class; he said it was quite easy to do. I would also like to work with someplace, say Pizza Hut, and ask them if they would help me with "Technology Night." I would pick a night and a percentage of the proceeds earned that night would go to acquiring computers, or a SmartBoard, or a flip camera phone, or whatever I need, for my classroom. I obviously would encourage all my students and their families to attend; pizza + technology....who could resist?! If a classroom is equipped with technology, but not a lot, I would incorporate the technology as a "station" as part of a lesson plan. That way, every student would be rotated in to use the technology, but it would not be the focal point of the lesson.

I searched through a lot of teachers' blogs and twitter accounts in search of how they bridge the digital divide. While not a lot of them specifically talk about what they do to bridge the digital divide, a lot of them lament about it and how it provides such a disservice to students. Then it hit me: these teachers are trying to bridge the digital divide just by having these blogs and twitter accounts. It is proof that they are not a member of the (too large) group of teachers that are scared of technology and refuse to use it in their classroom. Message to teachers: it is completely normal to be afraid of technology, especially if you did not grow up with it. However, it is COMPLETELY unacceptable to deny your students the right of technology proficiency. My peers and I in the ProTeach program are taking the first step in bridging the digital divide just by taking this class!

Ariel Sacks is a teacher in New York who discusses the trouble of the digital divide in her classroom. She brings up two aspects of the digital divide: 1) that some students do not have access to the internet at their homes, which gives them an unfair disadvantage when completing specific assignments, like the audio of the book that Ms. Sacks created 2) Sacks discusses how the school does not allow mp3 players on school property, but they can be used for so many educational purposes! school administrations need to catch up with the times and realize that technology does not equal evil! Even cell phones will have some educational bearing one day, according to Dr. Packer (I agree).

A teacher told me, via Twitter (isn't Twitter cool?!) that, to bridge the digital divide, teachers should put as much information in the digital cloud (such as Google docs) so students do not have to save things to a specific computer. Thank you Kathy Schrock!

http://www.edutopia.org/digital-divide-where-we-are-today

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/will-the-digital-divide-close-by-itself/: this article discusses how 1) inconsistency in school contributes to the digital divide. For example, if one principal implements technology in his or her school but then leaves, so does the technology. and 2) how the digital divide will shrink as technology becomes cheaper

This teacher is raising money for a netbook for his sixth grade classroom; he realizes the importance of technology in today's classroom. Mr. R, the teacher, makes it easy for people to donate money online with just the click of a button. http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=319861&verify=1154803167

this website http://www.21stcenturychallenges.org/60-seconds/what-is-the-digital-divide/

deals with the digital divide in the UK, providing excellent facts and figures. It states "those being left behind with technology are being left behind across many spheres" --Martha Lane Fox, digital inclusion champion

http://teachers.net/gazette/SEP00/bracey.html this is a teacher-specific website concerning the digital divide, and how lack of technology puts students at a grave disadvantage.

this website http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/digital-divide-between

is one teacher describing the digital divide in a different sense; that students know a lot about technology and the teachers don't, nor do they care to learn. This teacher suggests, as a teacher who is proficient in technology and sees its importance, that we should slowly introduce our colleagues to technology, one baby step at a time. All too often, teachers remain set in their ways and do not even use the technology that they are lucky enough to have in their class!