The digital divide many years ago used to be talk about who had access to the Internet and who did not have access.  Was it the schools that did not have enough technology in their classroom or was it a students’ home-life that prevented a child from having access to the Internet?  Over the last 10 years or so having access to the Internet has become easier and easier with the usage of smartphones and tablets.  Jan van Dijk said on Science Direct, “A shift of attention from physical access to skills and usage is observed. In terms of physical access the divide seems to be closing in the most developed countries; concerning digital skills and the use of applications the divide persists or widens.”  I could not agree more with that statement.  After teaching in a variety of schools over the last 7 years the issue is not having access to technology the issue is having the skills to use the technology in a productive way. 

Individuals and families now have more access to the Internet then they have ever had before.  Lee Rainie the Director of Internet, Science and Technology research at the Pew Research Center published this chart to show that racial demographics are not the thing holding individuals back from having access to the Internet. 

What I think this shows is that a lot of people are using their phones and tablets on a regular basis to access the Internet.  Another chart that Lee Rainie made shows how many individuals have access to broadband at home and I think these results are a little bit more telling. 

I think what this chart shows is that people now have unprecedented access to the Internet, however they don’t have access on things like computers.  I think this is important because when kids are in school they use computers not phones.  When parents are applying for a job they are not asked how many text messages they can type in a minute.  The PBS video said it perfectly, “There is an increasing concern in how broadband is being used among different groups.  Whether spending more time on social networks, streaming television programs or movies, and playing games is at the expense of educational advancement, managing finances, or pursing job opportunities.”

If there were not a digital divide, my job would not look the same as it does right now.  My job is to teach “technology advanced” students Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  All of these students have access to the Internet and all of these students have access to computers.  However, I teach them very similar skills that I taught at my other schools in very different environments.  Whether it was formatting a word document, setting up an excel sheet or making a presentation these were all things that had to be taught to all of the students that I have taught.  The issue is that I do not need to explain to my current students how to print, open a document or find different buttons on the computer.  With lower income students, I had to explain everything like this was the first time they were on the computer. 

What are the things you have been surprised when either teaching or observing your classroom?

*I would have Kindergarten students wet themselves because they had never been on a computer before and they did not want to get up.

Attention Issues

Keeping a student’s attention in the classroom is always an uphill battle.  Teachers are performing a song and dance every day 4-7 times a day for a high school teacher and if you are lucky (or unlucky) enough to teach elementary school then all day long.  You need to be able to challenge the smartest of the smart and bring up the lowest of the low.  It can just be flat out exhausting.  Being able to develop an assignment or a lesson that involves computers, cell phones, or tablets might just be that tool that keeps your audience the best.  The question you need to ask yourself is does that hold the students attention the entire time?  Julie Tausend (2013 EdTech Focus on Higher Education) thinks that it is the teachers call on how much technology is used in the classroom.  She does say, “One downside of technology in the classroom is that it’s more difficult to get students’ to turn away from their computers to participate in the discussion.” 

I teach in a school that is a 1-to-1 laptop tablet program.  I do not have a choice but to welcome technology into the classroom.  I have found that at times allowing students to use their cellphones as well as their laptop makes sense.  I have also been able to use it with less of a distraction as well.  I have tried my very best to keep it just academic and not anything else.  EdwardGraham wrote in a NEA article that “There’s a simple way to ensure that students use devices for educational purposes: change the classroom dynamic from lecturing at the front of the room to having no traditional front of the classroom at all.”  I understand that every teacher is different but being able to walk around the classroom will keep kids honest regarding their technology use. 



No matter how you look at it there are always going to be distractions.  There is Snapchat, Instagram, Vine (even though it went away), Tumblr, Pheed (new), Twitter, Facebook, Pandora, Spotify, Google Music, Netflix and I am sure there are more than that.  Matt Richel (2010, New York Times) wrote, “Several recent studies show that young people tend to use home computers for entertainment.”  In my class, students do not need a cell phone to be distracted.  They can be on one of a thousand apps that takes them away from their work.  They are encouraged to be on their computer all day long.  We as adults cannot be on our laptops all day long without getting off task, so why can’t we expect them to do the same? 

https://www.sketchappsources.com/resources/th-source-images-plus1/ultimate-app-icon-set-1.jpg

 

I have been teaching computers for 7 years now.  I have taught in classrooms that the students were never on a computer unless they were in my class and I know teach in a classroom that a computer is expected.  There are various ways to keep students focused on their work.  I personally allow students to listen to music, in some schools I told them what website or program they could use.  I found that this eliminates students from being distracted by other students. 

How are you going to create your technology rules?

What are you going to do to keep the students focused on just their work?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Internet Safety

The topics that were posted under “Internet Safety” were Peers, Porn, and Predators.  I know that we are supposed to keep these topics focused on one individual aspect of this but I am going to tell you about what happens to teenage girls.  I am going to talk about how all three of these topics can come into 1 BIG MESS.  Before we get into that we need to get some facts straight.  In 2010, it was reported that boys spend more time on computers than girls (Sahara Byrne, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2013).  That might have been the case in 2010 but that was before the age of the smart phone.  Amanda Lenhart in an article called Teens, Social Media & Technology (2015) said that 92% of teens report going online daily.  In the same article, nearly three-quarters of teens have access to a smartphone.  It can be easy to control what your teenage child does while at home and while you are in the other room but it becomes much more difficult when they have everything they need on their phone.

Facebook is now for “old people.”  Twitter is fun for information or news.  Teenagers are gravitating to Snapchat and Instagram.  Instagram is an app on your phone that allows you to post pictures and comments.  The goal there is to get likes and comments.  Snapchat allows you to post videos that you can either add to your story or send to individuals.  Snapchat has become a very popular app amongst at least my students.  Snapchat allows you to post a video and after the video is played, it is deleted.  If you decided to save the video the original user gets notified of it.  That was the case until 3^rd party apps like Sneakaboo.  Sneakaboo (Lewis Painter, 2017) allows you to get a bunch of coins when you first get the app which are spent on saving photos and videos, and once they’re gone, you have to pay (with real money) for more. 

Most used apps for teens

Tom. Uploaded 2015

 

Now that it has been explained, let me tell you how peers, porn and predators all come into one big mess.  Last year a student at a local high school had an app like the one listed above.  He was able to see things on his phone and save it without notifying the other person.  Over a period of time, he was able to amass over 1,000 pictures of teenage girls in various stages of undress.  Pictures and videos were sent directly to him.  His friends sent him pictures and videos that they received.  He has pictures from girls that were video chatting with other people and because the girls thought they were off screen he had pictures of that.  I have heard girls talking about not talking to certain guys anymore because they asked for pictures that they didn’t feel comfortable taking.  This guy was busted because he was showing his collection of pictures to other guys and eventually one of the other guys reported that to one of the schools that these girls were attending.

In the end peers, porn and predators can become the same person.  One of the things I have to remind girls every year is that any picture of them in various stages of undress can land their friends in big trouble. 

The question I ask you is:

How do you project teenagers from something that you don’t even know about?

How can you stay up on new technologies when they are constantly changing?

 

 



 

I am now part of the blogosphere.  I am not exactly sure how I should feel about this.  I have assigned blogs as an assignment before but it never went past that.  Because of that, I have very mixed feelings about blogging.  I follow some blogs on Twitter because they give me up to date opinionated information.  However, I do not follow any blogs on a regular basis.  I am on a computer all day but I have decided that in my free time I am going to be using my computer for news, sports or social media.  I will seek out other information as it arises as a need. 

I think people blog for a few reasons.  The first is because it is just the new way to journal or write a diary.  It is not something that can be lost or stolen.  A little brother or sister cannot steal it and show it to their friends.  It can be as private or as public as you would want it to be.  I think some people blog because they think their opinion on something really matters.  It can be a way to vent or to start a discussion.  It can be informational.  After my son was born, we would look up or try anything to get him to sleep.  I also think that people blog to try to make money.  If you can hit the market, people are going to pay attention to you and you are going to make money off that.  I am sure there are more reasons people blog.  The list of why people blog will always be growing as well.

I honestly do not know how I feel about being the person behind the blog.  I think it would feel different if I was not doing this for a class but I really do not know.  I also do not know if I was doing this on my own if I would keep it up.

As I was typing, I had some old students come into class to ask what I was doing.  When I told them that I was blogging, they asked me “why I was doing that?”  I told them it was for a class and their exact words were “Mr. Brady kids don’t blog anymore we vlog (video blogs on YouTube).”  Shiang-Kwei Wang and Hui-Yin Hsua said that for their class one of the six things they were going to do was incorporate multimedia materials.  After my quick conversation with my old students, I think that would be necessary.  Erica Badino wrote an article asking, “Is Blogging the Future of Education?”  She says that blogs can teach students online etiquette by interacting with students online.  I actually think that students need more help interacting face to face instead of online.  As soon as girls walk out of my classroom, they are immediately opening their phones.  Gary Dekmezian at the Huffington Post said in his post, “Why Do People Blog? The Benefits of Blogging” that people can use it to help refine their writing skills.  I think that blogs can promote the opposite of case.  If students are just writing what is on their mind, they might not think of it grammatically correct piece.  

This was one of the blogs that my students follow on YouTube.  His name is Roman Atwood.

So I am stuck wondering would students prefer working on their written skills or their oral skills?