Watertown 1 to 1

Last night I hosted our first “Thursday Chat.” We have had few colleagial discussions about the technology we are using and I wanted to provide a forum. Present at the discussion were 7 educators and (to my great surprise) 4 students. The students are members of my Student Laptop committee.

The general topic was the young South Korean student who used his cell phone to get answers for his math assignments and our discussion was open and friendly. Is the Korean student making clever use technology and his social networks? Or is he cheating? We talked about this for an hour. I don’t know if the participants felt that it was an hour well spent or not - I hope to find out today. I certainly enjoyed the opportunity.

For me, however, the most intriguing exhange happend 5 minutes into the discussion when one of the students said,

“I don’t use Facebook to cheat. But I do use it to get help on my homework.”

The teacher sitting next to her said, “What’s facebook?”

And it occurred to me that one of the problems in a 1 to 1 laptop program is what I will call the “New Digital Divide.” The “Old” digital divide is the gap between the haves and the have nots. About 40% of American school children don’t have computer access at home. The digital divide is one of the arguments offered in our city for becoming a 1 to 1 school. Now all of our students have a computer all of the time.

The New Digital Divide is the gap between a teacher’s understanding of technology and and his or her students’ understanding. And I think the gap needs to be closed.

I have tried to educate my fellow teachers on the learners that fill our halls and rooms every day. I held an information session on social networks a couple weeks ago. I even showed those present what facebook looks like. For many, it was the first time they’d seen it.

Earlier this week, I held a sessions on the millenial learner. I’m not sure how cogent my presentation was but my goal was to get teachers to think about the possibility that their teenaged learners learn differently than they do.

A majority of the teachers in our school who didn’t attend no doubt had good intentions. When I was in the classroom, preparation, grading and working with students were always my priorities.

I fear, however, that there was something more keeping people from attending. Consider this comment from a colleague: “What’s with all this talk about the learner? When are you going to present something I’m interested in? When are you going to teach us something practical?”

Frankly, I think this teacher is very interested in the learner but I also think that he thinks his students learn just like he did. I also think his use of technology is in some ways much less sophisticated that of his students.

Who’s at fault for the New Digital Divide? Finding fault isn’t the issue. The issue is: How do we close the gap?