The digital divide refers to the gap between areas and demographics that have access to modern technology and those who do not, or who have limited access.

Digital inequality does not specifically refer to those who do not have access to modern technology, but more to those who may have access but lack the skills, equipment, or knowledge to use modern technology effectively.

The digital divide is about the difference between those who have access to modern technology and those who do not, so lack of access. Digital inequality is more about not having the skills, equipment, or knowledge to effectively use modern technology. In this case someone has access to technology but is unable to use it because they are not familiar with how to use it, unlike those who have had access and time to acquire the skills that let them make the most of technology.

In the school district I work for, which is in poverty-stricken rural area, technology is something that administration is pushing on us. A bond was passed which allows for every student in grades K-12 to have their own iPad, over 18,000 in all. This is a great thing, but it also comes with it's issues. Some of the issues that I would like to discuss are lack of training, lack of manpower and resources, and economic issues.

I am new to this school district, and I started teaching over a month into the school year with a class that was thrown together from other classes, so I don't know what happened in terms of training over the summer and at the beginning of the year, but I do know that in October a cart full of iPads was wheeled into my room, and chained to the floor. I was not trained at all in how to use the iPads, how to incorporate them into my curriculum, how to install apps and what usernames/passwords to use for my students. I was not told anything. I have spoken with other staff members and it sounds like they were not really given training either. If staff members do not know how to use iPads or the expectations for how they are to be used in the classroom the iPads are not going to be effective learning tools.

18,000 iPads means lots of technical issues. Lots of technical issues means we need lots of people to help fix those issues. We currently do not have those people. It takes forever for anything to happen when it comes to fixing technology. My class set of iPads sat in that cart for 4 months before I received chargers for them, so we couldn't use them. As it is, 5 months later, I only have 10 chargers for 22 iPads. I still don't have an iPad for me either, which makes it hard for me to show my second graders how to use theirs. If we are expected to use the iPads on a daily basis then when something goes wrong with one we need to make sure we have enough people to get that iPad fixed quickly.

We also do not have access to stable resources. Last year there were major issues with bandwidth. My district was sharing bandwidth with two neighboring school districts. Once the iPads started rolling out usage went way up, and my district was hogging all of the bandwidth. Since then the district has figured out how to work around the bandwidth sharing, but our internet access still is not reliable. Last week everyone was asked to be online from 8:30-10:30 to make sure that when state testing comes around we don't break the internet. Since the district is in a rural area it is hard to get dependable service, and there have been many days where there was no internet at all.

"Cross national comparisons of price show that Americans pay between ten and twenty
times as much, on a megabit basis, as consumers in Korea and Japan pay." (Cooper, 2004). I work in an area where poverty is pretty much the norm. Most of my students do not have internet access at home because their families can't afford it. The fact that the area is also rural means that there are not many reliable options for internet, and it makes service even more expensive. Most students do not have computers at home either, so the only time they have access to technology is when they are at school.

These problems can be solved in many different ways, and some of them are actually already being looked at. These are some solutions that can help my school district make the most out of the iPads and the amazing learning tools that they can be.

I think that one of the most beneficial things that my district can do is to make sure that staff members have training to effectively use the iPads in their classrooms. This goes back to the whole if you give a man a fish he will eat for a day, if you teach him to fish he will eat for life philosophy. Just giving staff members technology does not make it a great learning tool. Teaching staff how to use the technology, and how to get the most out of it, will make the technology a great learning tool.

It would also be very helpful if the district would give staff members guidelines or a framework for how they would like the iPads to be used in our classrooms. That way staff districtwide can be on the same page and there will be more consistency. I like having freedom, but some direction would be helpful.

To solve the issue of things moving slowly in the technology department ideally the district would hire more technology people, or hire people specifically for technology-related jobs. Many of the technology people are regular classroom teachers and are then required to take on technology on top of that. This would guarantee that students would not have to go long periods of time without their iPads if they have a problem. Stable resources (especially internet access) would also really help.

To help overcome the economic issue the district has looked at a few solutions. One solution that is beginning to be put in place is taking the district school buses and making them into wifi hotspots and parking them around the school district in the evenings, since they are not in use at that time. That way students who live in these neighborhoods that do not usually have internet access will be able to use the internet from their home. This would be especially helpful for the middle and high school students since they are allowed to take the iPads home. Elementary students are only allowed to use them at school. While this is a good solution I think there are only a couple buses with the equipment so far, hopefully the numbers will increase.

It is important to address the issues of digital divide and digital inequality in the classroom because we rely on technology so much in this day and age that students who do not learn how to use it or have access to it will be at a disadvantage later on in life. Everyone deserves access to the great learning tool that technology can be, regardless of where they live or their socioeconomic status.