This week’s readings focused on two issues that are important to digital equity: (1) using technology to better educate young children and (2) bring more women into computer science programs. The reading in the Solomon text brought up many obstacles that are faced when administrators and educators are researching the effectiveness of ICT versus non-ICT environments. Much of the problem is accountability. It is really difficult to monitor the progress of each student in the classroom without having a good reporting system in place. The data recording depends primarily on the teacher’s reporting and somewhat on standardized test results. I know that from a high school perspective, I teach six classes a day and have over 125 students. The time it takes just to grade papers is a lot, but to add in other duties such as individualizing reports for each student seems a monumental task. Plus, having teachers who have been trained in using a particular technology is difficult to achieve, too. Really dedicated teachers struggle because of how much they do all the time for their schools and their students; ill-prepared teachers don’t have the expertise to balance this kind of recordkeeping. I propose placing paraeducators into classrooms where this kind of recordkeeping is needed and where teachers are trying to teach students to use a new technology. Having an extra set of hands in the classroom can make a world of difference.

Regarding the gap in computer science programs, I believe that the root of the problem is a perception problem.  When I was taking computer programming classes, there were a few women in the program, and the attitude of most of the professors and many of the men in the class was one of arrogance.  Women don’t like being a part of a program where their efforts are not appreciated or rewarded.  So are the men driving the women from the field?

The silicon ceiling article points out that females need to become interested in computer science fields in junior high or high school in order to increase the number of women who become computer scientists in the future.  I believe that it needs to happen in the elementary grades.  Females should be taught that computer science is not just about programming video games, that it is about creating productivity tools to make it a better workplace.  With this attitude, more women are likely to join the computer science bandwagon.

The spread of the Internet and communication means is closing the digital divide just as it is united our world into a global society.  As years go by, the have-nots are becoming more and more the haves while the haves are just moving on to different and more sophisticated toys.  One upon a time, not many people had telephones, now over 93% of the country does.  Ten years ago, cell phones were a luxury item, today most people have some sort of cell phone.