Journal 6

"Social Justice: Choice or Necessity?" By Colleen Swain and David Edyburn
The authors of this article are debating whether the use of technology in the classroom should be a personal choice or mandatory. They support the fact that the use of instructional technology as a social justice tool could help diminish the acheivement gap. The authors begin by defining social justice as "how the good and bad things in life should be distributed among the members of a human society". They further state that access to technology is only the first step, students need to be technologically fluent as well. Those students that aren't competent and comfortable are certainly at a disadvantage when it comes to future employment opportunities. One statistic that supports this opinion is that at least 80% of all jobs in the next two decades will require workers to be technologically fluent. Also, admission standards for incoming freshmen at universities continue to rise and students that are behind in the tech department are already starting at a disadvantage compared to other more prepared students.
The article provides five dimensions of digital equality:
1. Access to learning technology resources.
2. Access to high quality digital content.
3. Access to high quality, culturally relevant content.
4. Educators skilled in using these resources effectively for teaching and learning.
5. Opportunities for learners and educators to create their own content.
The authors agree that there are many instances of poor technology use happening in our classrooms today and that the proper implementation from a social justice perspective must include:
- availibility
- used routinely
- used in ways that reflect real-world applications of interest, complexity and power
- used to enhance learning opportunities for all students
- used to monitor teacher/students progress over time
The authors suggest keeping a journal to document the ways that instructional technology is used in their classroom. They also stress the importance of providing meaningful interaction with their students and allowing students to gear technology use toward their particular learning style. Surveying students on a regular basis will also help to ensure that they are staying up-to-date with their technological knowledge.

1. How can I be sure my students have equal access to technology in my classroom? Not all students have computers at home and it would be my job to figure out who those students are and make sure they know where to go for alternate access like public libraries, computer lab at the school, etc.
2. Should the use of technology in the classroom be a personal choice? No, I definitely think it should be a mandatory requirement and there should be some sort of standards system at each grade level to ensure that we are preparing our students for the future.