4.1 Digital Equity
Candidates model and promote strategies for achieving equitable access to digital tools and resources and technology-related best practices for all students and teachers. (PSC 4.1/ISTE 5a)
Artifact: Equitable Access Blog Entry
Reflection:
The artifact “Equitable Access Blog Entry” was created in ITEC 7430 Internet Tools in the Classroom. This artifact is a blog entry that I created to address issues in equitable access to technology based on income. In our society, we are most definitely experiencing the “digital divide,” but this can be addressed by a few key steps. The first is to provide up-to-date technology in all schools for all students. The second is to provide appropriate training for teachers on how to incorporate technology into courses with follow up mentoring to that training available. The third is to provide training for students as well such that they may learn how to appropriately utilize technology in classes and access the resources they need to be effective citizens in our changing society.
The element of Digital Equity under the Standard of Digital Citizenship and Responsibility was mastered with this artifact in several different ways. Given a digital divide in our country, it is imperative that all teachers advocate for methods to correct this divide. In this blog entry, I succinctly address the ongoing issue and provide several steps to counteract this divide. Without adequate access to technology and training to utilize that technology, the digital divide will continue to spread. All teachers and all students within a county or state must be provided with comparable access to technology resources.
Through my creation of this artifact, I learned a great deal about the reality of the digital divide. While we see some students in our classrooms without access to technology, few teachers truly grasp how great an inequality this is. Without the ability to utilize technology and the access to make that happen, our less economically advantaged students continue to fall behind. One thing that I would change in this artifact is that I wish I had done some additional research on how to best financially address this divide. Funding is a huge issue in our schools right now, and it is one thing to say that we need to address the divide but quite another to provide a means to do so.
The work that went into creating this artifact could impact faculty development. By making this issue more of a priority, it is possible to create professional development to bring this issue to teachers. By making teachers aware, they are more likely to schedule computer lab time to enable students without equitable access to technology at home more able to function in the demanding world of our schools. The impact of this artifact can be evaluated through a teacher survey to determine the strategies that teachers actually begin to use in the coming year to provide equitable access to their students.
The artifact “Equitable Access Blog Entry” was created in ITEC 7430 Internet Tools in the Classroom. This artifact is a blog entry that I created to address issues in equitable access to technology based on income. In our society, we are most definitely experiencing the “digital divide,” but this can be addressed by a few key steps. The first is to provide up-to-date technology in all schools for all students. The second is to provide appropriate training for teachers on how to incorporate technology into courses with follow up mentoring to that training available. The third is to provide training for students as well such that they may learn how to appropriately utilize technology in classes and access the resources they need to be effective citizens in our changing society.
The element of Digital Equity under the Standard of Digital Citizenship and Responsibility was mastered with this artifact in several different ways. Given a digital divide in our country, it is imperative that all teachers advocate for methods to correct this divide. In this blog entry, I succinctly address the ongoing issue and provide several steps to counteract this divide. Without adequate access to technology and training to utilize that technology, the digital divide will continue to spread. All teachers and all students within a county or state must be provided with comparable access to technology resources.
Through my creation of this artifact, I learned a great deal about the reality of the digital divide. While we see some students in our classrooms without access to technology, few teachers truly grasp how great an inequality this is. Without the ability to utilize technology and the access to make that happen, our less economically advantaged students continue to fall behind. One thing that I would change in this artifact is that I wish I had done some additional research on how to best financially address this divide. Funding is a huge issue in our schools right now, and it is one thing to say that we need to address the divide but quite another to provide a means to do so.
The work that went into creating this artifact could impact faculty development. By making this issue more of a priority, it is possible to create professional development to bring this issue to teachers. By making teachers aware, they are more likely to schedule computer lab time to enable students without equitable access to technology at home more able to function in the demanding world of our schools. The impact of this artifact can be evaluated through a teacher survey to determine the strategies that teachers actually begin to use in the coming year to provide equitable access to their students.