Equal Access to the Digital World

Providing Access....

Providing access for all learners in not only essential it is a challenge. 21st century learners are digital natives. They are accustomed to being surrounded by cell phones, touch screen computers, hand held devices and instant access to information. In order for 21st century students to become college and career ready technology needs to be embedded into their learning.
Students need to attend schools where internet access and computer hardware are a reality and it cannot stop there. Technology access needs to be centered on the quality of use. No longer can a once a week visit to the computer lab for typing classes or for playing games be acceptable. Teacher training is essential and it needs to be planned and executed through a comprehensive scope and sequence. Each administrator needs to model, support and lead his or her school or district into the 21st century (Schrum & Levin, 2009).

Providing access to a digital world means that all students will be provided with teachers with high levels of training in 21st century tools. All teachers must have access to hardware, software and Web 2.0 tools to not only demonstrate and model learning and lessons through the use of technology but create student centered classrooms where technology assists in fostering access to the vast world around us.
But how is this monumental task accomplished for all, regardless of socioeconomic and cultural barriers, in rural and urban settings? There needs to be a shift in how we fund technology in our schools if we are going to provide equal access for all learners. Policy makers need to support the integration of technology by reaching out to school leaders to help them create a vision and scope and sequence for integration and those with the greatest cultural capital can no longer be the ones with the greatest access.

As educators, it is our job to provide access for all. To meet the needs of an enormous range of learners and by providing equal access to technology for all we will be better preparing students for the world ahead.

Resources
Goldstein, Daniel, and Gregory Care. "Disability Rights and Access to the
Digital World An Advocate’s Analysis of an Emerging Field." Disability
Rights Education & Defense Fund. DREDF, 2012. Web. 17 Aug. 2014.
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21st Century Learning - Are We Ready?

Hello Families!

Today I would like to talk to you about a hot topic in education today, Social Media. Seldom do we walk down the street without someone walking toward us sending a Tweet, calling a business partner, or taking a Selfie. We are all becoming accustomed to immediate access to information and with that immediate access to new knowledge. "Students are powering down to go to school and powering up after school to re-enter the digital world" (Yu, Yuen & Park, 2012). Given the increased rigor and expectations in classrooms as we roll out the Core Curriculum State Standards and the ever increasing popularity of these tools there comes the controversial dilemma of how does the digital world fit into education?

Social media can improve the quality of education being given to students and make them more engaged in the process (Careless, 2012). Social media allows people to connect, to share ideas and to challenge each others thinking. Much like this blog you are reading, it allows people to stay current and active in the lives of others. Using social media tools, we can extend the time and space of learning. Students can begin a project within the confines of the traditional classroom and then extend that learning with classmates half way around the world in a very different time zone later that night. Students can use social media tools to reach out to experts, to interact with the world around them all while developing a larger sense of community and authentic application of knowledge.

To seamlessly incorporate social media into classrooms, educators themselves have to become personally familiar with social media, just as they had to personally embrace computers not so long ago. The reason is that social media is a paradigm shift, just as the move to computer-based learning was a paradigm shift. And just as computers can no longer be dismissed as toys for playing shoot'em-up games, social media can no longer be marginalized as just wasting time on Facebook and Twitter. Social media represents a whole new way of doing things not just for educators and their students, but society as a whole (Careless, 2012).

As many have you had read on my last post, we will be embarking on a WebQuest in class and many Web 2.0 tools will be incorporated throughout the Quest. This project, as well as other up and coming activities throughout the year, will allow students to use the skills they have with previously known tools, help develop new skills using additional tools and develop digital citizenship skills necessary to become successful 21st Century learners in and out of the classroom.

Within the class WebQuest I have incorporated both Pinterest and Facebook.

Pinterest is a social network that helps that allows users to visually share, and discover new interests by posting (known as 'pinning' on Pinterest) images or videos to their own or others' boards (i.e. a collection of 'pins,' usually with a common theme) and browsing what other users have pinned creating interactive virtual bulletin boards. Gone are the days of cutting and pasting images into scrapbooks. Many of you may already use Pinterest to find ideas for redesigning your living room or planning your son or daughter's birthday party, now we are using the network to document artifacts that students have created to demonstrate their learning. The students in this class will be required to 'pin' their completed Wordles from their vocabulary study and research required within the first few tasks. Students will be applying critical thinking skills to show they are able to analyze and synthesize information acquired during independent and group research. By pinning these Wordles under a common board, students will be able to view each other's work, comment on each others work and pin those artifacts that they make a direct connection with.

Facebook Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. Students can connect with other students in other classes in the same school or reach out to others on the opposite side of the world! Students will be posting answers to questions posed to each other as well as documenting their Animotos answering the WebQuest Essential Question: Who is your survivor. Students will be viewing and giving constructive feedback on their exhibitions.

All of the digital experiences that students will be having throughout these tasks as throughout all of their learning will help to create their digital footprint. Each and every piece of information becomes part of the trail they leave behind them. By guiding them through the use of these tools, students will also gain a greater awareness about digital citizenship and the importance of being aware of our digital footprints. Especially through social media. The connections students can make by expanding the brick-and-mortar school to a world wide network is something that we are all adjusting too, are excited to explore and have a responsibility to not only give students access to social networking tools but teach them to use them responsibly.

I encourage and welcome all of you to sit with your students and participate by reading their posts, viewing their photo essays and enjoying their pins throughout this WebQuest and throughout the coming year.

If at any point you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you!
Beth Dunham






Resources

Careless, J. (2012). SOCIAL MEDIA. Tech & Learning, 32(7), 42.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/docview/920319530?pq-origsite=summon

Pinterest - http://www.infront.com/blogs/the-infront-blog/2014/1/20/what-is-pinterest-and-how-does-it-work

Yu, MingmeiView Profile; Allan H.K. Yuen; Park, Jae. Interactive Technology and Smart Education9.4(2012): 204-216.

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/docview/1242091794?pq-origsite=summon