Ensuring Everyone has Equitable Digital Access in the Classroom
Today's modern age of technology is hard for teachers to keep up with. With everything from Twitter to Facebook, the technology is expanding quickly and we can not stay ahead of the technology. With this rise in technology, teachers are being asked to incorporate it more and more into their daily class schedule. While being asked to use the digital equipment, parents and students have a hard time keeping up at their house. The expense that some parents have to pay for the technology is not reasonable, and they can not afford it; therefore, we have to make time in the class day to give all students the opportunity to catch up on work that has to be done on the computer.
The best way to make sure all students get equal chance at computer and internet is to give the kids class time. Let students have time to work on their class work in the class that requires the use of computer and internet. When you have numerous students, but limited computers at school, divide the students into groups and have each of them a scheduled time to be on the computers when they are in your class. Sometimes, if it is an absolute necessity, you can ask an elective teacher to pull them out in their class. It is not an ideal situation, but if it can not be avoided it has to be tried. If it is far enough in advance, the kids can set it up in advance with the teacher before or after school to work on the work in the library or in the teachers class.
Ensuring Everyone has Equitable Digital Access in the School
The best way to make sure all classes have equitable time to use the technology is by use of an online calendar, or a calendar that is up in a lounge for teachers to sign up on. Some schools have the luxury of a computer lab, chrome book cart, or Mac Cart. With these type of technologies it is best to have a calendar for teachers to sign up to use in their class to help with all kids getting a chance to use the internet. Like mentioned earlier, sometime librarians are lenient and will help with getting kids access to the computer and internet. They can set up a time in advance to work on homework or assignments in the library before or after school. There are always ways to make sure that students get an equal chance to do work in school if they do not have the opportunity at home.
More Ways to Help with Computer Problems
There are many websites to help with ways to help students have access to computers. Donorschoose.com is a large website that helps teachers who need materials for class, get the materials they need. Below is a video of how donorschoose.com helped a teacher in need of computers in her classroom to help students gain access to the digital world.