Sunday, August 22, 2010

Module 5: Addressing the Digital Divide

When I first began teaching I taught and psychoed center for the severly emotionally disturbed children. The building we taught in had absetos and mold, it was an old school. The technology consisted of one teacher laptop and two to three older desktops that the students could work on. Oh we also had access to an overhead projector one or two for 12 teachers or you could order one. I remember using power point presentation to do games that I would hook my laptop up to the television to show. When I actually moved to a school in the county (the county only furnished the psychoed school but didn't pay us), I was amazed to see computer labs, SMART Boards, CPS systems at the teachers disposal and depending on what you teach you might have it in your classroom. I was so amazed and so sad to see that disparity between the school I just left and the new school I was working with had.

I'm a special education teacher so I'm used to making accomodations for students. I would use this skill to help integrate appropriate technology to other cultures. I would also try to educate others on what technology is availbe to them no matter what the socioecnomic status is. One of the things that I would try to work on is having laptops available to check out to students to take home. Both the student and the parents would have to sign a waiver saying that they would only use the laptop for school purposes as well as they would be responsible for any damages incurred.

Internet: A Vehicle
for Change in the Arab WorldBy: DR. SHAHID JAMAL

http://www.radianceweekly.com/216/5879/HINDUTVA-IMPRINT-IN-SAMJHAUTA-EXPRESS-BLASTS/2010-08-08/The-Internet/Story-Detail/internet-a-vehicle-for-change-in-the-arab-world.html

STEM Diversity Without Borders
http://diverseeducation.com/blogpost/291/stem-diversity-without-borders.html

2 comments:

  1. Hi Shauna,

    Great post! Thank you for all the work you do as a Special Education teacher. I appreciate all your hard work. Your idea of having laptops available for students to check out and take home to work with is one I have put great thought into, but have not been willing to put into place yet, because of the logistics. If you are able to set up a successful program in the future, please let me know. I would sincerely appreciate learning how you do it.

    Thank you for a great learning community this quarter!

    Sincerely,
    LeAnn :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shauna, it is disheartening to see the disparities between schools. The counties that that get more tax support and community support seem to have more. I wonder how close will be ever become to ever eliminating the digital divide. Thank you for all of your perspectives this quarter. I enjoyed being a part of your learning community. Best Wishes. ~Wendy

    ReplyDelete