Simply put, the tech divide I am referring to deals with schools that have robust technology and those that don't. K-12 education in the second decade of the 21st century needs five well-developed components to be successful. These components are not stand-alone items. They are linked and complement each other. The entire package is essential to overcome the tech divide in many parts of America.
Enhanced Connectivity
Enhanced Connectivity is not just a luxury, but a necessity. We must provide every learning space with reliable, high-speed internet access to facilitate seamless learning experiences. This is a crucial step, more than simply setting up a couple of routers around your school buildings and campus. It's about ensuring that every student has equal access to the wealth of knowledge available online.
Professional Development
For teachers to play their part, we must support them with professional workshops and other resources specifically designed to help them implement new technologies and teaching methods effectively.
Student-Centric Tools
Understanding how students learn in a world dominated by small screens is critical to overcoming the tech divide. We must use methods and tools that capture their attention and encourage their engagement and intellectual curiosity.
Community Engagement
We must foster strong partnerships with parents and local organizations to pay for digital learning and promote the effective use of technology in education.
Let's look at each component in detail. While I have used technology effectively in my classroom and understand the issue, I have researched some authoritative sources to help you know what is necessary to overcome the tech divide.
Enhanced Connectivity
WiFi for School Districts: Upgrade Your Network Today
This article from Ruckus Networks makes the following important point:
A solid and efficient WiFi network is essential for accessing online resources, collaborating with peers, or participating in virtual classrooms.
Hire an IT networking professional to design and implement a WiFi system for your school. Your system must handle both the teaching and the administrative sides of your school's operations securely and efficiently. If your network was installed in 2010, take time at your next trustee meeting to discuss and plan your school's WiFi needs in 2024, not 2010. Ask two or three professionals to present proposals.
WiFi is the foundation of everything you do in your school. So, do it right. Implicit in my warning is the ever-present threat of cyber-security breaches. Your school has saved years of sensitive information. You need the latest modes of protection to keep it safe. Older networks need to be up to the job.
Reliable Internet and WiFi in schools should be a top priority
One of the obstacles you will encounter as you review your school's WiFi requirements is resistance to change on the part of your staff and to spending money on the part of your trustees. An outside expert can guide you and your colleagues through the review and planning process and overcome resistance and objections with facts and case studies.
Study shows 1 in 4 college students' unreliable Internet makes coursework difficult.
Students need robust WiFi networks because so much of the content they view is graphics-rich. Back in the early days of the Internet, content was text-based. Images and video files were too large to transmit and download back then. Also, web browsers were not as sophisticated as they are now. Sites like TikTok and YouTube, viewed in an academic setting, require a big pipe. Make sure your school has one!
This video explains why schools need robust digital networks.
Professional Development
Why Professional Development for Teachers Is Critical
Lesson plans, parent-teacher conferences, marking papers, and dozens more tasks are part of every teacher's To-do list. So, having been there and done that, I understand the resistance to change. That's a significant issue with my colleagues who have been teaching for a while. They have everything worked out. All the parts of their busy days fit together neatly. Now, the administrators want to change how we do things.
That's why professional development must enhance what teachers do: teach. Time-savers, improved outcomes, and more are things technology can do. Professional development is essential and helps your teachers to stay current.
Effective Teacher Professional Development
Plan your professional development carefully. Engage an experienced trainer to headline your school for professional development sessions. This will improve the chances of your teachers embracing new approaches and change in general. After all, as the Bible says, "A prophet has no honor in his own country."
The State of Professional Learning for K-12 Educators
The other important consideration to remember when planning professional development for your teachers is to make it continuous. Learning never stops. Above all, show your teachers that the new ways of doing things will enhance their teaching. It won't be a waste of their time.
This video offers some suggestions on how to plan professional development sessions.
Student-centered Tools
Enhancing student engagement and achievement through AI-powered adaptive learning systems
When it finally dawned on me how useful AI would be for teachers, it truly was a "Eureka!" moment, similar to how I felt when I discovered the World Wide Web in the 90s. Back then, I was astonished at the vast trove of resources that I could access online from my computer, via FTP email, of course! The amount of information ChatGPT or Perplexity and all their variants can access now is beyond my understanding. To get a glimpse of what AI can do for teachers, look at AI for Education. Then, look at Khan Academy's Khanmigo. These are remarkable tools.
What is Adaptive Learning, & Why Does it Matter?
One size does not fit all. Our students deserve to be treated as individuals. Most private schools pride themselves on providing a high degree of personalized attention to their students. Indeed, that's one of the reasons we send our children to private schools.
If you need further proof that adaptive learning works, read this article. Hopefully, your school's professional development sessions will include a module on adaptive learning so that you can learn how to incorporate it into your classroom.
This video offers an overview of student-centered learning.
Community Engagement
Empowering Education: Innovative Strategies for Community Engagement in Schools
Gone are the days when any institution could afford to be iconoclastic.
Student and staff involvement in community projects such as soup kitchens and picking up litter on the roadside heighten awareness of your school. They put a positive, concerned face on an establishment, which many have typecast as only for the rich. In all its many powerful forms, social media gives you another strategy for getting your message out. All of this supports the never-ending marketing of your school, so necessary to fill seats.
The Case for Community Engagement
When you send your child to a private school, you become a member of a remarkable, enduring partnership between you, your child, and the school. It's not an optional partnership. Your child's academic and personal success rests on that partnership. It is one of the things that makes private schools so special.
Community Partnerships - Future Ready Schools
I belonged to Rotary at one point in my career. My father belonged to Kiwanis. These service clubs had an educational component that did much good in their communities. Most private schools teach the importance of community service and partnership with local organizations. The payoff for the time you invest in such activities will not be immediate, but it will be lasting. Make sure whatever your school does with community outreach is well-thought-out and planned.
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#EdTech #DigitalEquity #TechInEducation #ProfessionalDevelopment #AdaptiveLearning #CommunityEngagement #21stCenturyLearning #OvercomingTechDivide
