Education and the Digital Divide :: essays papers

Education and the Digital Divide Closing the digital divide involves many components, starting with the education program and teachers. While schools are integrating new technologies into their programs, teachers are supposed to keep up with the latest technologies and use them in their curriculum to teach students. According to a U.S. Department of Education Report (1999), only 24 percent of new teachers felt sufficiently prepared to integrate technology into the curriculum they were using (Brogan, 2000). The problem is, many teachers did not grow up with computers and are not receiving the training they need to operate them (Brogan, 2000). Starting work as early as 7 a.m. and leaving school as late as 5 p.m. to go home and do even more work, leaves teachers lacking the time to learn new technological skills. Many schools offer training programs for teachers. For example, the Palm Beach County, Florida school district teaches Web basics for teachers at middle schools and magnet schools (Brogan, 2000). This i s a great idea because it is giving teachers the opportunity to learn about technology and it is showing that the school district is interested in helping its employees become better at what they do. Andy Carvin states â€Å" internet access in schools isn’t worth a hill of beans if teachers aren’t prepared to take full advantage of technology† (2000). Schools spend a lot of money on computer hardware and software as well as other technologies without realizing that many of their employees are unprepared to include them in their teaching and use them to their advantages. Educators often use technology as a classroom management tool rather than an educational one, allowing computer time as a reward for good behavior (Clark & Gorski, 2001). The problem with this is that students learn to use the computer for games and such because it is their reward instead of using it on their own time for educational purposes. This is teaching them the wrong idea. Margaret Honey, director of the Center for Children and Technology in NYC said it best, â€Å"The bottom line is, you don’t just put technology into schools or into homes and expect miracles to happen. The technology is only as good as the program that surrounds it† (Meyer, 2002, p.2). â€Å"Education is probably the most important issue that affects the ability to benefit from technology.