EDTC 6433 Module 4 Blog Post

Providing Access to Digital Technologies at Home

Working with the 4^th ISTE standard, promoting and modeling digital citizenship, I decided to focus my attention on equitable access of technology.  The question I set out to answer was: How can I meet the diverse needs of my first graders through technology while providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools at home? This is something that has been on my mind lately, especially with the increasing technology that I have in my room.  I’ve noticed there is a large gap of technology-related knowledge between my students, often separated by the students’ socio economic status.  Confirmed by an article that a classmate shared, many low income families still have a significant lack of technology resources, even in today’s technology rich society (Ribble, 2011).   While I can individualize my technology instruction within the classroom, this still has a significant impact to students at home. 

              When considering digital citizenship, a very important but often overlooked aspect is digital access (Ribble, Miller).  Thankfully, my students have a wealth of technology access within our classroom this year.  Through some grants and some other programs within our district, I have access to 17 iPads, 2 laptops, and 4 desktop computers.  For having just 18 first graders this year, my student’s technology use and instruction is very rich within the classroom.  Though my district is in a middle to high class area, my particular building has a significant amount of low income families.  As previously mentioned, there is a gap in resources and access between technology and low income families.  On one end, technology provides more access information for these students than traditional home resources would.  Many of my low income families don’t have the time, resources, or background knowledge to always help their students at home with academic subjects.  Technology is an amazing way to allow students to still get that individualized practice, however, that is often lacking in their homes as well.  On the other hand, I have some students that have access to both of those things.  This seems to perpetuate the achievement gap. 

              Some things I am already doing to try to increase technology use at home is communicating with families, providing training at conferences or requested meetings, and teaching students how to independently use technology within our classroom to share with their families.  One major component that seems obvious for trying to get students more access to technology at home is a laptop checkout system.  After just a quick google search about providing elementary families with technology, I realized that many schools around our district has some type of program set up for this.  The Tacoma Public School district has a “laptops2kids” program, where they provide one laptop per family (https://www.tacomaschools.org/laptops2kids/Pages/default.aspx).  Various other elementary schools across the country have information on their district’s website about a laptop checkout system as well.  This seems like something that would be reasonable to get more technology in families’ hands at home.  While this isn’t something that can be done immediately, it is something to consider for a grant within our district or at the building level. 

              One major component that would still be missing from a laptop checkout system would be internet access.  If families don’t have internet access at home, many of the resources that can be used in first grade aren’t available.  While laptops are portable and can be taken to public libraries and other places with wireless internet, this is often not an option for my young students.  A Mindshift article titled “Internet Access for All” discussed a program called “Everyone On” , where a non-profit company has partnered with major internet companies such as Comcast and Cox Communications to provide low- cost devices and internet to low income families (Shwartz, 2013).  This would be huge for some families within our district.  With doing just a quick zip code search on the site, many of our families would qualify for internet access for just $10 a month (normally $60) and a PC for $10 a month as well.  If they lived in an area where the median income is $35,000 or less, it would be free.  Unfortunately for these families, the median income in our district is very high, so it drives the cost up depending on their specific situation (there are many qualifiers that alter the prices). 

              While there is no way I can solve this problem with just researching for one blog post, I feel more confident in my knowledge of resources around me.  If given the opportunity to apply for a grant within my building or the district, I have a better idea of what goals I would try to accomplish in relation to technology access at home based on what other districts are doing.  I also feel more equipped for my upcoming parent teacher conferences, now knowing about some of the resources for free and reduced internet costs in our area. 

Ribble, M., & Miller, T. (n.d.). Educational Leadership in an Online World: Connecting Students to Technology Responsibly, Safely, and Ethically . Educational Leadership in an Online World, 17(1). Retrieved November 19, 2017.

Ribble, M. (2011). Digital citizenship in schools : nine elements all students should know. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Schwartz, K. (n.d.). Internet Access for All: A New Program Targets Low-Income Students. Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/03/21/internet-access-for-everyone-a-new-program-targets-low-income-students/