How can you provide equal access to the digital world to all learners? Are mobile devices a way to accomplish this? Should schools try to acquire more of these vs. computers? Would an iPad work in your classroom?
I believe the only way to provide equal access to all students is by providing them each with time at a school computer lab. As a teacher you can't assume that every student will go home to a computer with internet access or have a smart phone. Still to this day not every student even has access to a word processor to type up papers never mind being able to post homework electronically. For all big projects I make sure that I take the students to a lab or the media center to have an opportunity to work in school.
Mobile devices might be a way to accomplish equal access if you had a small class where you knew that all the students had a smart phone. I think you would need to know your students well to be able to do this to. Last semester I had a Latin 4 Honors class with 12 students who would all have been able to access the internet via a smart phone or home internet and I would have liked to have tried Twitter with that class. But in large classes of 31 students I don't think it would be fair to ask all students to use their mobile devices as all students might not have access to one.
I think a lot of schools are acquiring more mobile devices to test out with their students. You are always going to run into funding problems when trying to acquire them. Also who will actually get the mobile devices can be an issue as well. When administrators first got iPads here, I'll admit I was a little jealous of them. My friend at Souhegan is provided a personal laptop for school purposes to take home and I think that is a great idea. I don't know about providing every student with them though, that would be a huge responsibility on their part.
An iPad would work in my classroom for students to keep a digital binder of all the translations that they do. I know that some people don't like typing on an iPad, but I do already have a student who uses her iPad for all homework. I also allow students to listen to music while they are translating and we could explore interactive websites together. I think an iPad would be a great addition to my classroom.
I believe the only way to provide equal access to all students is by providing them each with time at a school computer lab. As a teacher you can't assume that every student will go home to a computer with internet access or have a smart phone. Still to this day not every student even has access to a word processor to type up papers never mind being able to post homework electronically. For all big projects I make sure that I take the students to a lab or the media center to have an opportunity to work in school.
Mobile devices might be a way to accomplish equal access if you had a small class where you knew that all the students had a smart phone. I think you would need to know your students well to be able to do this to. Last semester I had a Latin 4 Honors class with 12 students who would all have been able to access the internet via a smart phone or home internet and I would have liked to have tried Twitter with that class. But in large classes of 31 students I don't think it would be fair to ask all students to use their mobile devices as all students might not have access to one.
I think a lot of schools are acquiring more mobile devices to test out with their students. You are always going to run into funding problems when trying to acquire them. Also who will actually get the mobile devices can be an issue as well. When administrators first got iPads here, I'll admit I was a little jealous of them. My friend at Souhegan is provided a personal laptop for school purposes to take home and I think that is a great idea. I don't know about providing every student with them though, that would be a huge responsibility on their part.
An iPad would work in my classroom for students to keep a digital binder of all the translations that they do. I know that some people don't like typing on an iPad, but I do already have a student who uses her iPad for all homework. I also allow students to listen to music while they are translating and we could explore interactive websites together. I think an iPad would be a great addition to my classroom.
I practically just wrote the same thing! It is so hard in a diverse community like Nashua to have the true meaning of "equal" in regards to digital learning. The only real way to close the gap between those that are able to use and have technology and those that are less fortunate is to allow time at school with resources that the school can provide.
ReplyDeleteI think the most important thing to note here about providing equal access is "time" in a computer lab. Our job as teachers is to provide all students with computer time, because even though we live in a digital world the bottom line is still not all students have access to computers outside of school.
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