4.1 Digital Equity
Candidates model and promote strategies for achieving equitable access to digital tools and resources and technology-related best practices for all students and teachers. (PSC 4.1/ISTE 5a)
Artifact: Equitable Access for all students
Reflection:
While taking the course ITEC7430, Internet Tools in the Classroom, I was exposed to multiple Web 2.0 tools to enrich curriculum and student learning. Not only did I learn about innovative resources to utilize with my students, but I solidified my knowledge about the responsibility I have as an educator to share my knowledge with my school community. The purpose of this assignment was to analyze articles on Equitable Access and create a blog post on my findings. The article that I read and primarily reported on and focused on socioeconomic status (SES) and the critical nature of providing diversified opportunities to all students. Students from families with a higher SES tend to experience gains from technological resources than students with lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The study concludes that increasing education and awareness regarding technology is vital. It is absolutely critical that students learn to use technology to drive learning.
This artifact shows mastery of the Digital Equity PSC Standard 4.1. While I created this artifact, I modeled and promoted strategies for achieving equitable access to digital tools and resources for my school. I made sure to serve as an advocate for promoting equity to all students and promoted access to technology for my students in from a low SES background. I collaborated with my school’s administration to see if we could begin to set a plan to utilize Title I funds to increase access at my particular school. I noted in the artifact that professional development is important to provide educators with the knowledge to implement learner-centered, technology-related best practices. Additionally, I will continue to seek out strategies to promote the best use of the technology resources available within the schools to adequately enhance student-learning opportunities.
From this experience, I learned that students who do not have home access to support technology education have a disadvantage to students with plentiful access. I also learned through communication with others who completed the same blog posting, that there was a great variance in the amount of equitable access to technology through my district. It opened my eyes to the amount of funding that schools with Title I funds received, as well as schools with foundations to improve student learning. Schools without this type of financial assistance had limited opportunities to increase student access. To improve the quality of this artifact, I would have begun to devise a plan action to help students in my school increase digital access at home. I believe that the creation of clubs, training, parent checkout devices, etc would help increase student achievement. If teachers, communities, parents, and students come together to put an extreme focus on the accessibility of technology tools to all students, great results would result.
This artifact impacts school improvement due to the fact that I gained competency and knowledge on equitable access and was able to share it with others. From this experience, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the types of access to technology that students in my classroom have outside of the school setting. This allowed me to grasp the power of giving students access to digital learning tools within the classroom setting and promoting technological use throughout. I was able to recommend increased student access to my administration and strategize to allocate funds to provide increase technology enhanced learning opportunities for students at my school.
While taking the course ITEC7430, Internet Tools in the Classroom, I was exposed to multiple Web 2.0 tools to enrich curriculum and student learning. Not only did I learn about innovative resources to utilize with my students, but I solidified my knowledge about the responsibility I have as an educator to share my knowledge with my school community. The purpose of this assignment was to analyze articles on Equitable Access and create a blog post on my findings. The article that I read and primarily reported on and focused on socioeconomic status (SES) and the critical nature of providing diversified opportunities to all students. Students from families with a higher SES tend to experience gains from technological resources than students with lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The study concludes that increasing education and awareness regarding technology is vital. It is absolutely critical that students learn to use technology to drive learning.
This artifact shows mastery of the Digital Equity PSC Standard 4.1. While I created this artifact, I modeled and promoted strategies for achieving equitable access to digital tools and resources for my school. I made sure to serve as an advocate for promoting equity to all students and promoted access to technology for my students in from a low SES background. I collaborated with my school’s administration to see if we could begin to set a plan to utilize Title I funds to increase access at my particular school. I noted in the artifact that professional development is important to provide educators with the knowledge to implement learner-centered, technology-related best practices. Additionally, I will continue to seek out strategies to promote the best use of the technology resources available within the schools to adequately enhance student-learning opportunities.
From this experience, I learned that students who do not have home access to support technology education have a disadvantage to students with plentiful access. I also learned through communication with others who completed the same blog posting, that there was a great variance in the amount of equitable access to technology through my district. It opened my eyes to the amount of funding that schools with Title I funds received, as well as schools with foundations to improve student learning. Schools without this type of financial assistance had limited opportunities to increase student access. To improve the quality of this artifact, I would have begun to devise a plan action to help students in my school increase digital access at home. I believe that the creation of clubs, training, parent checkout devices, etc would help increase student achievement. If teachers, communities, parents, and students come together to put an extreme focus on the accessibility of technology tools to all students, great results would result.
This artifact impacts school improvement due to the fact that I gained competency and knowledge on equitable access and was able to share it with others. From this experience, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the types of access to technology that students in my classroom have outside of the school setting. This allowed me to grasp the power of giving students access to digital learning tools within the classroom setting and promoting technological use throughout. I was able to recommend increased student access to my administration and strategize to allocate funds to provide increase technology enhanced learning opportunities for students at my school.