With the continuing advancement of technology, the difficulty of ensuring that every student receives and equal digital education has become more and more challenging. However, it is crucial that every student, no matter the social, economic, or political alignment. Therefore, the perspecitves on digital inequality, social infomatics, and BYOT or Bring Your Own Technology are extremely important in making sure that every student is receiving an equal technological education.
Moreover, for those who are unaware of what digital inequality is, according to the text it is the perspective which "holds that simply adding more technology to homes or schools will not, in and of itself, address differences in access among social groups." This explains that more technology isn't always the answer to the problems that technology creates itself. This inequality is apparent in the classroom if a student is unable to obtain some sort of technology outside of the classroom like other students may be able to. I knew that this was an issue in classrooms everywhere, even when I was a student, but never thought about it to this extent. Digital inequality truly puts a perspective on how many students struggle to get the digital education they need outside of the classroom and sometimes even in the classroom. Not every school has the funds to ensure that every student has some sort of tablet, laptop, or desktop despite how influential they are in today's education. This truly made me think about possible ways that technology could be integrated into every classroom and accessible to every student no matter what their social, economic, or political status. The only thing that is still picking my brain about the topic is how to make technology accessible to every student in and outside the classroom.
Furthermore, another important topic for technology in the classroom is social infomatics. According to the text, social infomatics is an "analysis where technology's impacts are considered within the context of larger social, economic, and political realities, as well as social and racial differences." Just like how we live in our daily environments that shape us, "'Technology and the social system continuously shape each other." For those students who are unable to access the internet from home, they may gain high quality learning experiences from local libraries that are technologically equipped and open during after school and activity hours like nights and weekends. This technology could also be accessible at schools or community centers. However, all of this could be jeopardized: " If municipal, state, and federal budget cuts reduce library funding and hours of operation, then government policies extend rather than minimize digital separation between social groups." Even though these community centers and libraries are available to students sometimes, there are immense differences between students who have twenty four hour access and those without full access to the latest technologies. These students tend to fall behind their peers in skills and competencies in terms of technology. Once again, I understood that students did not have the type of access they should but not to this extent. I also know that these public libraries and community centers are doing their best to get these students access to the the most updated technology in order to bridge the gap between students. One of the things that still confuses me however, is how political alignment would affect a students ability to access technology.
Another important item to discuss is BYOT or Bring Your Own Technology. This program, as stated by the text invites students to "bring whatever technology they have at home or school for use in daily learning experiences." For those who do not have their own technology their are local resellers pinpointed by the schools that students could buy or rent inexpensive technology such as laptops and tablets. This program allows students at schools with out the budget to provide laptops for every student to still have increased technology use in classrooms. There are many critics of the BYOT program that claim that it would increase the gap between students because some would be coming to school with the latest smartphone while others would be coming with out of date technology. However, in this case I truly believe the benefits would outweigh the consequences. I knew about the BYOD programs because my high school incorporated one; however, it was just kickstarting and the school wasn't too concerned about making it their main priority. At least it was in the beginning phases. I understand BYOT completely and understand that for some, finding the technology to bring could be difficult. But this is an instance where the school could support those students and provide technology. Therefore, instead of providing the whole school with computers, they're just providing those who need it. Because of this, the costs of providing technology would greatly decrease.
Overall, there are numerous solutions to the problem of the technology gap and schools and government are trying their best to ensure that each students needs are met. It is incredibly important that students, teachers, and officials recognize this issue and attempt to do their best to ensure that every student gets the education they should.
Works Cited
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Visual done using Piktochart and accessed on April 24, 2016
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