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One of my goals as a teacher or digital learning coach is to fight for every student’s right to an equitable learning experience. During my graduate studies, I became aware of the digital divide in our nation and in the world at large. As the divide grows, it feeds new forms of digital discrimination. Think of the advantage some students will have if only the wealthy school districts can purchase one-to-one devices and state-of-the-art tech. But it is not just owning devices that will fix the problem. As digital education leaders, we need to push curriculum developers to design tools and content that fit the needs of all diverse learners. In my blog post, A Roadmap for Choosing New Technology, I suggest ways to test new tech with an equity mindset. For example, one of the best ways to see how the technology works is by letting students test it out. Assemble a pilot group that represents a diverse student population: high and low performing students, native English speakers and English learners, students participating in SPED, and from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Examine them closely to see how they are using the technology. Can they navigate the platform? Are they enjoying it? Is the language accessible to them? Can they access the technology from home? We also need to analyze student data from different angles to determine if it is widening equity gaps (Gonzalez, 2018). For example, is the technology helping the high performers, but meanwhile, the low performers are falling behind? While I personally am not writing curriculum or creating new technology, I do have an influence on what type of technology is being used in my classrooms and perhaps at a school or district level. I can start fighting for digital equity right where I am at. 

To read more about my work with this standard, you can use the drop-down menu above or the buttons below to navigate to a specific performance indicator.

Works Cited

Gonzalez, J. (2018, July 15). Quality-Check Your Tech: 6 Strategies. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/quality-check-your-tech/

ISTE Standards for Coaches (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.iste.org/standards/for-coaches