Blog 4: Twitter and the Digital Divide

Following these educators has provided me with insight to things I feel like I wouldn’t have known otherwise. They post articles and knowledgeable information that relates to school and academics. I have followed Joan Young, Margaret Powers, Fran Powers, and Lyn Hilt. Twitter is an instant source of news and current events and I can use that to my benefit. The power of the hashtag could be something to build off of as well.

The digital divide is the gap between the people who have access to technology. The digital divide occurs in the US, not just developing countries. When it comes to education, disparities are created when some students have access to internet at home and some don’t. Some will have skills for the future and some wont. Often times, teachers may assume that their students have access to technology at home and assign work accordingly, when that isn't always the case. Depending on the living situation of the student, which includes socioeconomic status, this can determine often times what they are exposed to, which in this case, is the internet. As a teacher, I would have to keep this in consideration so my students can have equal access.


Some examples of software that 1st graders would use are MyStorybook.com and StoryJumper. These students are perfecting their reading skills and often times practice improving them. These software would allow students to act accordingly. Using technology to improve these skills will give them the tools to build and learn other things later on in life. I don’t think 1st graders would be using YouTube-- that would align more with a student in 5th or 6th grade.

Comments

  1. HebertFebruary 18, 2018 at 1:46 PM

    Great blog post this week! You seem to really know what your first graders will need and it is great that you found some cool sources that can help you in the future!

    ReplyDelete
  2. a.lachelleFebruary 18, 2018 at 1:47 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. a.lachelleFebruary 18, 2018 at 1:52 PM

    Deandra,
    I also follow Margaret Powers! Have you seen her most recent posts with the #shadowastudent challenge? If not, you should check it out it's pretty interesting. In regard to the digital divide, I feel like it's an issue that's hard to tackle as an individual, but a school district could make a bigger impact. Issuing out loner devices would be a good start to finding a solution in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ToasterTechFebruary 18, 2018 at 8:26 PM

    I'll have to check out those people on Twitter too! Probably my favorite part of this weeks blog post is seeing all the people everyone follows that posts some really interesting stuff. The digital divide is not an issue I had considered too much before we talked about it in class but it is a big problem if some students aren't able to do certain assignments at home but I agree that we should take steps to help level the playing field for the students and give them equal access.

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