Digital Inequality

Here is my Digital Inequality VoiceThread.



The main takeaway from this study was the vast difference in access for people in MANY different situations. Just in the US alone, there is significant inequality regarding access to the internet (aka access to knowledge). It gets much more profound in 3rd world areas, particularly on the African continent. It was interesting to see the rise of cell phone access, as that may be a 'way out' for those where local telephone lines are non existent.

Finally, I found it very interesting, while studying the National Education Technology Plan, how far off my school and my district (private) are in certain areas of growth. We have significant work to do, and this report helped me understand that. The focus of my VoiceThread is on 3 particular elements of the NETP plan. The area to concentrate on for our school at this time is with "Teacher Preparedness and Connectivity." I think an important goal for my teachers is to learn more about, and ultimately embrace and use, the vast community of other educators out there with knowledge, ideas, tips, best practices, and so on.

We have the infrastructure in place at my school (St. Leo's), and we certainly have the commitment to edtech here as well. Teachers need to be given the time, training and tools to become more proficient in their craft, and technology resources (Twitter, Pinterest, and the like) in social media can help them significantly. Again, the ultimate goal needs to be how to best impact student learning, and I believe that more exposure to 'centers of excellence' and other people with 'answers' is one important way our teachers can impact that learning.

This was an interesting assignment, and brought many very difficult to solve, yet critical, issues to the forefront. I'm hopeful that my plans can positively impact some of the issues, at least at my school.

It was also enjoyable to use VoiceThread. I use it with students in my class on occasion, and it was nice to dust off those skills again. I was a little perplexed by some issues I had connecting my (new) microphone, but once I figured out how to configure the computer, it was all good.