The New Digital Divide


As a middle school teacher in this ever changing world of technology I find it a constant challenge to prepare students to compete in the 21 st century. Due to budget cuts and decrease in funding to education, resources are depleting and there is limited access to the most current technologies which result in an increase to the digital divide.

However, there seems to be a new group of students that are at a disadvantage  The Title I schools (high poverty) has experienced an influx of funding for technology  The students have access to iPads, tablets and the newest innovations in technology, yet the problem is not solved. I  teach at a school that does not qualify for Title I funds but there is not a lot of parental support (financially) for the school. The families are working class but not wealthy. This school as older computers, outdated technology and only a handful of iPads.

In essence the digital divide has not narrowed but rather shifted. I pose a question of ow then can we as a country eliminate the digital divide? Will we ever have equality in education? What responsibility should parents have in ensuring the QUALITY of their chils education?

Gaming in Education: Is it effective?

There has not been a time lately when walking in the mall, waiting to be seated in a restaurant, or riding in a car that I have not seen children with their electronic devices playing video games. As a parent I am guilty of purchasing these devices for my children. As a teacher if I want to spark a class discussion of tap into a useful and reliable source of information about the most recent games to be released I ask my students.

When facilitating these discussions I find that often times my most reserved students are engaged and contributing. I recall a student that refused to complete assignments in class. After several failed attempts I noticed their binder and there were several drawings of a popular video game, “World of Warcraft”. I asked them about the game and in 43 minutes, the class period, they explained to me the concept behind the game along with the characters’ name and their special powers. They explained how they “beat” the game several times and looked forward to the newest versions with the hopes of “beating” it also. From this conversation I knew that I had to somehow connect their passion for gaming with my curriculum. I offered them an agreement that if they complete the assignment in class I would allow them to play www.coolmath.com  until the end of class. The games on this site though not specifically focusing on business teach strategy and sharpen decision making skills that can be used cross curricular.

In my quest I referred to a book from a previous class, Transforming Learning With New Technologies, as an excellent resource to educate myself about the use of gaming in education. I did not realize the amount of research and knowledge available on this subject. I found an interesting article in Science Daily addressing the effectiveness of this tool in teaching at. See link below: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090210134746.htm

After researching the topic and finding some useful websites the student moved to another school. I am still in the process of learning to incorporate games specific to my content to be used by my students. I believe games in education should be a supplement to the various deliveries and assessment of curriculum goals and objectives. As an educator I consciously try to offer variety in my delivery of content. I view gaming as an additional tool in my tool bag to prepare my students to be 21^st century learners.

Text2Talk

I remember a time when we had to be conscious of the times phone calls were placed and mindful of the volume of our voice in a public conversation. Texting is without a doubt the most popular way of communicating for kids from 2-92 in the 21st century. It has afforded all the opportunity to "talk" anytime. anyplace or anywhere with little to no restrictions. The question is have we as a society allowed this liberty to eliminate or alter the traditional way of conversing. Texting lingo defies the laws of the English language by the removal of vowels, replacement of letters with numbers and giving no respect to the capitalization of the letter "I".
I've noticed how students are unable to effectively communicate in open forums and yet constantly post to social media websites (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) to carry on "their idea" of productive conversations. Can we contribute this to texting? Is it fair for us to expect students to be able to differentiate between social interactions and professional interactions when communicating? Who is responsible for teaching them and will this eventually be a factor in the development of curricula?