Week 2 Post

My family and I have recently relocated and I recently found a job, but I have been on several interviews. Almost all of the interviews included questions about technology. While Alabama is certainly not at the forefront in the race for the best educational technology, many school systems are making great gains in available technology.

The digital divide is one issue shaping the role of technology in the classroom. The digital divide is all about the discrepancy with access to 21st century technology to students with a lower socioeconomic status. Is this a real issue in Alabama? Definitely. I have worked for three years in North Alabama at a Title 1 school that is 97% free or reduced-price lunch and 86% minority students. Just last year we got brand new technology for all of the classrooms. You may be thinking, how fantastic, and yes it is, but we were one of the last schools to get anything like it in our classrooms. Many other more affluent schools already purchased projectors and other educational technology items for the classrooms with special funds from local sponsors, the PTA, and other sources. At the school where I teach, the students love using the computer and other technology items. Many of them do not have access to a computer at their home, and if they do, it is probably only a basic computer with limited functions. Internet access can also be a very large expense for low-income families and many homes may transient access when the bill is paid, or no Internet access at all. The only other options for a student to use a computer may be to use the computer of a friend or family member which will likely have very limited availability, or to go to the local library, which requires transportation. Very few of my students have a computer at home.

Another prominent educational technology issue today is distance education. Distance education originally became more prevalent in college and university settings. It is now a regular part of high school education as a part of a program in Alabama to provide access to specific classes and electives to all high school students in Alabama. Concerns about fraud were discussed quite a bit as other states began offering online degree programs. Now there are many programs and safeguards in place to help eliminate the possibility of fraud and other things. The style of online education is evolving and I believe that online education will become the new college experience for many.


I believe one thing we have learned from educational technology that can help us shape the uses for today is collaborate. Working smarter not harder should be the goal of any teacher. With technology resources we can collaborate together, exchange lesson plans, scan and save examples of student work, create video projects and e-mail the video to another teacher to use, etc. There are so many resources out there and teachers have more ways than ever to share ideas and examples, search for lesson plans, and find various. As we go forward we can utilize new technology to help streamline all these great resources teachers can share with each other using educational technology.