Technology in Education: Bridging the Digital Divide and Meeting Diverse Student Needs

1. Chapter 9 School, Technology, and Society: Home-School Communications and Access

2. Chapter Outline • 21st-Century Skills • Digital Divide • The Administrator of Today • Professional Development in Schools • Technology for Management • Student Data Management Systems • Personal Digital Assistants • Project Management Software • Web 2.0 and Social Networking Tools • Technologies for a Diverse Student Population • The Role of Culture in the Use of Technology • Technology in Schools With High Ethnic Minority Enrollment • Technology for Students With Disabilities

3. Chapter Questions • How can leaders ensure they are proficient users and consumers of technology and supporters of a school vision that places technology as an essential part of the curriculum? • What are the characteristics schools/universities need to educate a workforce that is capable of engaging in active learning and lifelong learning, higher cognitive skills, and collaboration and of using effective coping skills? • What are the effective and efficient uses of technology for teaching and learning that enable faculty to feel comfortable using the technology to teach?

4. Chapter Questions, con’t • How can leaders understand that different cultures use and perceive technology in different ways? • What are the skills leaders need to help educators see assistive technology as a potential tool the student can use to improve his or her functioning or minimize the effects of his or her disability? • How can leaders utilize the various models to help educational teams select the appropriate technology and understand that assistive technology is a highly integrated system, not just a device?

5. Core Subjects: English, reading, world languages, arts, mathematics, economics, science, geography, history, government, & civics; (2) Interdisciplinary Themes: global awareness; financial, economic, business, & entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy; & health literacy. Learning and Innovation Skills: creativity & innovation, critical thinking & problem solving, & communication & collaboration. (4) Information, Media, and Technology Skills: information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy—that is, being knowledgeable in information and communication technologies (ICTs), which connect people and machines. (5) Life and Career Skills: flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity & accountability, and leadership & responsibility. 21st-Century Skills

6. Digital Divide An administrator can • Advocate to increase broadband penetration to low-income households by making it more affordable and by connecting rural areas; • Increase computer literacy by establishing community centers or opening schools to the community during after-school hours for computer access; • Promote technology infrastructure investments through partnerships between local governments and businesses; • Make it a school and district goal to provide broadband connection to schools; and • Make every effort to make available advanced placement courses through videoconferencing and distance learning technologies to high school students in rural, remote, or depressed economic areas.

7. The Administrator of Today It is expected that school administrators are proficient users and consumers of technology and supporters of a school vision that places technology as an essential part of the curriculum.

8. Technologies for a Diverse Student Population It is precisely by educating and reaching this vastly diverse student population that the United States will remain competitive in the global economy. With that in mind, administrators and teachers need to realize that a shift must happen not only in what is taught but also in how it is taught.

9. The Role of Culture in the Use of Technology The educator of the 21st century needs to be armed with a plethora of resources, techniques, and strategies that are targeted to meet the needs of all students, including culturally and linguistically diverse students. Among those resources, technology stands out as an indispensable tool that reaches students from all ethnicities and cultures to prepare future citizens for a world that will be negotiated through technology.

10. Technology for Students with Disabilities Technology, for many of us, is a tool that makes our lives easier and more productive. As many of us can attest, computers and other electronic technologies are playing an increasingly larger role in all of our lives. For persons with disabilities, however, technology holds the promise of helping them function in integrated settings and accomplish their learning and career goals.

12. Key Principles for Leaders to Know 1. It is expected that school administrators are proficient users and consumers of technology and supporters of a school vision that places technology as an essential part of the curriculum. The importance of this expectation is based on the fact that the vision that the administrator sets for the school is the second most important influence (below teacher preparation) on student learning and achievement. 2. Schools need to educate a workforce that is capable of engaging in active and lifelong learning, higher cognitive skills, and collaboration and of using effective coping skills. 3. Effective and efficient use of technology for teaching and learning will not happen until faculty feel comfortable using the technology to teach. As such, professional development of teachers is of utmost importance to achieve a 21st-century school.

13. Key Principles for Leaders to Know, con’t 4. The digital divide is more than access to technology; it also includes learning how to use information in an effective way, having access to relevant content, and being able to become an active, rather than a passive, user of information and communication technologies. 5. Administrators of today will benefit from having a transformational leadership style. This style will allow them to bring together the interest of all the school stakeholders: administrators, teachers, students, parents, and community. 6. Different cultures use and perceive technology in different ways. The best pieces of technology are those that allow the user to create and discover from his or her own point of reference. 7. Schools can be used during after-school hours to facilitate technology learning by parents. When parents and students are technology savvy, half of the schoolwork in terms of technology is already done.

14. Key Principles for Leaders to Know, con’t 8. Assistive technology should be thought about in the same terms that other school technologies are thought about. How educators think about AT is equally as important as access to the technology itself because the thinking process will ultimately govern the decisions that are made. 9. If educators see AT as a potential tool the student can use to improve his or her functioning or minimize the effects of his or her disability, then they will be less likely to misapply the technology. 10. While the various models may help educational teams select the appropriate technology, it is important that we understand that assistive technology is a highly integrated system, not just a device. 11. Training and technical assistance supports are needed by the student who is using the AT or those educators who are working with students who use AT devices.

15. Key Principles for Leaders to Know, con’t 12. Three levels of competency are needed to effectively use AT: operational competence (the ability to operate the device), strategic competence (knowing how to use the device to accomplish a goal), and problem solving or coping (knowing what to do when the device fails or malfunctions). Without this type of support (training), AT devices are often underused or abandoned. 13. Supports can include modifications to the student’s setting, educational interventions to increase the student’s skills (either directly related to the technology or of a more general educational nature targeting improved skills across academic areas), and training for the student’s service providers. Typically the group of persons who are in need of supports includes the student with a disability, family members, teachers or instructional assistants, therapists, and the student’s peers. 14. AT training may be proposed as a multitiered model with three distinct levels of knowledge expertise: awareness of AT devices and services, indepth technology specialization, and advanced knowledge of AT devices.