[DD] - “Trading Roles: Teachers and Students Learn with Technology” by Janet Fairman – Main Education Policy Research Institute

“Trading Roles: Teachers and Students Learn with Technology” by Janet Fairman – Main Education Policy Research Institute

This study focused on the implementation of one-to-one computing in the middle school classroom using laptops. The main finding of this research was that, due to increased technology usage (computers in the classroom), students became a valued source of knowledge and for help for both teachers and other students. It created a more reciprocal relationship between teachers and students.
The study explained how teachers and students both felt a shift in roles for both students and teachers. There is a gap in teachers’ and students’ technology skills and general comfort with using technology. Teachers self-rated their technology skills lower than their students (29% of teachers rated themselves advanced or expert while 47% of students rated themselves advanced or expert). This is showing that our students’ skills far surpass our own as teachers.
This study found that teachers needed to relinquish control of the class and allow the students to help and teach both themselves and other students. Many teachers fear the fact that they may not know how to do something and therefore, choose not to do it. They characterized this shift as a move from being the “keeper of knowledge” to one of a “learner” within a “community of leaners.”

[DD] - “Digital Divide Between Students and Teachers” by Frank Lovejoy – Classroom 2.0

“Digital Divide Between Students and Teachers” by Frank Lovejoy – Classroom 2.0

This article explains how students are “powering down” to go to school. Once school is over, they can “power up” and re-enter the digital world. Their teachers are so busy with the daily tasks of preparing lessons, quizzes, tests, and grading that they have little time or initiative to become tech-savvy like their students.

Many teachers lack the confidence to learn from their students. Many senior teachers do not care about incorporating such tools and want to teach the same way they have been teaching for decades. Professional development for these teachers just angers them even more.

School Board members are usually ill versed in the topic of technology and instead just make technology purchases without thinking of how they will be utilized in the current classroom/curriculum. For example, they purchase multiple SMARTBoards and have them installed in various classrooms.


If we are to close this digital gap between students and teachers, it does not require purchasing the newest technological gadget. It requires standard hardware and standard software and teachers who are comfortable with their strategies and tech level before they are pressured to train for new waves of educational technology.

[DD] - “Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students” by Office of Educational Research and Improvement - U.S. Department of Education

“Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students” by Office of Educational Research and Improvement - U.S. Department of Education

This research study looked at nine school sites where school staff members were active participants in incorporating technology in ways that support education reform. They found that when technology is used as a tool in the classroom or way to communicate with others, there is a shift in teacher and student roles. Students take an active role as opposed to the passive recipient of information transmitted from the teacher or textbook. The student needs to make choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information.



The role of the teacher changes as well. They are no longer the center of attention or the sole dispenser of information. They play the role of facilitator, setting project goals, and providing guidelines. This shift in roles allows for increased motivation and self-esteem, technical skills, ability to accomplish more complex tasks, more collaboration with peers, increased use of outside resources, and improved design skills and attention to audience.

[DD] - “The Digital Divide in Students’ Usage of Technology Tools: A Multilevel Analysis of the Role of Teacher Practices and Classroom Characteristics” by Seung H. Kim and Joshua Bagaka – Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education

“The Digital Divide in Students’ Usage of Technology Tools: A Multilevel Analysis of the Role of Teacher Practices and Classroom Characteristics” by Seung H. Kim and Joshua Bagaka – Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education

This study chose to investigate the inequity in student experiences with technology across the school district, within the school, and among students. They found that the student to computer ratio is close to 5:1 or less (which was not the case in the early 1990s), yet there is still inequity in technology usage since many teachers and students do not properly implement them. Tying the improper use of technology in the classroom to SES is the fact that in lower SES schools, teachers will use the computer for basic skills review as opposed as for higher order literacy and cognitive schools, like the more affluent schools. 

The study did find that teachers lack of technology integration aid in the ever widening digital divide between students. They call for better technology integration skills and literacy to be included in higher education teacher preparation so that incoming teachers will know how to integrate technology into their subject matter and not just teacher computer literacy skills in isolation.

[DD] - Digital Divide - Edutopia

**The following articles are smaller articles/parts written by the same author. They all relate to each other.


“The New Literacy: Scenes from the Digital Divide 2.0” by Richard Rappaport – Edutopia


Many students in our educational system will grow up on the “sunny side” of the new digital divide and are receiving an “elite” education very different from the education of many of their peers. The “elite” schooled will grow up with teachers and other students who easily can maneuver and use Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, tagging, podcasting, forums, video sharing, social bookmarking, and virtual worlds. Other students will be stick on the dark side of the new media digital divide which will cause these students to be out of touch with the skills and tools listed above due to the beliefs of many teachers and others who view new media as intimidating and unimportant in the educational realm.

“A Short History of the Digital Divide” by Richard Rappaport – Edutopia


In 1995, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration stated that inequalities of online access can, and will, cause an issue in the future since at least 60% of all new jobs were going to require skills and fluency on computers as well as on the Internet.


“The Ultimate School Reform” by Richard Rappaport – Edutopia

Connie Yowell, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s director of education, has found that students are using digital media/new media tools everyday at home and learning quickly by using tools such as wikis and blogs. She warns that if we ignore this shift in the way our kids are learning, we will begin to see a new divide, one between teachers and students. We are in a new age of learning, one where students are communicating and collaborating in ways that will dramatically shift the role of teacher and student. The Internet is more than just a place for inane game play and time wasting.

[DD] - “Crossing the Digital Divide: Bridges abd Barriers to Digital Inclusion” by Sara Bernard – Edutopia

“Crossing the Digital Divide: Bridges abd Barriers to Digital Inclusion” by Sara Bernard – Edutopia

This article continued to give further information on the topic if wireless cellphone Internet being used as a substitute for high speed wired Internet. African Americans and English-speaking Latinos are the most active users of mobile web (cellphones). I found it very interesting that in May of 2011, United Nations Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue stated the access to the Internet is a basic human right. This brought the digital divide to the forefront, yet I am not sure exactly what has been done to try to rectify this issue.

The digital divide has changed from a factor of wealth to a factor of education. Those who learn how to use technology, are more apt to use obtain and use technology which can lead to different learning experiences than those who do not.


This article also explains how the digital divide has fizzled and the “access divide” has taken over. Students have the ability to access the Internet in some form, yet many people cannot access high speed and reliable Internet connections.

[DD] - “The Digital Divide Within: Creating a Level Playing Field for All Students” by Chris O’Neal – Edutopia (June 6, 2007)

“The Digital Divide Within: Creating a Level Playing Field for All Students” by Chris O’Neal – Edutopia (June 6, 2007)


I chose this article because it was from 2007 and I wanted to see what the issues were in 2007 and compare them to now (2012). It seems that we had/have the same issues – students who have access outside of the classroom and those who do not.

An interesting topic in this article though, is how schools are not allowing the students to access technology in meaningful ways inside of school. Many teachers do not feel comfortable with the technology and only use it as an “add-on” or reward for completing work. The students are not completing work using the technology. I think we still have this issue now. My principal is moving computers around next year – out of rooms where the teachers are not using them and into rooms where the teacher has expressed interest in implementing them in class.


The author of this article brought up a good issue of two similar students who are going to the same school, could progress through several grade levels together, yet each could receive drastically different exposure to technology use during their school careers. This different level of exposure is due to random teacher placement and teacher unwillingness to implement technology or unpreparedness. This is causing a double digital divide which means that not only are students not able to access technology outside of the classroom but also inside of the classroom. There is a digital inequity within schools and not just between them.

[DD] - “A New Understanding of the Digital Divide” by Mary Beth Hertz – Edutopia (October 24, 2011)

“A New Understanding of the Digital Divide” by Mary Beth Hertz – Edutopia (October 24, 2011)


This article was extremely similar to the first article – stating that the first “digital divide” dealt with people that had access to technology and those who didn’t. Now, the “digital divide” is changing. In 2010, laptop ownership among African Americans and White broke even and Hispanic and African American Internet users (11% is 2000) rose to 21% (making technology access more accessible for both minorities and non-minorities).


The recent advancements in cell phone technology, has allowed previously unconnected populations (primarily minorities) to become connected to the Internet. Pew has reported that 51% of Hispanics and 46% of African Americans use their cell phones to access the Internet as opposed to only 33% of Whites. The cell phone is truly how minorities access the Internet. Although cell phones have helped to narrow the “divide,” however, this type of Internet access is slow and unreliable.

This divide is even worse for those who live in rural areas of the country. These students do not have access to wired Internet let alone have cell phone service which can provide them access via their phone. These students are left in the dark since they have no medium to access the Internet. One woman commented on this article stating that her district purchased netbooks for their students (7-12th grade), but they became useless items since the students do not have Internet at home. She commented that “students who do not have access are left behind before they even begin. They are not only left out of the educational possibilities and opportunities afforded those with Internet, they are also left out of the social aspects of the Internet which are critical in today’s world.” Her students also have online textbooks and learning materials (created by the textbook companies and purchased by the school district) which cannot be used by the students outside of school due to lack of Internet access.


Another important fact that was stated in this article was that the new “digital divide” which affects the type of access divide also includes those with disabilities since there are now laws stating that websites need to be accessible for all.

[DD] - “Should We Be Concerned About an “App Gap?” by Audrey Watters – Edutopia (October 27, 2011)

“Should We Be Concerned About an “App Gap?” by Audrey Watters – Edutopia (October 27, 2011)
This article referred to a term that is new to me – “app gap.” Common Sense Media defines “app gap” as a gap developing between children of high-income and low-income families, with low income families having limited access to mobile devices and their applications or “apps.”

• One in ten lower-income children (families earning less than $30,000) has a video iPod or similar device at home.

• One in three upper-income children (families earning more than $75,000) has a video iPod or similar device at home.

• 38% of lower-income parents do not know what an “app” is.

• 3% of upper-income children do not know what an “app” is.

• 14% of lower-income parents have downloaded apps for their children’s use.

• 47% of upper-income parents have downloaded apps for their children’s use.

This article poses a very interesting question: Are children without apps missing important educational opportunities?

[DD] - “The Digital Divide” by PEW

“The Digital Divide” by PEW


Statistics:

Digital Divide Between Students and Their Teachers/Schools

1% - Time students spent using the computer for schoolwork

16% - Educators who use technology to track achievement

41% - School leaders who are offering fewer professional development opportunities due to budget constraints

60% - School leaders delayed hardware purchases and upgrades

39% - School leader reduced IT Staff at district level and building level


Access Issues at Home:

32% - US households that don’t use the Internet at home

10% - Communities without access to a high-speed connection

[DD] - “The New Digital Divide” by Susan P. Crawford

“The New Digital Divide” by Susan P. Crawford – The New York Times (December 3, 2011)

This article was extremely interesting because it explains how the “digital divide” has changed into a divide regarding the type of Internet access, and not Internet access in general. The initial “digital divide” dealt with access to the “Web” (the majority of people who did not have access to the Web were minorities, the poor, and those in rural areas). 

Our issue now is that everything (honestly, everything) is going online - from entertainment to healthcare. These Web 2.0 tools require high-speed Internet access (which only a small number of Americans have access to). Our current “digital divide” is between those who have access to “first-class” high speed wired Internet and those who do not. Many people who do not have access to high speed wired Internet have access to “second class” wireless which is accessible through wireless smartphones. The people who do not have high speed wireless access are the poor and those in rural areas (since there is not the proper Internet infrastructure available in rural regions).


I initially thought that smartphones made it easier for people to get online – and this is true. But, I did not know that some people are substituting wireless smartphones for wired Internet access at home. The reason for this is because the cost of high speed Internet is so high and many people cannot afford it. They have a choice of paying upwards of $100 a month for high speed Internet or paying about $50 for wireless smartphone access.

The smartphone does give access to Internet but it is very cumbersome. You cannot type up a resume or a term paper on a smartphone easily and the main service providers (AT&T and Verizon) charge a very high amount of overage charges. Also, the wireless access smartphones provide is very slow in comparison to high speed wired Internet.


There are some countries that regulate the cost of Internet access and many are replacing their telephone connections with state-of-the-art fiber optic which will further help to reduce the cost. This is not the case in America where Internet costs are unregulated and proprietary.

TCNJ Independent Study

The next few posts will be regarding the research I am doing for my Independent Study class at The College of New Jersey with Dr. Amy Dell.

I am researching the "digital divide" as well as how this divide has changed over the past few decades.  I have been conducting this research for about a month and decided that I should start posting it to this blog as a better way to store my findings.  All posts regarding this research will begin with the label [DD].