Socioeconomics and Technology in the Classroom

How do lower socioeconomic schools utilize technology in the classroom? When classroom time is the only time that many students get to use computers, is that resource used to its full potential?
Overview of Research and Findings: -Lower income students are found to use computers more frequently compared to higher income students, however the classrooms consisting of lower income students use the computers for more basic, repetitive practices. -Technology inequities will continue to exist in America. -Teachers have to be adequately trained to incorporate technology into their classrooms, especially for those students who only use technology during school hours. -For teachers of low-income students, access to technology was one of the largest limitations to teaching resources. -Only 22% of students in households making $20,000 or less have access to computers at home.
This graphic shows us that a schools budget is the biggest barrier for accessing technology in the classroom. PBS states that In low-income communities, this is an even greater challenge as 70 percent of teachers reported it as the greatest obstacle. Low income communities also have less parent and school board support. 38% of affluent schools noted high parent/school board support while only 13% of low-income schools noted this.

Answer to my question: The obvious answer to my question was that teachers of low-income students had less access to technology. However, for those students, school still granted them more access technology than in the home. Teachers need to be trained and confident in the technology in their classroom in order to maximize the skills their students acquire with technology in school.

These charts from PBS show that despite the actual access to technology, the students are still limited because the teachers are not equipped with a higher level of technology. Surprisingly 91% of teachers have access to personal computers but only 22% of these teachers know how to utilize this technology in the classroom.

Implications for my teaching: -It will be important to understand the technology that my students have access to outside of the classroom. -I will need to be trained and confident in the technology in my classroom so that students can use that technology in a sophisticated and intellectually engaging manner. I will need to continue to search for ways to incorporate technology into my lessons in creative ways, especially as a teacher of low-income students. I will need to work with students that need additional computer time outside of the classroom that do not have access at home.
Madison Wharton 3/17/2014