Digital Divide

The digital divide is the gap between people with access to digital technology and those without. People are trying to close this gap by giving money, resources, and information to those who are without access to digital technology (links with more information below).

Section: Overcoming The Digital Divide
Section: What's Being Done
Bridging The Digital Divide

In my opinion, digital divide might show up in the classroom with students who are less fortunate or who come from another country because they may be less likely to have access to digital technology or even if they do have some access, they may not be educated on how to use it. This could cause a major gap between one group of students to the other and have an effect on what I may be able to teach and how.

I plan on addressing the digital divide by educationing my students on aspects of technology before using them. However, I only plan on using technology in my lessons if there is a specific purpose for it. Due to the fact that all my students may not have access to technology at home, I will not be assigning homework that involves the use of technology at home unless I am certain everyone has access to it.

Standardized Tests

Although I do not think that standardized tests are necessarily a valid juge of someone's knowledge, I do think that they should still be used in eduacation. These kinds of tests enable student's scores from all over the nation to be compared. Due to the fact that these tests do not actually affect a student's grade, they can give the student/their parents an idea of where they are at compared to other students. These tests can also show a student's progress over the years because these tests are given every year starting in elementary and continuing until high school. I feel like as long as these tests are being used only as a commonality to compare student's scores, then their purpose is justifiable. However, I do not feel these tests should be used to grade a student's knowledge or determine a teacher's salary. If standardized tests are used effectively, they can benefit the assessment aspect of education, therefore I do feel that they should still be used today.