Equal Access...Is it really equal?

After doing a bit of research about equal access when it comes to technology in the classroom I found that it really comes down to two things: funding and professional development.  In order for teachers to provide an equal experience to all students in their classroom they need to know how to do that first.  Many times you hear teachers (who are less experienced in the technology world) say that they used technology by having their students word process the reports they have been working on in class.  Why don't you just drag out the typewriters and have the students use those because that's the extent of technology you incorporated into the classroom!  Don't get me wrong, students need the experience word processing documents, but using a class period or more to do this isn't really applicable any more.  

So how do we get teachers out of this mind frame and have them use technology more effectively?  We teach them!  What a novel idea!!  If we want our students to use technology appropriately we teach them how to use it (hopefully) but if we want our teachers to use technology what do we do?  We plop a computer in their classroom and say "here you go...use this!"  But there rarely is instruction on how to use the computers effectively and equally in the classroom.  The school districts need to hire people who know how to use the computers in the classroom effectively and they need to be able to convey this to teachers. This should not be the "tech guy" in the building, they have enough problems to worry about!  This should be someone who is paid to help teacher integrate technologies into the classroom that all students will have access to and an equal experience.  This should be part of every teacher's professional development, they should have to learn how to use the resources that are available to them.  If there is video conferencing materials at the school, utilize them!  If there are mobile carts with a class set of computers on it, use them not only for word processing, but for other things too... web quests, research methods,  digital storytelling, blogging, and voice threads.  These are resources that are very user friendly, are free and may not require the students to have internet access (if their parents will not allow them internet access).

The second problem with trying to give all students equal access is money.  Many districts can not afford to have computers in all classrooms and ones available to all students.   In order for all students to have equal access to technology a district needs to be able to provide that opportunity to the students, through funding, classes, and seat time.  If the students do not practice using the computers they will not be as skilled as using the computers as other students would be.

I look at an article called "Ensuring that Students Have Equal Access to Technology".  Check it out at this link:

http://tie.smartlibrary.org/newinterface/segment.cfm?segment=2349&question_id=26910&from_segment=2244