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Digital Equity and the Lazy Days of Summer
by Tamara Haspels

The Digital Equity Portal (http://digitalequity.edreform.net/), funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, identifies the necessary criteria to ensure that technology is used effectively in the classroom, thereby, ensuring digital equity. The following categories have been identified as necessary criteria for achieving digital equity through education:

1. Students and educators must be able to create their own digital content.
2. Educators must be skilled in using these resources for teaching.
3. Schools must be able to access quality digital material.
4. The digital material must be culturally relevant.
5. Technology resources such as computers, software and internet connectivity must be accessible to educators and students.

Technology is increasingly accessible to educators and students in the classroom. According to the Benton Foundation’s new EdTech report, "The Sustainability Challenge", "educators may be making more progress in providing access to technology than in figuring out how to use it as a learning tool" (http://www.benton.org/Library/sustainability/sus_challenge.html.  Before culturally relevant material can be identified and before students and educators can be expected to create their own digital content, however, one key component of digital equity must be addressed: educators must be skilled in using these resources for teaching.

The same report identified a list of the top ten actions necessary to sustain an infrastructure of technology in schools. Among these ten actions, the top two are to "accelerate teacher professional development" (in the use of technology) and to "'professionalize' technical support" in schools.

In many states, including Pennsylvania, curriculum standards include standards for technology. Some degree of technical proficiency is increasingly required throughout the 50 states for educators to receive or renew a teaching certificate. However, according to a report published in Education Week, entitled "New Challenges: Overview of State Data Tables", many "teachers said they were not given enough time outside their regular teaching duties to learn, practice, or plan how to use computers and other technologies" (http://www.edweek.org/sreports/tc01/tc01article.cfm?slug=35challenges.h20).

Teachers with the inclination to become more proficient with computers and wishing to identify quality and culturally relevant classroom materials can consider “surfing” this summer. While looking for classroom content, consider looking for ways the computer can be used to enhance learning by providing new ways for students to envision and apply what they are learning. The following websites help web surfers become better acquainted with the computer and the internet:

The Museum of Modern Technology
These animated computer tutorials, produced in part by the Microsoft Corporation, cover topics on the world wide web, email, networks and operating systems. The tutorials are comprehensive and easy for anyone to understand, regardless of skill level.
http://www.actden.com/skills2k/

Beginner’s Central
Comprehensive explanations of a variety of computer tasks and internet use including off-line operations and file downloading, configuring email, myths of the internet and ftp.
http://northernwebs.com/bc/

Teachervision.com
Scott Foresman's Internet Guide explains the basic components of the internet, especially for teachers. The explanations use diagrams and are designed to be printable.
http://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plans/lesson-6007.html

Buzzwords
Stay one step ahead of your students and know the technological buzzwords.
http://www.tekmom.com/buzzwords/

The following websites can help you identify quality content on the internet:

Evaluating Internet Resources
Tips on conducting research on the Internet.
http://library.albany.edu/internet/research.html

Finding Bias in Research
http://www.ascd.org/pdf/rb_bias1.pdf

Questions for Evaluating Research:
http://www.ascd.org/pdf/rb_bias2.pdf

The following websites have a variety of resources for educators:

Digital Equity Portal
http://digitalequity.edreform.net/

The Schoolhouse
http://www.onr.com/schoolhouse/is.html

Digital Education Resources
http://www.digital-sistas.org/education.shtml

And finally, never underestimate the power of Google, http://www.google.com/, to find exactly what you may be looking for, as well as all the things you may have wanted but never knew existed.