Educational Technology Access Issues

I found the article, How World Wide is the Web?, interesting because the description of trying to find Grandma in Kenya sums up how important hardware when considering technology in education.  Likewise, in our CTER 2 class I have heard many great technology ideas from teachers, but then they have to face the fact that there is only one or two computers to communicate these new ideas to their students. Of all the access problems mentions in this weeks reading assignments I believe many schools are still trying to get over the hurdle of not enough hardware and software.  The Northwest Educational Technology Consortium address this issue at the Web page entitled, Equity in Educational Technology.  The following chart from this site  suggest  how unequal access can come about.:

"The following assumptions, which are usually unconscious and unstated, often
     contribute to UNEQUAL ACCESS for different groups of students:
 
 

        1.Schools can't keep up with rapidly changing hardware and software; most
          students will learn what they need to know on the job.
        2.Most lower-income, ethnic minority, limited-English speaking or
          lower-achieving students will not proceed to higher education.
        3.We're doing okay because at least we're exposing those kids to some form of
          technology.
        4.All students are more or less equal in their ability to benefit from
          computer-based curricula. "
This site also contains a useful checklist to assist schools in identifying deficiencies in this area of access.  After this evaluation is done NWREL's site has a page full of strategies for addressing access inequities.
 

This issue of access was addressed in the March of 1997, "Report to the President on the Use of Technology".
This paper not only addresses the issue of lack of computer hardware, but makes the point that our older buildings were "wired for a filmstrip projector.  Sadly, it adds that "the vast majority of all American classrooms, however, are not even wired for telephones, much less networks and Internet onramps.  Even if these problems can be met,  Dr. Martha Stone Wiske, goes on to say that access to "educational content, and pedagogic models" through technology could still be limiting.

In conclusion I would add that access to educational technology mirrors access to educational materials in general.  Poor districts who can't afford to update textbooks will not be able to keep up with the changes in technology.  All the other issues of access, such as disabilities and sexual bias, will still be around.  Language, barriers and hearing disabilities can be improved through the use of technology.  In the end, the teacher in the classroom, will still play the most influential role to access to technology in the classroom, because the teacher uses all of these resources to create the lesson plans.  The teacher is still the gateway.