Blog Journal 4

My Twitter experience started in the beginning of high school around 9th grade. I remember seeing my friends on the app around me and I was curious was the purpose of the app was. I downloaded it on my laptop because I did not have a smartphone yet and browsed celebrities tweets. Ever since joining in high school I have created a close-knit community that I follow on my Twitter account. I follow my friends and sports athletes on the teams that I follow. Recently on my educational twitter account for this course I interact with educational content and technology accounts. I have been interacting with educators, professors, professionals and associations that tweet about their views on educational technology. Twitter might be helpful in my future career as a school psychologist by keeping up to date on the most recent research findings and conferences upcoming in my area. Twitter pages are created daily to notify people of upcoming psychology conferences and research symposiums.

The digital divide is the space between those who have ready access to computers and those who do not. The divide affects student success in schools especially in this decade. Teachers and professors are requiring students to complete schoolwork on their own time after class which is impossible without a computer available at home. For students who have access to computers when they are away from their educational institution, this is no issue; for those students who do not have access, this could lead to poor grades due to the inability to complete assignments at home. Some causes of the digital divide are socioeconomic status because those who cannot pay for a computer and Internet access is not able to use this kind of technology. Motivation is also a contributor to the digital divide because people who do not have the spare time to learn technology do not bother to educate themselves. Since people have lived without technology before, some don't see a need in using computers 24/7 and rather living in the moment and consuming paper materials. As a classroom teacher I expect to experience the digital divide at some level with my students. This will affect my teaching strategies by not having my students rely on computer and the Internet for completing their work at home. Rather I would assign homework given on paper or reading in physical books so students of all SES can earn the grades they deserve.

Academic software for students is designed to facilitate different types of educational processes. Two software tools that I would like to implement in my future classroom is Canvas and Microsoft Word. I find that having all of my courses listed in Canvas is very beneficial and keeps myself organized throughout the semester. Canvas is a great tool for teachers to post assignments and due dates for their students in an organized fashion. MS Word is another software that I would love to use with my students because it teaches a valuable life-skill of being competent in typing. MS Word is used everyday in my life and I see a value of teaching my students how to use this software.