June 29th Homework Assignment!

• Does the digital divide exist in your school? Or have you seen instances where the digital divide has affected kids that you know? Please explain. Were any attempts made to remedy the problem? What accommodations were made?

The digital divide goes far beyond just every child having access to a computer, though that is a big part of it. In our school, we have students from varying socio-economic backgrounds, including students who attend from out-of-district through an integration program between our district, which is suburban, and an inner-city, urban district. Unfortunately, there is not much done to track the “haves” and “have-nots” when it comes to technology. We do, however, have computer classes for most students and computer labs (utilized frequently during lessons and activities,) which have enough computers for students. Time is given in school when Internet research is needed. Recently, SMARTBoards have been installed in at least one classroom on all teams.

What I am more concerned about is the digital divide with students with varying abilities. As mentioned by Leu, Leu, and Coirg (2004) in their book Teaching with the Internet K-12: New literacies for new times. Fourth Edition *“challenged students do not always participate in Internet experiences for any number of reasons.” Sadly, I do find this true at my school and I am somewhat of a culprit. Though it is really how our schedule is designed students with special needs who need resource support come to my classroom while the regular education students receive computer instruction (by the way, no Special Education Resource Rooms have SMARTBoards.) Furthermore, other students who miss out on this computer instruction time are ESL students, Title 1 students (who score under proficiency on the CMT’s in Reading and Mathematics,) and gifted students in an enrichment program. From this structure, it seems that only average students in our school are given the opportunity for further technological instruction. The other students are given only occasional in-class activities and independent time (when available, which is few and far-between.)

What I do, and will continue to do more often, is bring my resource students to the computer lab and/or allow them to use the two computers in my classroom. Also, I am planning more instruction in the computer lab and/or regular education classroom on the SMARTBoard during Resource time for the upcoming school year. Finally, there are some Special Needs students who can take the computer instruction and I have written Individualized Education Plans this year to include a clause that states I can send Special Education students to computers at my discretion.

*Leu, D. J., Leu, D. D., Coiro, J. (2004). Teaching with the Internet K-12: New literacies for new times. Fourth Edition. Christopher Gordon Publishing.




• What instructional strategies and approaches promote technology integration while addressing the participation gap (where low income and minority students have not had the same opportunities as their more affluent peers to use new technologies for learning)?

There are many strategies available to help bridge the participation gap, such as planning instruction so students have equal access time to computers. Teachers can also write grants to make more technology available. Furthermore, there are programs, such as Pennsylvania’s Service-Learning Alliance which offers free online curriculum so teachers can teach children how to refurbish used computers so each student can have access to a computer in their homes.



• What responsibility do you have, as an educator, to bring informating (learning) technology experiences into your classroom?

As an educatior, it is my responsibility to learn and explore the technology available and bring it into my classroom in meaningful ways. I must go beyond a simple “here’s a computer, now work,” attitude and actually teach lessons so students can learn and practice appropriate uses of computers and the Internet for research. It is my responsibility to introduce students to various programs available online and if necessary, practice with them the ability to use those programs (like using wiki’s, etc.) Not only do I need to make these programs available to myself in my repertoire, but I also must share with my colleagues (both within my school and online,) as a collaborator so the information is available for others to use. There are many responsibilities for educators in bringing technology into the classroom, but when done, the learning possibilities are endless.