No!+The+DD+is+not+relevant+to+teaching+today.

 **  //Is the digital divide a relevant issue for teachers today? NO!// by:   ** **   Carol Nahachewsky **      // Once upon a time there was a **DIGITAL DIVIDE **. It bullied the administrators. It coerced the teachers. It gobbled up the students. It robbed North Americans of power. It tore generations and communities apart. It was ugly, and it was horrible. But don't worry, don't fret, don't fuss...it's fixed now. Go to sleep. I won't let the gap get you, dear. //     Yes, there once was a divide in digital education in Canada, but it's a non-issue now. A bit of information on **//Wikipedia//** reminded me that there is always a divide when a technology is new - "Technology gaps are relatively transient; hence the digital divide should soon disappear in any case. The knowledge of computers will become less important as they get smarter and easier to use. In the future people will not need high-tech skills to access the Internet and participate in e-commerce or e-democracy      ." This 2001 expectation that gaps are short-lived was reiterated in //**The Digital Divide in Canada**// by George Sciadas in 2002. Sciadas reported that "[t]he divide is generally closing, but the gap between the highest and the lowest incomes persists. However, this is quite consistent with many technologies in their early stages of adoption and it remains true that the rate of growth of Internet use at lower incomes is higher than that of the higher incomes" (p. 6).
 * Digitally Undivided **

I do believe we have been growing with digital technologies long enough now, that programs are easier to use (it took me 5 minutes to set up a ning, for instance - and I'm not even a //digital native//!). Websites such as **Voicethreads, Wikispaces, Blogger, One True Media, YouTube, TeacherTube** and **PodOmatic** make Web 2.0 tools inviting and easy for classroom teachers and school librarians to explore and use with their students. One might argue that our schools have successfully bridged the gap, and teachers and learners can now traverse to the other side, if they so desire.

Likewise, in //**The Digital Divide in Canadian Schools**,// Looker and Thiessen comment that, "There is support for the argument that the heavy investments made into providing computers in the schools has exposed most if not all Canadian youth to ICT. Most feel comfortable with and competent using computers and other forms of ICT." (p. 25) This comfort with ICT is definitely what I observed during my last teaching assignment, and is commented on in the following section.

<span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> ** You are Here - a Personal View ** In my own experience as a teacher librarian for a k - 9 school in Winnipeg last year, I did not witness a digital divide in terms of materials or skills. We had technology in every classroom - computers and mounted LCD projectors. We had digital cameras to loan in our library. Students and teachers used the net to communicate, research, collaborate and teach. The grade 9's created podcasts and a digital video on our school-wide Greenspace Project. The grade 7's had a class set of laptops. The grade 8's did a unit on film documentaries. The senior students in our school interviewed younger reading buddies about their concerns for the environment. The Grade 2's presented a slideshow about nutrition at an assembly. Our EAL/ESL students across the grades made a slideshow presentation about love and friendship in their own languages and also shared it at our school assembly. Students and teachers were engaging with technology, and were excited to do so. Teachers who were not quite exploring Web 2.0 tools with their students, were immersed in a culture of technology. They witnessed the modeling of digital education by other teachers and students, and were experiencing the early emergent stages of their own technology use. Our principal communicated with staff every morning with a mass e-mail to share information such as guests in the school, reminders of on-going projects, informtation about new students, etc. It was a routine for all of us to check our e-mail to read "the Mager News" before the beginning of each school day. I would say over half of the staff are communicating on Facebook outside of school.

In late Spring we received a grant to provide laptops for the grade 4 to 6 classes as well. Two of our teachers were sent to a conference in the United States to learn how to best utilize the laptops in their teaching. These teachers were leaders in the school, and I know that their enthusiasm for teaching and learning was felt by those around them. Teachers who were less comfortable with the technology will continue to take emergent steps to become more comfortable with it. To say there is currently a divide between learners and teachers is a disservice to what is actually happening in our schools.

Somewhere in the rush to close the perceived Digital Divide, many of us have set aside our own critical thoughts on the subject of being wired. The notion that being connected was going to save our youth and provide them with essential skills was being pushed upon us. The following video shows an interview clip with Shireen Mitchell, executive of //Digital Sisters// and President of //Community Technology Centers' Network//. This recent clip (2008) is entitled **//The Digital Divide Still Exists and its Worse than we Know//.** media type="youtube" key="u3ibP7cU0dQ" height="344" width="425" I would like you to take note of the rhetoric that is used to try to persuade the viewer; Mitchell says, "We need to accept the fact that there is a digital divide...most people believe it's more on an international level . . . If we talk about 29 million people - if we said it was some disease, we would think it was an epidemic and do something about it. . . ."  <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">While this argument is clever and persuasive, I found it troubling that Mitchell likens not being digitally connected to a dangerous epidemic. Nobody will die if they don't experience Facebook. Nobody will suffer if they don't have an i-pod. It is foolhardy to think that digital technology will make us better people. These technologies are fun, exciting, motivating, engaging, but the lack of access to them is not life threatening. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">An interesting and recent view of computer technology is presented in //**The Dragon in the School's Backyard: A Review of Literature on the Uses of Technology in Urban Schools** by Terry T. Kidd:// "The introduction of technology into classrooms during the 1980s was heralded by many as the dawn of a new era in American education. Proponents argued that technology had the potential to fundamentally transform the nature of teaching and learning. However, over time, this dream became a nightmarish reality. Likewise, educators concerned about the chronic underachievement of urban learners often fell prey to the allure of technology as a tool for reversing the historical influences of poverty, discrimination, inequity, chronic underachievement, and lack of opportunity. However, twenty-five years after the introduction of the computer into the classroom, many of the expectations associated with technology in education remain unrealized" (p. 88 <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">). <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">These pressures to buy-in to computer technology and training were reminiscent of the "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality. I worry that with all of our attention focused on debating the existence of the digital divide - we have been neglecting some very real issues affecting our students such as homelessness, drug addictions, mental illness, poverty. . . . At the risk of sounding glib, I must say, you can't sleep beneath a laptop, and a desktop won't feed your children. Yes, digital technology is exciting for those who are using it - but computer access is not a basic need and should never be presented as such.
 * A Balance is Needed - Are we Creating Another Divide? **

Why do we believe that //everybody// has to be wired? Who made up this rule? As a society we need people/workers/leaders who don't see technology as the be all and end all of our modern civilization. We want care workers who know how to communicate with our loved ones in nursing homes. We want pediatricians who can look us in the eye and explain in plain language how they can treat our child's illness. We want coaches who are good role models for physical fitness as well as mental well-being. Yes, we want our kids to be creative and critical thinkers who can collaborate and communicate safely with the global village (if they choose to) - but it is also important to be well balanced mentally, physically and spiritually.

In //**Digital Nativism Digital Delusions and Digital Deprivation**//, Jamie McKenzie makes us aware that there may be a negative side to the digital push. He says, "Childhood is shifting inside. Some fear the consequences of sensory deprivation over the long haul with excessive exposure to things digital. A Digital Waste Land <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">is a poor substitute for the rich flavors, smells and touches of the real world. Leading psychologists have signaled their concern in reports like **//Fool's Gold//. Facebook, Myspace and Second Life** are poor substitutes for face to face communities and the playground".

One wonders, in trying to repair one gap, have we created others?


 * Conclusion **

<span style="font-size: 130%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> I have argued here that the Digital Divide is not relevant in our schools today. I have also drawn attention to our need to step back and re-evaluate the continuing pressures placed on our schools to be digitally connected. I would like to also reiterate my belief that these digital practices are emergent. If, as a teacher, you buy into this emergent stage as a digital divide then you are giving up responsibility and possibilities. There is no beginning and no end in digital learning - we locate ourselves where we choose too. There will always be change, so there's no point in resigning ourselves to be on another side of a divide. Change is happening. The divide only exists in terms of perception. It also needs to be an acknowledged that these practices are valuable, and definitely have a place within a well-balanced classroom or library. If we stop being obsessed with a digital divide between teachers and learners, then there's a possibility for coming together and for social constructivist learning to take place. It's not learning in opposition to, or along a divide, it's learning with others - regardless of what level of digital practices you are using. <span style="font-size: 130%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="font-size: 130%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">So, our focus as educators isn't about a divide, it's about emerging with these new technologies. It should be about continuing to grow. We're in the middle of this story of understanding digital literacies, and it's not terribly helpful to believe there is a chasm between teacher and learner, because what these technologies afford is the possibility of students to be teachers, and teachers to be learners. <span style="font-size: 130%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-size: 130%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">We need to proceed along the path, but seek a balance along the way. We must realize that digital is only one of many aspects of education.