The Great Technology Divide

In reflection of a guest lecturer speaking on technology in the K-12 schools, it was emphasized how many teachers resist using new technology for their classes. Now more than ever, there is a wide variety of classroom tools, apps, and gadgetry that can be used to deliver content material. Certainly, it is much easier to use the good old, tried-and-true text books to deliver the same content year after year, decade after decade. In many of these books the work is even done for the teacher. Reading reflection responses are color coded in the margins in many of the teacher additions, with the review answers neatly organized. The time that it takes to search out which new classroom tool to learn, how to use it properly, and dealing with school resources or technology funding, are obviously some of the main hindrances for any teacher exploring new viable tools. With more bound books going to the wayside in libraries as they transition to Media Center/Maker Spaces, the end goal of having students develop 21st Century technology skills is becoming more relevant as the years pass. The irony is while the government pushes for students to be more college or career ready by the time they graduate, literacy rates have been on a steady decline in the last decade. Art classes, which have been deeply cut out of many school districts, offer the higher taxonomy of learning which require students to perform authentic tasks. These are the tasks which synthesize learning and allow students to invent, create, and collaborate.

With growing demands for technology jobs in many industries, students highly benefit from more exposure to science, technology, engineering, and computer classes. 21st Century life skills also require students to navigate an increasingly digital world. Students will not only need developed language skills, but visual and digital literacy in order to navigate their high tech future. This makes using technology in the classroom even more relevant in all K-12 classrooms.

Art teachers can use technology in the classroom by requiring students to use design software applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Tinkercad, Meshmixer, After Effects, and the list goes on. Students can be required to produce digital portfolios or graphic presentations representing their personal growth. This exposure to technology with the performance of authentic tasks will help build the prerequisite skills students need to enter college or a future career.

Grant writing and professional development can afford a sound resolution for school districts in order to bridge the great technology divide.