So, I did use technology in my classroom this year. I designed a WebQuest for a class I took this summer. In theory my students were supposed to access this WebQuest to research the California Gold Rush. Now, honestly there were some problems with the WebQuest itself: The information I included for my students was a bit more sophisticated than I wanted, but, they persevered. The problem was that when we began the project not all of the students had access to computers. As a matter of fact, out of 30 students only six had access to a computer outside of school.
Now, I work in a school district in which technology appears to be an essential, and, the administration of the district and the school board are crying that we need to use more technology, however, the reality of the situation is that aside from the lip service that is used to promote the fact that technology is essential for the students to have, there is absolutely no real, concrete support for technology itself.
In my classroom I have one computer with which my students are able to access the internet. Our computer lab is equipped with 18 iMac computers (15 of which work) from several years ago that operate on OS9 and we have a 5 year old Mac laptop lab with 14 working computers all of which are shared by 491 students. Even though several of our teachers are proficient in the use of various technologies (myself included) it is the lack of hardware that is undermining our determination to use technology in the classroom.
My point is this: As we take off into the 21st century and technology becomes ever increasingly important not only in a students education but in a person’s pursuit of a career, our poorer school districts are being left behind at a staggering rate that increases the disparity between rich and poor.
This is extremely important as schools and districts are rarely economically static. In any one district the students who attend schools within that district, even unto the individual schools themselves, will draw from a wide variety of economic backgrounds. And how, you may ask, does this effect our various student populations? Well, schools, like my own, who cannot afford the technology will not be able to provide the technology experience within a student’s education that is more increasingly necessary in a child’s education.
The most disappointing part of all of this (and this is what you really need to focus on) is that students who have access to this technology outside the classroom may not be getting the foundation that they will need to succeed in a world where one’s reliance on technology will make the difference between success and failure.
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