A teacher's place in the digital divide

Warschauer, M. (2007). A teacher's place in the digital divide. In L. Somlin, K. Lawless, & N. C. Burbules (eds.) Information and communication technologies: Considerations of current practice for teachers and teacher educators. The 106th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part 2. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Types of digital difference

• School access: unequal availability of digital technology in schools (between high- & low-SES; new tech benefits high performance students while exlcuding at-risk students)
  
• Home access: high- & low-SES families
  
• School use: student income and race correlate strongly with the type of use students make of computers in schools
  
• Gender gap: boys - more computer games; girls - more communicate & network
  
• Generation gap: digital natives vs digital immigrants

21st century skills

• Digital-age literacy
  
  • Basic, scientific, economic, and technological literacies
  • Visual and information literacies
  • Multicultural literacy and global awareness
    
• Inventive thinking
  
  • Adaptability, managing complexity, and self-direction
  • Curiosity, creativity, and risk taking
  • Higher order thinking and sound reasoning
    
• Effective communication
  
  • Teaming, collaboration, and interpersonal skills
  • Personal, social, and civic responsibility
  • Interactive communication
    
• High productivity
  
  • Prioritizing, planning, and managing for results
  • Effective use of real-word tools
  • Ability to produce relevant, high-quality products

Three challenges related to technology use in schools

• Workability: coordinating technology use (scheduling rooms, arranging and maintaining software, hardware, and network connections). Low-SES schools have higher turnover rates;
• Complexity: standardized testing increased complexity in integrating technology into instruction;
• Performativity: technological performance for its own sake rather than in connection with meaningful learning goals

Solution

• To complexity and workability: providing students and teachers more consistent and reliable access to computers and the Internet (through one-to-one programs or leveraging other tech resources in schools and communities)
• To performativity: instructional approaches that focus not only on mastery of tech applications, but also on broad learning goals related to academic content (e.g., developing both tech skills & academic expertise around topics related to students' life experiences)
  

The benefits of the laptop classroom

• teaching and learning of 21st-century learning skills (becoz constant access)
  
• greater student engagement (becoz the use of multimedia)
  
• increase in the quantity and quality of student writing (ease, feedback, professionalism)
• deeper learning (project-based work)