Digital Divide Week 2

 There are several “dividing factors” that impact community members who live within St. Jacob, IL. Due to the secluded and rural location of the town, one of the biggest factors is the location itself and what the town doesn’t have access to compared to surrounding towns. For example, the majority of the town is farm fields, so if you don’t live in town, you may not have the fastest or most reliable internet access. I also know of families who live in town, but do not have access to the internet at home because of the price it costs families. So not only is the location of the town a dividing factor, but the socio-econic statues of families and community members are as well, despite the data that I looked at last week through the United States Census Bureau (2026) claiming that St. Jacob has a decent median household income. I believe anyone who uses technology within the town is impacted by digital inequality. In this community, many children are being raised by their grandparents or their parents, who did not grow up in a time when technology was used in the classroom as it is today. The unfamiliarity some adults may have with technology today, who are raising kids who now use it every day to help them learn, can make it hard for them to try to support their learners at home. With that being said, the biggest impact is on the students, families, and teachers within the community. We use technology every single day in my classroom, and there have been several days when plans have had to be changed due to internet issues. Whether a website is not able to be reached from where my classroom is located in the building, or our whole building’s internet connections are down, plans have had to be changed and adjusted many times due to internet issues. Now I understand that as teachers we have to be flexible and plans will always change, but when assessments are now mostly taken on devices and the push to use technology is so heavy in education today, schools should be supplied with reliable technology to use it to its full advantage. 

    Last year, during my first year of teaching, I had a classroom full of students who were in kindergarten during COVID. Not only were my students in the classroom during this time, but I was also a senior getting ready to graduate from high school when the world shut down. When I learned this, I thought these students would be extremely experienced and advanced with their computer skills. However, what I saw was not that. I had students who didn’t know how to copy and paste text, where to find Google Classroom in the Chrome browser, or how to add their name in the header of a document. These poor students started their first day of elementary school over a Zoom call, but have never been taught the basic use of technology. Gallardo (2022) stated the following about students during COVID: “In fact, one-quarter of children enrolled in Pre-K through 4th grade in high digital divide counties did not have a computer or internet subscription.” These years in elementary school are crucial for students for so many basic functions that help students during their lives. Social skills, peer interactions, sitting at a desk, learning about to share, etc. where all taken away from these students during COVID because looking at your classmates over a computer screen does not build these skills. Going back to what Gallardo stated, many of these students didn’t even have a device to use during this time, which would only put them behind their classmates who did, and it is something out of their control. Looking back, I think all families should have been provided with a free device and internet access, but also some type of training to be able to help their students at home. I understand that there were restrictions and there was only so much districts could do during this time, and everyone was just simply trying to survive, but these students were done a disservice when devices were thrown into their hands at kindergarten, and even after COVID, they were never taught how to use them correctly and effectively. Now, being a teacher, I have a greater appreciation for the teachers I had during my senior year of high school. These were educators who did not use much technology in their classes and quickly had to learn and adapt for their students. My chemistry teacher during this time held online classes through Facebook Live. I think of this often, not just because having class through a social media platform is a crazy thought, but because of the many classmates I knew who couldn’t join class due to the lack of resources. I was lucky enough to have an educator as a parent during this time, and she was able to provide me with a device so I could continue to do my schoolwork. However, I knew many of my classmates did not have internet access at home, let alone a phone or laptop to complete their work on. I grew up in a much larger town than St. Jacob, but with a significantly lower socio-economic status. This shows that digital inequality is everywhere, regardless of town size and location, and it really blows my mind how much COVID has changed the use of technology within the classroom. I wonder if the use of technology would be where it is today if COVID never happened. 

    From the readings this week, there is a recurring theme that digital equity goes way beyond providing students with a device. Like I mentioned last week, my school is part of a 1:1 district where each student is provided with a device, and in this case, we use Chromebooks. A Chromebook, an iPad, or any other device is no use to a student unless they are given all of the other tools and resources needed to use it meaningfully. If a student is given a device to take to and from school to complete online assignments, but doesn’t have access to the internet outside of school, what use is the computer? If a student does not know how to appropriately use online resources to aid in their education, what is the use of the device in this instance? With all of this being said, students not only need to be provided with a device, but they also need resources to use it correctly and be able to use it for school work when needed to outside of a school setting. Many rural towns like St. Jacob are depleted of reliable internet, especially for those who live on the outskirts of town. I believe that, like most school districts, mine has the right idea when it comes to the use of technology and encouraging teachers to use it in our classes and wanting students to benefit from it, but school districts also need to think about whether all students have equitable access outside of the classroom. 

    After reading classmates' blogs from last week, it is clear that digital inequality is an issue everywhere. I am hopeful that after this course, I can take the steps needed to help provide my students with the technology they need to be successful not only at school, but there homes and other places in the community. 

References:

Gallardo, R. (2022). The State of the Digital Divide in the United States. https://pcrd.purdue.edu/the-state-of-the-digital-divide-in-the-united-states/ 

United States Census Bureau: https://data.census.gov/