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Technology, Learning, and Equity Issues

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U.S. IMPACT Study - Public Library Toolbox. Print Toolbox Items The toolbox contains information about the research and sample documents you can customize to communicate to your local community the need for library funding and support, and to show the role libraries play in making technology available to all people. To enhance the efficacy of these documents, we have left spaces where you can insert data from your custom library report. We also recommend interviewing your own public access computer users and including their stories in key places in the documents. The following templates and sample documents can be found in the toolbox files: US IMPACT Study Research overview: Provides an overview of the research on the national level in non-technical terms. Making Connections: We Can Help You With That!

ITC - Understand Assistive Technology - Integrating Technology In The Classroom. Vinay Venkatraman: “Technology crafts” for the digitally underserved. Technology Gives Students with Disabilities Access to College Courses. Program Coordinator Jennifer Lang-Jolliff (green sweater) speaks about Mission Middle College program with guest Michael Yudin, seated on right. Last week, I met with a group of high school students with learning disabilities who attend a dual-enrollment high school/college program at Mission Middle College in Santa Clara, California. The program emphasizes the use of technology, including the Bookshare accessible library, to help students earn college credit while still in high school. The Mission Middle College educational program is a collaboration of Santa Clara Unified School District and Mission Community College. The program takes on a student-centered learning environment where seniors can complete required high school courses while accumulating college credits.

Each student focuses on individual educational choices and academic and vocational studies relevant to future goals. The students I met are members of Bookshare, a free and federally funded online library from the U.S. Educationnorthwest. Ensuring Equitable Use of Education Technology. ISSUE: When a school or district decides to implement education technology into the curriculum, one of its overriding goals must be to create plans and policies for all members of the learning community to have equitable access and use.

Appropriate funding and professional development represent the key means of supporting equitable access and use of technology to ensure technology literacy and to support meaningful learning for all students. OVERVIEW: Even before high-technology applications began appearing in some U.S. schools, learning opportunities were not the same for all students. Students who are already at risk of educational failure often attend schools that provide fewer opportunities for meaningful learning. The development of high-technology learning tools holds promise for leveling the playing field and ensuring equity in educational opportunity for all students in all schools.

Education technology has the potential to provide equal learning opportunities in several ways.