The Importance of Digital Access
In a national survey that reveals K-12 students’ use of technology at home and at school, students overwhelmingly agreed that access to digital media tools and the ability to collaborate with peers both inside and outside of school can greatly enhance education (Devaney, 2010). Today's student uses much more than just the teacher and textbooks to gain knowledge. They are using a wide range of educational resources including those found online. This makes equitable digital access more important than ever. All students have a right to equitable digital access, but sometimes this is hampered by funding issues among other things. Digital access can vary widely among school districts in the United States. Not only is there a divide among US schools, but a divide among the US and other countries as well. Recent data shows why tackling the digital divides within the U.S. and between the U.S. and other countries is so critical. In the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment, U.S. students ranked 14th in reading and 25th in math compared with students in other industrialized countries. The Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on U.S. Education Reform declared earlier in 2012 that the U.S.’s failure to educate our students for the 21st century—including how best to use technology—poses serious threats to the U.S. economic growth and national security. The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its global competitive index in early September; the U.S. fell two spots in as many years and WEF cited an inadequately educated workforce as a key driver for the drop (Clinton, 2012).
Read more about the importance of digital access in schools HERE.
Read more about the importance of digital access in schools HERE.
Ensuring Digital Access For All Students
Equality of access can be measured in two ways - having the technology itself within the organization and ensuring that where the technology is available it is actually used to best advantage. Many educators are reluctant to use technology due to lack of knowledge, training, and time. Obtaining the technology is only half the battle. All the reasons for not using it have to be addressed and are fundamental to the questions of equitable access. There are many ways that technology can be obtained if someone is willing to put in the effort. These include grants, links with businesses, diverting text book budgets, community access projects, providing net books and Bring Your Own Technology initiatives.
Assistive Technology
Part of ensuring equitable access to technology is assistive technology. Assistive technology is technology used by individuals with disabilities in order to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible. Assistive technology can include hardware, software, and peripherals that assist people with disabilities in accessing computers or other information technologies. For example, people with limited hand function may use a keyboard with large keys or a special mouse to operate a computer, people who are blind may use software that reads text on the screen in a computer-generated voice, people with low vision may use software that enlarges screen content, people who are deaf may use a TTY (text telephone), or people with speech impairments may use a device that speaks out loud as they enter text via a keyboard (What Is Assistive, 2013).
It is important to be sure that students have access to assistive technology in schools. It is not fair or legal for students to be left out of technology use due to disabilities. Schools should provide tools for use by any special needs students who may require it. There is a broad range of assistive technologies available today. Watch these videos to learn more about types of assistive technologies and how they can be used in schools:
It is important to be sure that students have access to assistive technology in schools. It is not fair or legal for students to be left out of technology use due to disabilities. Schools should provide tools for use by any special needs students who may require it. There is a broad range of assistive technologies available today. Watch these videos to learn more about types of assistive technologies and how they can be used in schools:
Click HERE to learn more about some assistive technologies that can be used in the classroom.
The following website also has a lot of great information about assistive technology in education:
Assistive technology for kids with LD: An overview
Teachers must be willing to educate themselves and participate in any training offered by their school district in regards to assistive technology in order to assist in providing equitable digital access for all students. School districts can get an idea of where their teachers stand on the issue by using a survey such as the one linked below:
Survey Monkey - Digital Access/Assistive Technology Survey
The survey, when administered in a local school district, showed that not many teachers had a lot of experience with assistive technology, but they were willing to learn. Only a few were aware of the context of regulations in the state of Delaware concerning the issuance of assistive technology devices and services. The Delaware Special Education Regulations states:
"5.0 Assistive Technology
5.1 Each public agency shall ensure that assistive technology devices or assistive technology services, or both, as those terms are defined in 14 DE Admin. Code 922.3.0, are made available to a child with a disability if required as a part of the child's special education, related services, or supplementary aids and services.
5.1.1 On a case by case basis, the use of school purchased assistive technology devices in a child's home or in other settings is required if the child's IEP Team determines that the child needs access to those devices in order to receive FAPE. (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(1), 1412(a)(12)(B)(i); 14 Del.C. §3110)"
Full results of the survey:
Resources For Obtaining Technology In Schools
http://www.engaging-technologies.com/education-technology-grants.html#axzz2NkJkThFc
http://technologygrantnews.com/grant-index-by-type/school-grants.html
http://www.fred.org/tech.html
http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/technology/grants/
http://technologygrantnews.com/grant-index-by-type/school-grants.html
http://www.fred.org/tech.html
http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/technology/grants/
Digital Citizenship by Robin McCarter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.