#engchat from #ISTE12 on June 25: Digital Equity

Teachers from San Diego Writing Project hosted #engchat live from ISTE on Monday June 25th at 7 PM EST. See the archive here:

Here are some of the ideas that we pondered:

As technologies and digital tools continue to emerge and evolve, teachers find themselves in a 21st century quandary. In an effort to meet the challenges of delivering content and skills in a way that genuinely improves achievement for all students, rather than just a privileged few, teachers debate the role and impact of integrating digital tools into their daily practice. We want to explore this concept of digital equity and access amongst diverse student populations including ELs, special education, and GATE students.

Additionally, we often talk about “producers”–those who publish, post, create, design, and share their work in public and semi-public forums and “consumers”–those who read, play, and learn from what other producers publish.

We explored the following questions in this week’s #Engchat in hopes of expanding the conversation about technology, digital writing, and equity:

1. Who are the producers and who are the consumers in your classroom or school?
2. Which students are more likely to have access to producing vs consuming?
3. What does the “digital divide” mean to you in your setting? Is it real or imagined?
4. How have you learned about tech and digital media? How does that translate to your students?
5. How does your school/district support you? How do you support yourself?
6. How do you share what you learn with your non-tech-savvy colleagues?
7. How can teachers help students use their own technology in ways that support in-school learning?
8. In what ways can digital writing tear down barriers to equity?

Read the conversation via the archive or start/continue your own here.