The Education Technology Gap — Project Good Work
This month I wanted to dive deeper into technology and education, so I reached out to Dr. Courtney Teague, a passionate educator to discuss the digital technology gap. Dr. Teague is an executive coach, speaker, professor, chief learning officer, and author. Currently, she is an adjunct professor at Thomas University and the chief learning technology officer at Icarus Consulting and C7 Enterprise. As the author of How to win students and inspire them: The Only Book You Need To Transform Your Classroom, she has facilitated the development of many great teachers. In her many roles, Dr. Teague is committed to advancinglifelong learning and fueling the disruption of traditional learning experiences.
My interview with Dr. Courtney Teague
According to the ACT Center for Equity in Learning, the digital divide in education is the gap between those with sufficient knowledge of and access to technology and those without. Examining the divide requires looking at who can connect to what and how they do so.
As teachers use more technology in their courses, this divide increases and perpetuates socioeconomic disparities for underserved populations. About 17 percent of students cannot complete their homework due to their limited access to the internet. Additionally, according to the Education Trust, 50 percent of low-income families and 42 percent of families of color don’t have the technology required for online education. ( American University)
The Digital Learning Gap, How Did We Get Here?
We got here by placing education on the back burner. The value of public education didn’t exist. When you look at money from the government, you look at policies. The policies have been created but not funded. I think people went through the actions, our politicians, our business leaders. They went through the steps of developing policies and having specific corporate social responsibility programs, but they didn’t truly fund it. 2020 COVID provided an opportunity for us to see what was happening; it pulled the sheets off the bed of education. For years as a teacher, I’ve worked in various districts; I’ve seen how funding was split but not given to certain schools. It wasn’t equitable. The lack of equity and equality is why we are currently in our state because we did not value our students.
Expanding on Dr. Teague’s answer the National School Board Association notes the lack of value, equity, and equality in schools is most prominent in high-poverty areas where 45% of students are black.
It seems to be a highly known fact that most Americans who can afford it try to seek out private schools or neighborhoods with public schools that have high-ranking test scores to ensure the best education for their children. Many people know that schools in these areas are underfunded for many reasons and do not have the same resources as other public schools. This lack of funding has created a wide gap in how students in disadvantaged schools experience education.
Is funding the biggest hurdle to changing America’s approach to education?
Initially, it was funding, but now it’s the perception. People who make the rules and the policies either don’t have a clear understanding of what it takes to teach, or they clearly don’t understand what powerful teaching and learning look like because our system is antiquated. It’s not reflective of where we currently are as a society.
To back Dr. Teague’s explanation that it is more than funding, Teachers College at Columbia University, in an article for Newsday, notes, We are distracted by a divisive debate over whether children are less well-prepared academically than in the past. We are focused on how much we may have lost rather than how much we need to gain if our youngsters will succeed in the future. The nation has rightly recognized that education is troubled, particularly in urban and rural areas. Poll after poll shows better schools among the public’s highest priorities.
One of the common areas that get pointed out time and time again by parents is that they feel that the problem with the schools is the teachers. Many teachers respond by pointing out the changing landscape of families, student health, parent involvement, technology, poverty, and classroom sizes.
Dr. Teague explained to me what had changed.
How have expectations changed for teachers in the last ten years?
We’re going to ruffle some feathers here. Yes, expectations have changed. Teachers are just like doctors; you’re practitioners; you have the minds of our youths in your hands. We want medical doctors to be up to date with the best practices. Teachers should be held accountable for professional learning and staying up to speed with the best tools to be the best teacher possible. COVID shined a light on teachers who were not technologically proficient, but that is a teacher’s responsibility. You should stay ahead of the curve as a teacher; you should engage in professional learning. I’m a professor, I still must continue to learn. And when you become a teacher, you take an informal oath or an oath to be a lifelong learner. So it is their responsibility and the school’s responsibility to provide the opportunity for the teacher to learn and implement their learnings. I believe in professional learning, which is ongoing, not just take a workshop and go on your merry way, but learning is endless.
How can teachers keep up with the changes in technology?
Originally published at https://www.projectgood.work on October 5, 2021.
