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How Do We Address the Needs of Kids Without Mobile Access? April 4, 2011 | 3:00 PM | By Tina Barseghian * DIGITAL DIVIDE FILED UNDER: Tech Tools, achievement gap, digital-divide, mobile-learning * Leave a comment * * Share4 * Email Post * Link to this post Flickr:Shlala The $64,000 question in education: Does access to mobile technology actually help close the achievement gap? Bill Ferriter, a sixth-grade teacher in North Carolina, has been thinking about this issue, and writing about it on his blog, The Tempered Radical. In this recent post, he addresses a question from one of his readers, who sites Ferriter's source, about how to address the needs of the minority of kids who don't have mobile access? "75% of students are good to go, but do you just leave the other 25% to "fin for themselves", leave them out of the equation all together, or do you do something to supplement such as the school providing a temporary cell phone" the reader asks. Here's his response. One of the stumbling blocks to almost every reform initiative in schools is our stubborn refusal to move forward until the conditions are perfect for change. The result: Change never happens.

This is in the beginning stages but here is my offer to the staff of Kent (2nd version, thanks to Jeff Utecht): * I will provide you with an extra prep per week ("A Fed Ex Prep") for 6 straight weeks. This would be prep-free for you as I would prep whichever subject the you would like. The time is also negotiable (ie. if you would rather have 2 periods a week for 3 weeks). * This time will be self-directed to ANYTHING you want with the only goal that you must DELIVER your ideas. * I also encourage you to use one of your professional days to provide further time (teachers in our district, under their contract are provided with a few extra pro-d days to use if they wish). What this is NOT: * time for marking, prepping current curricula, refining current projects/units/program This will be presented to my staff Tuesday. I will let you know how teachers respond and what comes out of this. I encourage others to comment with any feedback on how we can improve on this "FedEx or Innovative Prep" initiative. If you are doing something similar in your school, I would loved to hear about it.

Online Resources for Parents & Educators. Learn how to be a better parent, teacher or caregiver to the "digital natives" in your life and gain the knowledge and skills for understanding, analyzing and participating in our technology-infused world. Learn how to be a better parent, teacher or caregiver to the "digital natives" in your life and gain the knowledge and skills for understanding, analyzing and participating in our technology-infused world.

How to explain social bookmarking to faculty, parents, students

Living in a Digital Age provides guidelines: Technological change in education, particularly in how our students receive, interact with and respond to the learning experience means we are facing the largest transformation that the teaching profession has ever seen. Teachers, students and parents are increasingly using digital technologies to teach, learn and communicate, challenging the traditional concept of a school. Schools and early childhood settings are now broader than the walls of a classroom. Schools need to assist students to develop the skills required for critical evaluation, online collaboration and communication and behaviours which support the safe, responsible and ethical use of digital technology - essential to participating in life and work in the 21st century. The following critical advice is the result of DEECD research projects carried out over the past three years by Victorian teachers participating in trials and/or pilots within the Innovation and Next Practice Division. The advice should be considered when using social media tools.

"Policies are principles or rules that are intended to shape decisions and actions. They provide the framework for the functioning of the organization. Procedures are the ways that organizations implement policies. Policies answer the "what" and "why" questions. Procedures answer the "how," "who," and "when" questions. Policies are expressed in broad terms; procedures in more specific behavioral or operational terms. Since procedures need to be more flexible to adapt to changing conditions in the organization, it is useful to differentiate policies from procedures so that procedural modifications can be made in a timely manner-often without board action. "

A best practices example of how to use smartphones in a parent meeting.

So what does a mobile devices environment look like? How will the students and teachers react? Is it the right direction to go? Five steps to keep in mind as we implement the Connected Learning Community Initiative - an education, not technologies initiative.

The National Writing Project's Elyse Eidman-Aadahl talks about how new digital tools are extending our ability to tell stories and to communicate across time and space.

The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, constructive, goal directed (i.e., reflective), authentic, and collaborative (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003). The TIM associates five levels of technology integration (i.e., entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation) with each of the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments.

Explains how to effectively manage a student's digital footprint without limiting their learning opportunities. Some useful ideas for policies.