1. The Digital Divide definitely exists at my school. We have a great new school building with a computer lab and two student computers in every classroom at every grade level. We also have a couple of carts with laptops on them that can be signed out my teachers and used in the classrooms. Our students have a computer class once a week and one of their specials and many of the classrooms have a promethean board in the room. Our students have great opportunity to use all this technology throughout the day and school year, but once they go home there is a huge discrepancy as to how much access to technology they have. Within our community we have some families that have computers and ipads, some of my students even have their own computers in their rooms. Then I have students who don’t have a computer at their house, or they have one but no internet access. There are two extremes that exist in our community outside of school. This lack of technology at home can put the students at a disadvantage when it comes to completing homework assignments, projects, or accessing help.
2. Our school tries to get students using as much technology as possible and last year we had an after school program that I actually ran where students were exposed to even more technology and got to learn about different software. But no matter how much they use technology in school when they go home they can put all this knowledge to use. They are going to be behind their peers when they get to high school and beyond because they are not going to be as experienced with technology. Our school is also trying to become more interactive with parents using online resources but they also have to send home paper copies and flyers to those parents without the access to technology and the internet.
3. As an educator it is extremely important that I am doing as much as I can with my students to teach them about technology. I think one of the most important skills to teach my students about technology is how to learn about new technology. I can introduce my students to many different kinds and uses of technology but they are only going to be with me for a year so if I teach them how to be information literate this will help them for their entire life time. Students need to be aware that technology is always changing and new advances are always happening. They are going to be living in a world where from year to year they may be using totally different technology and they have to be able to adapt to that.
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