Growing Pains: The Original Trials and Tribulations to Addressing the Technology Gap in Education and How It Has Affected Remote Learning Today

I was a second-year teacher when my school district decided to go all-in on the 1:1 computer initiative in and out of the classroom. The district I was teaching in was a low-income one, with more than 50 percent of the population being served rating at the poverty level. The 1:1 initiative meant every student would have access to an iPad at school and home. 

 

To say this evened out the technology gap in the district would be an understatement. Kids that didn’t even have an old desktop computer at home now could finally leap over the digital divide. Students were excited about what the future would hold with an iPad in their hands. 

 

It Was Not All Unicorns and Rainbows

The district experienced some severe growing pains during the 1:1 initiative in the first couple of years. For instance, they never thought too deeply about some of the troubles they were about to encounter.  

• Updates had to be done manually to every iPad
• Some kids were not responsible enough to take iPads home and would break them. Even though parents agreed originally to replacing broken iPads, trying to squeeze water out of a rock is not easy
• Funding was not present to keep the initiative going as it was financed through temporary grants, and the school refused to consider yearly technology fees
• Teachers had to change how they were presenting their lessons and were left to sink or swim on their own. (The district should have considered using iAchieve to present a technology workshop and further professional development.)
• Lack of true leadership at the administration level
• Devices such as iPads do not have true keyboards, so typing papers on them were difficult at best
• Apple devices are expensive!
• Viruses were present and questionable websites were not being blocked appropriately

Live and Learn

I would offer my own opinions to the administration on making the 1:1 initiative work better by the second year. As the Reading Specialist, though, they were not in any hurry to listen to my technology advice. Even as I tried to explain that I had nearly as much knowledge as the Tech person, they were paying a fair amount of money to be there part-time, they were not interested in changing their game plan.

 

A Funny Thing Happened

A couple of years later, another district offered me the position of being their Tech person as they approached doing the 1:1 initiative at their schools. I was looking for a temporary change and decided to commit. I had some ideas, and they liked what they were hearing. 

 

• Chromebooks were much less expensive, had their virus protection, and were easier to navigate with a keyboard. Chromebooks were better for our needs than iPads
• Google Docs is free to use, and documents are easy to share
• Establish a yearly $50 technology fee for every student to pay for maintenance and replacing damaged Chromebooks
• Can do updates and add apps to all Chromebooks at once without having to do it manually
• Establish workshops for how to approach technology in the classroom.

 

Fast Forward to Present Day

Remote learning was barely a glimmer in the eyes of the school districts back then. But just as we experienced growing pains when introducing the 1:1 movement around the country, we are experiencing growing pains during remote learning during the COVID quarantines. 

 

And just like we eventually conquered many of the problems associated with 1:1, we will eclipse the difficulties linked with remote learning as well. 

 

This is a new concept that was forced on many of us during unpleasant circumstances. As educators, we often have to make do with what is presented to us. And it may not seem like it at the moment, but just perhaps being introduced to remote learning before most of us were ready for it could have been one of the best things that have happened to education over the last couple of decades. 

 

It just may have introduced elementary and high schools to districts without borders. Students’ chance to take remote courses taught by educators hundreds or thousands of miles away is now a real possibility. It may have been exactly what education was needing!

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