Digital Divide/Digital Inequality

While I was familiar with the concept of the "Digital Divide" before this assignment, I knew nothing of the more nuanced (and increasingly more relevant) notion of Digital Inequality.  It certainly made me think more deeply about the challenges my students face, particularly those that likely lack a strong social support network.  Putting technology into someone's hands doesn't allow them to span the Digital Divide immediately!  I'll certainly try to always remember this in the future, and to provide ample opportunities for my students to seek assistance.

In addition to raising my awareness of student challenges around technology, thinking holistically about my school led me to the conclusion that other members of our community are also experiencing Digital Inequality: our teachers.  In order for our school to meet its goal of producing 21st century graduates capable of using technology effectively, our community will have to move forward together as a more cohesive group.  I will most definitely encourage our administration to provide more teacher training on technology.

In preparing the presentation, I was surprised at some of the advice in "Five Ways to Reduce PowerPoint Overload."  Before reading this, I was definitely of the ilk that "more is better" in terms of the amount of information one should present to the audience.  I tried to avoid "information overload" by putting as many details in my "notes" as I could.  However, I'm not sure I was as successful as I could have been in this regard.  Another difficulty I encountered was centered around the platform I chose: Google Presentation.  I was planning on narrating the slides (reading the notes I added), but discovered that Google Presentation doesn't allow for this yet.  Thus, if given more time to revisit this project, I would focus on two areas to improve it: editing my slides to ensure only the most important information was included and exploring alternative platforms that allow for voice narration to make it more dynamic and engaging.


Digital Divide/Digital Inequality Presentation

Elements of Educational Technology

            I chose to focus on the significance of the terms facilitating, performance and creating in my Elements of Educational Technology paper primarily because of their breadth in describing how educational technology should be employed and evaluated to ensure it’s having the greatest impact possible on students and teachers.   Narrowing the list of thirteen terms down to three was quite difficult, but I feel that facilitating, performance and creating zero-in on educational technology’s most essential roles in contemporary education, as well as provide guidance for how its users can and should justify its use.   Below is a summary of my thoughts on these terms. 

I. Facilitating

            Much like the national trend described in Educational Technology: A Definition With Commentary, my approach to teaching has shifted dramatically in the last few years: I’ve slowly been transitioning away from the role of content-deliverer to that of learning-facilitator.  It is perhaps the most significant paradigm shift I’ve undergone in my twelve years of teaching science, but it’s something I’ve embraced wholeheartedly because of the profound impact it has had on both student accountability and depth of understanding.  Shifting the onus of learning onto the students by requiring them to analyze the data, make the connections, build the models, draw the conclusions and plan their own laboratory investigations has convinced me that I’m finally now teaching them to think and act like scientists.  I already leverage technology in a number of ways to achieve this goal, and can’t wait to learn more about how current and emerging technologies can help make my transition to learning-facilitator more successful.  For me, this aspect of the reading was reinforcement that I’m on the right path.

           

II. Performance

            The insistence by the AECT that educational technology should “improve performance” in order to justify its use served as a reminder to me that incorporating technology into my classroom does not necessarily raise student achievement levels if I am merely using it to do the same thing I’ve always done, only in a “shinier” way.    Instead, I should be asking the questions: What steps can I take to ensure that this new technology is improving the depth, scope or efficiency of learning for my students over what I have done previously?  How can I use technology to provide formative and summative data previously not available to me to respond more effectively to students’ needs and to improve my performance as an instructor?

III. Create

            Lastly, I focused on “create” because it highlights the skills I need to build in order to create authentic, robust and effective learning environments for my students as I continue to transition to the role of learning-facilitator.  Both the reading and a recently designed unit on chemical energy has led me to the same conclusion: A significant paradigm shift has occurred not just in how students will be learning in the future, but also in the skill set their teachers must possess.  21st Century educators must also master elements of design and engineering in order to create the educational ecosystems in which students will be learning.  No small task, indeed!

Elements of Technology paper 

Welcome!

Hello!

                       *Press CC to view captions for this video.

My name is Kurt Schaefer and I teach high school chemistry at a K-12 charter school outside of Boulder, CO.  I came to Colorado from the East Coast over 20 years ago (I'm originally from sunny Buffalo, NY and went to college outside of Philadelphia) and fell in love with it instantly.  While traveling is a major passion of mine, I'm always excited to return home to Colorado - it's truly spectacular in all seasons. 

My interest in the Ed Tech program is rooted primarily in my love of incorporating technology into my classroom.  Kids love it, and it opens up a window to the outside world, providing them opportunities to test and explore things we normally can't in a high school science classroom: particle accelerators, nuclear fusion and fission, you name it!  Rather than telling them how nature works, I challenge them to figure it out for themselves via lab work and simulated experiments.  I'm fortunate enough to work at a school and in a district that stresses technology integration and educational risk taking, and I'm truly excited to transition from technology user to technology innovator.  Rather than relying on others' websites, animations. apps and simulations, I'll soon be able to create my own!

When I'm not at school, I love traveling.  I was lucky enough to go to Italy twice last year (this happens to celebrities, not teachers, right?).  My favorite area, hands down, is the Amalfi Coast:

                                     Positano, as seen from the bay

                                     The view from the top of Capri

I look forward to working with everyone in the Ed Tech program over the next two years.  I'm already having a blast!