Picture being a high school student and being assigned to write a blog. You are to provide your thoughts about a particular concept in the course you are taking. You are also asked to provide the sources you used as well as to embed a video of some sort. Imagine that the only tool you have available to you is a smartphone and a tablet. Both are connected to the internet and you have access to the the sites that you need; however, when trying to update your blog it keeps getting formatted to one paragraph rather than five. Trying to copy the website to use as a source doesn't seem to be working, and the video you are trying to embed doesn't have the embed option next to it on the mobile app. Your assignment is due the following morning. You wonder how you are going to complete that assignment. You find a way to get to the public or school library early in the morning and hope that a computer is free. You are going to have to go the extra mile to complete that assignment. If you are also a student from a low income family you most likely have to go the extra mile for many other needs such as finding dinner for the evening, or getting transportation to get some basic household supplies. You might even have to work a job so that you can help support your family. How likely is it that you are going to be able to create the blog that your teacher assigned?
The above scenario could be describe any low income student in our schools. While the Digital divide in terms of access to the internet is shrinking the divide between the kind of access is widening. Higher income families use computers with broadband internet while lower income families are primarily using their mobile devices for their internet access. The mobile devices and even tablets to an extent greatly limit what the user can do with the technology. Try to think about creating a Presi on your smartphone, or keeping a blog updated with your thoughts or even complete an application to college or for a job with only a tablet or phone. It is nearly impossible to complete these tasks without a desktop or well equipped laptop. Imagine trying to watch videos assigned by a teacher with a slow internet connection. Just waiting for the media to upload, not to mention pause every few minutes while playing is frustrating. Personally, at this moment, I am away from my home and only have an iPad with me. I am fortunate to have a wi-fi connection and a portable keyboard, and yet I am frustrated with the limitations I am facing. I have little editing tools to help me write this blog. I can't embed the Voicethread below until I can find a desktop, and adding my sources below is much more challenging using only the tablet. These are the situations we are setting our students up to face if we do not create digital equity within our student population.
If we dig a little deeper we will find that students using only a cell phone are not seeing these tools for empowerment and creation but rather for consuming media, information, and entertainment. If we do not bridge the kind of access divide we the perpetuate the cycle of empowerment, income, and job difference we see today between different socioeconomic groups. I believe that the solutions can only come from each district at the local level and could be as simple as keeping a school computer lab (if the school is centrally located to most students) open late into the evening to as complicated and expensive as providing all students a laptop with access to a high quality internet connection. This will only happen if we as educators can demonstrate the benefits our students will reap from having access to these computers. If we only want to use them to create similar learning experiences with traditional goals I expect our policy makers will not see the full potential the computers and internet bring. We must redefine what our students will use the internet to learn, how these skills will be assessed, and how ultimately the future of the community will be positively impacted.
In the past week I have had the opportunity to use a tool called VoiceThread to collaborate with my classmates and discuss the digital divide. I am really excited about using this tool with my students. I am fortunate to work in a private boarding school in which every student comes to school with a computer (most likely a laptop) and their rooms are all connected to a high speed internet connection, and therefore expecting all of my students to be able to complete an assignment such as this would be easier than if I were teaching in a digitally diverse community. As I reflect on my experience in using this tool I am attracted to the idea that each student can contribute equally in the presentation rather than just the students good at speaking in front of their peers or the ones that process the information quickly in class and are able to ask and answer questions. I also really like that this tool can be saved and revisited as students are preparing for tests, papers, exams, etc. Finally, I like that the kids can write a script ahead of time that either their peers or me can give them feedback for improvement. I want to be sure that each student has a chance to participate in a unique way though. Hearing the same content question answered several times was a little repetitive. I think that using this tool to reflect on a large body of work with many different perspectives might be a better way to use VoiceThread than we used it for in which the content was fairly limited. The students will be more likely to listen to their peers, I will look more forward to grading the assignment because of genuine interest in their words, and the collective presentation will add up to more than the sum of its parts.
You can find the VoiceThread from my class below:
Some of the resources I found interesting from the past week are:
www.voicethread.com
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-divide-technology-internet-access-literacy-vanessa-vega
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Better-off-households.aspx
Hertz, M. B. (n.d.). A new understanding of the digital divide| Edutopia. K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work | Edutopia. Retrieved January 6, 2012, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-divide-technology-internet-access-mary-beth-hertz
Bernard, S. (n.d.). Crossing the digital divide: bridges and barriers to digital inclusion | Edutopia. K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work | Edutopia. Retrieved January 6, 2012, from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-divide-technology-access-inclusion
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