Equity and Technology

I believe using technology to guide dialogue has helped many of my students engage in collaborative conversations. In response to my Padlet digital tech tool, Briana Ronan asked, “have you noticed any changes in the kinds of notes your students take with padlet versus when they took notes on sticky pads?”. My answer is yes, many changes! Not only does it increase the volume of writing but the content is more rich and the spelling and grammar has improved.

I can see how equity can be challenged using Padlet. As stated by Tawfik, Reeves, and Stich (2016), “minority students perceived less social presence in online learning compared with their non-minority peers”.  Although students have increasing opportunities with technology, minorities can be fearful or lack confidence while posting in an online community. I believe the ability to add images, videos and links to a Padlet helps to combat this fear because their writing is supported in multiple modes.

One of the largest impacts that I experience in my class regarding equity, technology, and “opportunities to learn” is the amount of exposure my students come in with and their ability to use technology. I aim to treat technology as though my students have never seen it but, when given a task, my students that have had more opportunities with it are producing more, inputted unique designs, and can transform their work more than what it expected. I see my students that have not had the opportunity or practice with technology wanting to do the same and it takes them much longer. I do not believe that any of my students feel that there is a gap but rather they are excited to learn from their peers.

My equity vision for my students is that all “students are heard” (Pollock, 2016, p. 41). I often notice that my low-income and minority students lack the confidence to share their thinking in the classroom. I do not visualize a computer app creating this equity where everyone is working independently, looking at a screen. I picture technology being the building blocks for collaborating, creating and sharing designs and ideas. It is my hope that students are learning technology early enough in the classroom that there would not be as much of an opportunity gap in the future.

Technology that I foresee supporting my equity vision include some apps that I use today. The Google Apps for education allow for students to easily collaborate on projects through sharing, commenting and suggesting. Also, Tawfik, Reeves, and Stich (2016) described online professional development for teachers that, “removes geographic barriers”. I want to remove this barrier for my students. I believe collaborating with classes across the country and sharing work universally would allow all of my students to feel important and valued.

References

Pollock, M. (2016). Smart Tech Use for Equity. The Education Digest, 81(8), 39-41.

Tawfik, A. A., Reeves, T. D., & Stich, A. (2016). Intended and Unintended

Consequences of Educational Technology on Social Inequality. TechTrends,

60(6), 598-605.