School Websites, The Digital Divide, and My Experiences on Twitter

School Websites

Most schools have their own websites where people can go to find out information and important dates regarding the school. A lot of schools go even deeper and put links to their teacher's class pages on their website. I looked on Google for some examples of this, and it brought me across the Waterloo Local School District website, where they had class pages for every teacher in every grade for every subject. I clicked around on a few of the 8th grade teacher's pages and I really enjoyed looking at their class pages. Most of the class pages that I saw had a weekly assignments tab and a tab which brought you to the teacher's bio. Each teacher added their own flare with math problems of the week and links to fun resources to help their students. Here is a link to the website as well as what it looks like: Waterloo Middle School Class Pages

The Digital Divide

The digital divide is considered to be the increasing divide between people who have easy access to technology and people who do not. This is a serious factor when it comes to student success in school. Because our society is growing more and more technologically dependent, schooling and curriculum has followed suit. Even if schools know that they have a large population of students with limited access to technology and they mitigate the effects by not giving a lot of work with technology, the outside world will not be as accommodating. Once those students move out into college and the workforce, there is a good chance that they will struggle with tasks and assignments that require more than basic knowledge of technology. 

The digital divide is caused by the immense price of technology. As we all know, technology is not cheap. This means that only people in higher SES classes have the means to afford and maintain proper technology. For lower SES families, paying rent and food are far more important than smartphones and internet. As a teacher, I will have students in both categories, and I have to know how to handle these situations. I would personally try to keep most technology-based activities to in-class activities. That way, I can use the school resources and don't have to worry about my students access to technology at home. Another good part about only using technology in class is that if students do not have the knowledge to use and navigate technology, then I will be right there to help them.

My Experiences on Twitter

I really like Twitter aspect of this class. I always looked at Twitter as a place to go to see funny jokes and retweets and I never thought of it as a very professional setting. Since creating my twitter for this class, I could not have been more wrong. I have been able to interact with my teacher and classmates as well as build a network that includes other teacher, important speakers, and local politicians. This has allowed me to stay updated with the education and the local political world. I will be able to use Twitter in my future career to build an even larger network for learning and implementing ideas from other experts as well as get my ideas out there to other people who are interested. I have not had any problems with Twitter so far in this class.

I commented on Malyce's blog and Olivia's blog.

Comments

  1. EvelynFebruary 16, 2020 at 4:19 PM

    Hey Jacob! I really liked your blog this week. I agree with what you said about the Digital Divide. However, it is distressing to me as a future-teacher to think that all technology-based activities should only be done in the classroom because some projects just should not be done that way. For example, I believe that students should be taught to write research papers in high school because knowing how to construct this type of paper is crucial for success at the university-level, but it is far too time consuming of a process to expect students to not work on it at home.It leaves you with the impossible choosing whether or not to teach a vital skill in your class because some students might not have the resources to complete the project.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Zhongrui (Ray) YaoFebruary 18, 2020 at 4:05 PM

    Thanks for sharing the great school website where lots of teacher's class pages are available!

    It's a great idea that you would personally try to keep most technology-based activities to in-class activities.

    I am glad to hear that you are building your network including classmates, and other teachers, important speakers, and local politicians.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Technology in the Classroom, ISTE Standards for Educators, and Digital Natives/Immigrants

Technology in the Classroom Technology has a large place in the classroom in the current day and age. When broken down, there are two main influences that educators and students have to use technology in the classroom: The first influence is that the students who are currently in the K-12 setting have all grown up surrounded by an immense amount of technology. For educators, the influence of technology on their current students is something that CAN'T be denied and CAN be used as a leg up for educators because their students are heavy technology consumers and subsequently, are drawn to it. This means that if educators can effectively build technology into their curriculum, then it will allow the educators to speak the language of their students and increase the chances of the curriculum being able to effectively engage many of their students.  Technology was made to make life easier. Though I find that there is beauty in putting pen on paper, having the ability to check entire...
Read more

Microsoft Word, Copyright and Fair Use, and Technology Implementation Issues in Education

Microsoft Word Throughout my academic experience in K-12 and college, I have become intertwined with and become great friends with Microsoft Word. What I failed to realize in the moment, but do in hindsight, is that when I began getting older and producing more official academic work, the more I used Microsoft Word as opposed to putting pen on paper. I now realize that this was the case because of the amazing capabilities that Microsoft Word has.  To start, Microsoft Word can identify grammar and spelling errors on the spot, which makes it easier for the student to see and fix their mistakes with ease. Microsoft Word also helps educators because they can easily put their student's work in a program that identifies plagiarism to see if their students are turning in their own work or not. In addition to the simple ease of writing and grading, Microsoft Work also increases the accessibility of your work by other people exponentially. This increase in accessibility c...
Read more

ELA Technology Standards, CPALMS, and Web 2.0

ELA Technology Standards Incorporating technology into education is crucial in being able to captivate young learners by speaking their language. However, even though these young learners have grown up in an era full of very innovative technology, they need to be educated on how to use that save innovative technology to benefit them in the world of academia. ELA stands for English Language Arts. ELA is very multifaceted and being proficient in it is key to success in all subjects of school, so to incorporate ELA and technology is important. There is one 8th grade standard that effectively draws the importance of a connection between ELA and technology. The standard is below and can be found at  ELA Technology Standards .   Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others. In my own words, this means that students can t...
Read more