Combatting the Digital Divide

I have never been a big fan of Twitter; however, it is interesting using it in an educational aspect. Recently I have been interacting with people who are also in the EME2040 class by using the hashtag, #fsu2040. It is neat how I am able to connect with other students, even those that aren’t in my exact class. I have found that a lot of us are in the same boat when it comes to when I tweet about assignments and observations for my other education class. I do not think I would ever use Twitter in my classroom. However, if I ever got to the point and was teaching high schoolers, I would maybe consider it. Twitter is a popular platform among teenagers, so I think that would have them actively participating if I were to require them to use it. I would most likely tweet out a question and their homework would be to respond to it, or something along those lines. While I can see it being helpful as a communication platform with my students, I do not think I would use it unless I ended up teaching a grade where it could be applicable. 

            The digital divide is an unfortunate issue that is present in classrooms. This can no doubt affect student success, just simply due to the fact some students do not have the same access to resources that others do at home. The digital divide can be a result of many things. One that really sticks out to me, and what I think is the main contributing factor is a combination of class demographics, student background, and school location. It is no mystery that there are schools located in wealthier areas and then also some that are not in as nice of areas. Back home, if students are going to public school, students and families had a very small choice in deciding where they were going for school. It mostly relied on where they lived and the proximity to schools nearby. Some students may not come from a wealthy home life but are placed in a predominately wealthy school. As a teacher, I think a common issue that teachers worldwide face is the access, or lack thereof, of a computer at home. My strategies would change because I would probably not assign any work that needs a computer, or another form of technology like a printer, to be done at home. Instead for homework, I would assign worksheets that provide all the necessary information to complete the assignment. 

            Some software for students that I would want to incorporate would definitely be something along the lines of Google Classroom or even Edmodo.  I would use this because it would give students and parents the opportunity to access all of the classroom resources, this would mainly keep parents updated, kind of like an online and more in-depth, newsletter. I think it is important to keep everyone well-informed of anything going on. Another type of software I would incorporate would be Kahoot. This would be beneficial to the student so they can check their comprehension with the material presented to them. However, this would also help me gain a better understanding of what students get or what they do fully understand.