Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Digital Divide
Who's got it, and who wants it. The digital divide is exemplified as I continue on with this grad school program. I learn about many different ways to integrate technology into my classroom as well as work on student's 21st century skills. The sad thing is that I don't have the means to incorporate all the wonderful finds I have discovered. Especially with the economy the way it currently is our district has tightened the reins on department spending. I think one of the things I can do to help with this is priorities all of the technologies I want. I feel that I need to find unique ways to use what I have but also become creative with the ways in which I can get funds for the technology I would like to incorporate into my classroom. This includes searching out and finding grant money for the items that our department can't afford. There are many other digital divide issues that go on at our school. One of which is not having the library open after school long enough for students to use it productively. I am typically after school late, by the standard of most of the other teachers, so students will typically pop in after school to type something on the other computers in the math office. The school needs to realize that students might not have the adequate access at home to use computers for their classroom requirements. I know I don't have all the answers but it's important to at least bring them to our attention.
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3 comments:
You make a good point about access outside of the school day. What is the responsibility of the school district? Also, I think we need to continue to raise the awareness of our parents. As community members, I think they should expect that the school district is working to provide access to students... as well as understanding the financial commitment that comes with that. Lots of challenges and lots of questions.
Emily
So true -- we could consider having access for students far longer than we do --if the expectation is for work outside the school day, we have to help students meet that expectation.
I completely agree. Schools need to provide students access to computers before or after school. Most students at my school really need to extra time due to the lack of home resources. I also agree, I would love to share with my students all of the awesome resources that I have learned in class. My students would love to experience these new resources.
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