Blog 5: Digital Divide

It was not until an assignment in EME2040 that I had a Twitter account. My dad was very strict growing up with social media and because of that I was not allowed any social media until I turned 18. Once I got to college, Twitter was not one of the platforms that interested me enough to create an account. However, I have appreciated my twitter account thus far. I do not follow a ton of accounts, but one of my favorites is @USNewsEducation. I really like this account because it has taught me so much about education across the country in just such a little time period. It also keeps me up to date on education in the U.S. I think this is extremely important because in order to educate, you must be educated. With social media growing by the day, I think Twitter can be an extremely useful tool in my classroom. I can use twitter to communicate with my students about classroom news as well as encourage them to follow such accounts to enhance their education. 

The digital divide is a serious problem that occurs in our society. The main cause for this divide is the socioeconomic gap that is also found in the U.S. As a result of redlining, many school systems are placed in low income cities and have no way out. Funding from the government is very limited. I grew up in a middle to upper class town that provided me with a great school system and very unique opportunities within my education. However, less than 10 miles east of my town lie many cities that had no solution for online learning once COVID hit due to families not being able to support the necessary features that came with remote learning (WIFI, laptops, etc.). This is a perfect example of how the digital divide affects student success. The students from my town were able to continue their education for a year and a half via remote learning, however the students from low income cities are a year and a half behind in their academics due to the inability to access technology. Although I would like to hope that the divide will lessen, I can only plan for the worst. With that, I hope to implement basic technology lessons in my classroom and utilize the resources I have to do that. Even if it is a weekly lesson in the computer lab, students are going to need to learn how to use and become comfortable with technology in order to succeed in the future. 

Some ways I plan to implement technology in my classroom is by using software tools. Two software tools I plan to use are Canvas and Quizlet. I really like Canvas because it allows for students to access all classwork material, complete assignments through the software, and displays students' grades throughout the semester or marking period. Overall, it has many benefits to the teacher as well as the students. Quizlet is an awesome tool to implement in a classroom because it teaches students fun and easy ways to study. Overall, both softwares, amongst many more, are beneficial to student learning and necessary in classrooms. 

Although I have very little experience with badges, I think they serve a great purpose. The use of badges are a great way to encourage students to achieve goals. The little experience with badges I have includes earning badges on my Apple Watch. There are badges for a certain amount of exercised perform daily, Exercising an entire week, exercising for a month, etc. These badges are a great source of encouragement to exercise and this same idea can translate in a classroom. Although I have earned badges on my watch, I do not share them publicly because I feel as though not many people care enough about my own personal accomplishments.