Equity in Education

LIBE 477: It’s the End of the Course As We Know It

emadsen3 Comments

How many times do teachers say to themselves, “I can’t believe it’s December already!” 

Well, I can’t believe it’s December already.

It has been an insane school year so far. After 24 years of teaching and becoming (somewhat) comfortable and confident, I jumped off a cliff and joined a new district, a new school and signed on to a program with new pedagogy, new technology, new courses, new assessment practice and new structures. And I took this course. Insane.

However, the bright spot has been how much my course learning has complemented my professional life. I had to blog in this course. I had to teach blogging to my students. I had to create a digital artifact for my final project. I am having my kids create digital artifacts. I am learning about the role of a teacher librarian while being mentored by a teacher librarian. So, insane, but connected and valuable.

My biggest challenge is not a new one: biting off too much. When I look at the topics and research I did early in the course, that same word pops into my head: INSANE. You can’t dive into all that AND be a full-time teacher in a new context. 

But something did click for me in terms of focus when I did my research blog post on equity: this may be my most important role as a potential teacher librarian: advocate for greater technology equity (or “tequity” as I call it in my project). I have worked among the have nots and I am currently working among the haves, and the gulf is tremendous. My favourite part of my final project is the lunch hour I spent interviewing three of my grade 8s about their use of the iPad in their learning. THEY ARE THE REASON THIS MATTERS. Because they’re awesome. But so are the thousands of of other students around the province who graduate thinking it’s acceptable to say, “I’m not really comfortable with technology.” (I heard that all the time in my before life. It’s hard to get comfortable with something when you use it only sporadically.) All these awesome kids, regardless of where they live and who their parents are, deserve to be set up for success. And we as a society NEED them to be set up for success. (My curious brain took me to the OECD website. Suffice to say, our current context is not good enough for the demands before us.)

So where does good advocacy start? It starts small and close to home. As we learned in Leading from the Library, the teacher librarian has a powerful role to play in building the professional capacity of teachers to meaningfully implement technology into their practice. Teachers are busy and overwhelmed; having a colleague say “let me help!” is not a hard sell. And purchasing all the hardware in the world is meaningless if the teachers don’t know how to use it. That has been a big part of my professional learning curve this semester: increasing my skill set at a fast enough rate to help my students. Thank goodness for my teacher librarian coach!

For my final project, in true Erin style, I bit off more than I could chew. While stressful, I’m kind of glad I did. Despite the many times I said over and over, “Why can’t I just write a paper?” I recognize the value of the experiential learning I was doing. Not only was I thinking about the learning and putting together my research, I was learning how to use some important technology tools (specifically Keynote and iMovie) that are important in both my current context as well as my potential role as a teacher librarian. This was definitely an exercise in empathy: putting myself in my students’ shoes, learning the tools, challenging my skill set. I also used technology to keep notes on the process: grab my phone and dictate some thoughts into a Pages document because you never know when and where inspiration will hit. 

My own ambition, of course, came up against the reality of a busy teacher and I just couldn’t accomplish all I wanted to. (I will have to learn Keynote animations over winter break!) However, what was most valuable is the realization that technology can do for me everything that I preach that it can do for my students. If it increases their creativity, it increases my creativity. If it increases their reach and ability to share their thoughts and work, it increases my ability to increase the reach of my thoughts and work. 

I definitely didn’t have time to devote to the actual movie making skills and create the published piece that I would’ve liked to have seen. This film is a DRAFT. It is not ready for its intended purpose. But it’s a start, a prototype in the parlance of PBL. But I like the concept and I’m proud of what I did accomplish in a short time. Going forward, I would love this idea to be made better in student hands!

Working with the technology is definitely engaging. My natural preference would have been to write a traditional paper. It would have been easier and quicker. But while I worked longer and harder, I enjoyed the process. I liked the creativity and I appreciated the feeling of accomplishment. Huh. Isn’t that precisely what we want for our students? ALL students.

Click for movie

 

Thank you to Matteo, Neko and Kennedy for generously giving me their time and for speaking so passionately about their education. It only cost me a box of donuts!🍩🍩🍩

 

Video References

LIBE 477 “Future Vision Project” Part Two: Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Gathered Here Today…

emadsen3 Comments

… to consider the future of your children.

I have narrowed my focus. Or maybe I shifted it a little? I dunno. Maybe I just clarified it in my head.

Regardless, this is what my focus is: How does technology amplify student learning and how can we increase equity to ensure all learners the same level of opportunity?

You can tell that I am swimming in a PBL pond by the fact that I wrote it as a driving question. (Either that or I think I’m on Jeopardy!) But even after all the thesis statements I’ve written in my life, I have come to appreciate the value of questions: they demand to be answered. So my video (gulp!) will endeavour to answer that question.

First, an explanation for what precipitated the narrowing/shifting/clarifying of my focus. It’s simple: I was watching my kids work. And I was digging what they were doing. And I was digging their enthusiasm. And I was digging the progress they were making as creators, as thinkers and as problem solvers. This is what school should aim for.

So my attention then shifted to the decision I’d been asked to make this week: who is my target audience and how will my project be crafted for that audience?🎯 As an English teacher, I drill home the importance of identifying audience and purpose because they guide all important decisions when crafting a piece of communication. So I know this is an important step. The problem is, it wasn’t as easy as I thought.

I was going to target parents with my project because my purpose was to convince them to get behind good, innovative programs: why they want their kids enrolled in them, and why they should pressure schools to innovate. This idea works great for my current context (ie: affluent, involved parents), but it would not really work as well to my former school community. Since part of my learning this semester has involved equity, I definitely want my project to advocate for improved classrooms for all students. So I am envisioning, instead of focusing on my audience, focusing on my purpose. In so doing, my audience becomes “stakeholders,” specifically those making school decisions and steering the direction of schools. In some districts (like mine) that might very well be parents who are vocal and empowered. But it also takes into consideration the small rural district where the boards (and to a lesser extent) teachers are the ones advocating for better learning situations. 

Since purpose is the key focus, I need to be sure of it: my purpose is to communicate the magic that can happen when we harness the power of technology to amplify our pedagogy and tie what results to the Ministry of Education goal of graduating “educated citizens” as well as real-world research about what the world is looking for in our graduates. What are the qualities and characteristics 21st-century employers are looking for? What does the world need from my students? And after I’ve convinced my audience of the magic, I need to call to action to bring that opportunity to more students.

Essentially, my audience is ideally parents, as who better to advocate for the children of this province? But there has to be an acknowledgement that there are students out there who don’t have that voice, and there needs to be somebody taking their interests up and advocating on their behalf. In some cases that might be teachers, and in some cases that might be board members. Or it might be the students themselves. 

This thought leads directly to the other challenge to solve this week: what is the plan for sharing this project? How can it be put to meaningful use?

Kids!

As I said in my draft plan, I want to incorporate my students into this project, both using samples of their work to show what’s possible as well as getting their insight into what a quality classroom looks like. But this is also a great opportunity to plant an important seed. Our goal as educators is  not just to engage our students, but to empower them. So maybe that’s the ultimate goal. If by showing them their voice matters by including it in my project, maybe I inspire them to help me further?

Some idea I had initially for publicizing (now that I just can’t Twitter…) were to communicate directly to parents. In my program, we frequently invite them into the school (for learning sessions, for exhibitions of students work), so I have a captive audience there, which is especially effective if my video highlights how what their kids are doing is great stuff. Parent “buzz” is pretty strong in our community, so this is a great way to get more people talking in hopes of bringing more “believers” into the “we can do better in schools” conversation. I also know that often PACs are all too happy to have teachers come to their meetings and share what is going on in their schools, so this is another avenue to explore, especially as I start to look at moving beyond the walls of my school.

And in the back of my head, of course, I’m thinking about equity. I’m thinking about those students who don’t have vocal, involved parents. In my previous district, at every monthly board meeting was the opportunity for a presentation of what is going on in schools.  These are ultimately the people steering the decision-making for districts, so who better to reach? This is where it’s useful to have forged connections with other teachers as I myself (from North Vancouver) can’t do it. But what I can do is create a tool that other interested educators can use to advocate for progressive programs for their kids.

This brings me back to the kids. They should ultimately be the best, most powerful means of communication. How powerful would it be to have kids make the presentation at the PAC meeting? Or the board meeting? I have seen kids present at conferences (including ISTE in Philadelphia 2015 and right here at CUEBC’s PSA day or the IT4K12 conference hosted by the former ERAC, now Focused Education Resources), and they are the best spokespeople. In teaching my students how to persuasively communicate, I focus on the art of rhetoric and teach them the importance of the marriage of pathos, logos and ethos, or emotional appeal, logic, and “believability or credibility” of the speaker. 

In terms of achieving my purpose of increasing equitable access to transformative learning opportunities through technology, the pathos is easy: appeal to the “why.” The kids. On an emotional level, everyone- parents, educators and hopefully policymakers alike,- all respond to thoughts of doing better for our kids, and hearing them speak for themselves (about their needs, about their learning, about their success), is more impactful than listening to an adult speak about them. It’s also inspiring to see them take the risk to speak to an audience. The logos comes in the use of student work to support good research. My video makes the case that technology engages students and amplifies their learning, and then the student work shows that. So maybe the video is a teaser and then kids talking about their learning and sharing their projects is the main course.
Certainly demonstrated success checks the “credibility, believability” box. 

This demonstration of student awesomeness then hopefully helps me with my puzzle of how to reach non-empowered student communities. Those who are in the audience (whether at PAC meetings or conferences) certainly want this level of student empowerment and awesomeness for the own students. Amiright?!

LIBE 477 “Future Vision Project” Part One: The Final Frontier

emadsen8 Comments
oFace Killah, CC BY 2.0

I can’t help but think of Star Trek whenever I look at the title for this assignment. Admittedly I think of Star Trek a lot in general, but “future vision”- that is the domain of Gene Roddenberry. He had a vision for the future that contrasted with the normally dark science fiction that centred on conflict and destruction. Roddenberry was optimistic and believed that humans had tremendous potential. I guess that kinda mirrors my educational view for the future. I’m optimistic about the futures of my students and believe they have tremendous potential.

It’s up to us to “make it so.” 😉

Originally I had a vision for this project:

the 21st Century Classroom as realized through teamwork, technology and totally awesome projects 

I even like the alliteration. But the thing is, as I sat drafting ideas, I realized it’s too big in scope for this project. I tend to be like that: ambitious with no consideration for my timeframe, busy life and overall mental well-being. This gets me in over my head sometimes. Often, actually. So for this project I am consciously pumping the brakes a little so that I can give myself a vision that I can actually complete on time while allowing myself the luxury of sleeping now and again.

All along my vision for this inquiry project has been to have it mirror the professional journey I’m on both for pragmatic reasons, as I strive to find my way in a new role, and for intellectual reasons, because I know that the program I’m working in is innovative and a promising path for education. Consequently, I want my project to marry my current teacher life with my student life. So I plan on taking my course learning and explaining it and amplifying it with examples from what’s going on in PLP classrooms in my school. 

Part of the pleasant part of this learning journey for me has been how my UBC requirements are lining up with the work being asked of me in the school. At this point, my grade 8 learners are sharpening their technology skills as a means of expressing their learning by not only blogging (like me!), but learning how to use different tools to create different kinds of texts, such as using Keynote on their iPads to generate videos.  The students in grades nine through 12 are making more sophisticated digital work by incorporating different apps, and ultimately using iMovie. I myself, as their teacher, need to get more comfortable with these tools, so I am going to push myself to create a movie for my final project and learning the tools that my students are learning. Even though deep down I just want to write a paper!!! So that’s the how, the format. Imma make a video. 🤮 Now for the what, the content: What will my technology video include?

I would like to include screenshots to show some of the digital tools in action, and explain how they amplify good pedagogy. 

Also, asking the students what they envision would be an effective classroom in the 21st-century is a good strategy. According to John Spencer, the understanding stage of a project involves “authentic research,” anything we do to learn. And one of the things that we advise students that they should do to learn is ask an expert. Who is a better expert at what makes a good classroom than the people who spend six hours a day in one? And, after all, that is our why. They are why we are designing better schools. So I would love to include their perspective on what classrooms should look like as well as perhaps snippets of their work that demonstrate what can be done if we design good tech-infused programs.  

If I’m feeling brave, lol I might even ask students to help me get comfortable with the tools. One of the key aspects of a good 21st-century classroom is the use of feedback for growth, something that our students do a lot of and are quite comfortable at. I think it would be valuable and important to model this with them by seeking their feedback on my work, especially considering that some of them have a lot more experience with these digital tools than I do. I think they might rather find it fun to give me feedback on my fledgling movie work! 🤪

Another key aspect of my inquiry this semester has been to explore the power of mentorship and team in education. So I would also like to include the perspectives of the members of my team in this project. I hope to be able to interview them and include clips of what they say. I think it would be valuable to model my learning on the value of bringing in various perspectives  to strengthen a program.

Potential outline for my movie:

  • The why: goals for the education system (“the educated citizen”) and skills in demand in the 21st century
  • What can be done with tech:
    • Creativity
    • Collaboration
    • Expanded learning options
    • Adaptive advantages/different ways of showing learning
    • Not just learning curriculum, but learning tech skills
    • Authentic: we learn and communicate online
    • Problem-solving
  • Concerns:
    • Helping kids with their executive function 
    • Inequity

This still seems like a LOT for a 3-5 minute video. So I will go into it with the understanding that I might have to narrow it even further. If that’s the case, I think my angle would be the role of technology in levelling the playing field for all kids. But we’ll see. Maybe I just won’t sleep! 

LIBE 477 Inquiry Project Blog Post #5– The Incredible Journey

emadsen4 Comments
Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash

I’m a big proponent of reflection. As John Dewey famously said, “We do not learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.” As a teacher, I have even found that I have gleaned more about a student’s learning from a reflection (when done right) than from the project itself. Because learning is a process not a product. So while this blog is great (ego much?), it’s what has gone on in my head that is truly the magic. And now I shall try to encapsulate it for you!

This process has actually been quite valuable for me and, interestingly enough, not necessarily why I would’ve predicted. I was a little bit hesitant when I heard we would be doing blogging for a section of the course because it does elevate the pressure because you know other people are going to be reading it. But my primary stressor was because I knew it would take me extra time because it was not just information and thinking: it was a skill. I had to learn how to do something on top of the normal research and writing skills that go along with the course. I know how to student. I did not know how to blog. I USED to blog, but it’s been about a decade so I had to re-learn. However, as luck would have it, it has turned out to be extraordinarily valuable, because I am now having to teach and do blogging with my grade eights. (Check out Kennedy’s page— with their permission, of course– to see some of the awesome things the students are doing after only two short months.) And next week they are going to be starting The Geek Out Blog Challenge, so if you look at my blog and you see a page at the top and wonder why it says “Geek Out,” it’s because I am creating a dummy page to work with along with them. So I am definitely further along, prepared to help coach students at blogging than I would have been a month ago!

One of the things that stands out to me the most, and that I kind of find surprising, is the influence of having other people in my small little learning group. I find that I really look forward to seeing what the comments are. This is an important reminder that sharing our thoughts and sharing our learning is valuable. And that everyone benefits from feedback!!! It is also nice to know that there is an audience for your work, and someone is actually reading it. This I connect to the program I’m currently working in because one of the important aspects of project based learning is to have an authentic audience for your students’ work so that they have a purpose for doing it that is beyond just the teacher reading it. This also elevates the work because other people are going to see it. I know I put more time into the assignments because of their public nature. Not only is it visible to our class, but I chose to use my employer sponsored blog, so it’s readily available to my colleagues (and students!). In reading my colleagues’ blogs, I also find it really interesting to see how many different perspectives there are on one prompt, and I think it enhances my learning because then I get to see not only the avenue I decided to go down in my research of my thinking, but I get to learn about the directions that other people discovered. (And I learned about Bored Teachers on Instagram.)

I think, rather than selecting one topic that resonated with me, I would focus on an observation that I made: the interconnectedness of it all. The independent journey that I’m on, for example, is influenced by the team that I am working with, and down the road, hopefully this learning, both through my UBC program, as well as my own development as a professional, will be a benefit in influencing others around me as I look to be a resource to them. I suppose, however, if I had to pick a topic, it would be the last one where I explored the issue of inequity within our province. I spent way more time on that assignment than any other, so that indicates my level of interest. Furthermore, it was a topic that was particularly close to me because of my professional experiences.

All students should be this lucky!

I also think it connects to that bigger picture of the types of schools we want to create both as teachers and teacher librarians for 21st-century learners, so I think that this topic was important for me in terms of going forward in this course, because as I look to my final project of my vision for the future, I know that my vision requires equity. All the great pedagogy and mentorship and collaboration among professionals in the world is not useful if the infrastructure isn’t in place.

In terms of development in my current practice, the part of my learning so far that resonates with me, and is steering my inquiry, is the realization of the strength of the team that I work with. I, despite having been a teacher for 24 years, feel like a beginner, because there is so much new to me in my current role. I have made progress in terms of learning how to use new digital tools, and in understanding and developing project based learning units. However, as I wrap up my first project of the year, I know I have a lot to learn. Fortunately, I have a lot of great people around me with experience. The best thing I can do is lean on those willing and able to help me! When I first started thinking about my inquiry project, I knew that I wanted it to mirror the experience I was having as a professional for obvious practical reasons. Acknowledging that I still have a lot to learn, I think this was a wise choice. I think, however, as the school semester has unfolded, my focus has narrowed. I am less interested in the tools and the pedagogy because those are, I think, less complex. I am more interested in the collaborative dynamic and the concept of mentorship. I also happen to believe that as a teacher librarian, that is one of your most important functions in a school. Therefore, I think it is the topic that I am most interested in exploring further.

 

 

Onward on the journey!

LIBE 477 Inquiry Project Blog Post #4– A Tale of Two Cities

emadsen3 Comments

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Wait- someone already said that. Let’s try that again.

I have taught in two BC school districts, and despite sharing a curriculum, guided by the same provincial government body and functioning under the same funding system, they’re worlds apart.

I love teaching history and one of my favourite things to teach is the Enlightenment. I tell my students that my job is to turn them into intellectual giants. Some seem interested at this prospect. Some genuinely wonder if I’m up to that kind of challenge. Some just role their eyes as only a disinterested teenager can. For me, the Enlightenment is that pivotal shift in history where human beings embraced the power of reason. I have a degree in French literature (really!), so I’ll whip out a Victor Hugo quote here (translated, of course):

“The true division of humanity is between those who live in light and those who live in darkness. Our aim must be to diminish the number of the latter and increase the number of the former. That is why we demand education and knowledge.”

In 2022 Canada, we like to think of ourselves as enlightened. Canadians are nice, fair people. We value equality. We value education. We want our citizens to “live in light.” But does our reality line up with our aspirations?

The BC Ministry of Education proudly states on their website that they have a “clear mandate, to enable every learner to maximize their potential.” Furthermore, they declare that this commitment is “regardless of their background or where they live in B.C. … enabling equity of access to quality education for every student.” But even they do acknowledge that they are not yet reaching this goal: “significant differences exist between schools across the province.” 

The ministry identifies five principles to direct us to the goal of graduating “educated citizens.” Under the heading of “future orientation,” they state they “encourage the use of technology.” Notice the wording. It is not required. Because to require it would put the ministry in a potentially difficult situation: they’d have to ensure proper infrastructure. While the official line is to “encourage” technology, the curriculum clearly requires it- beyond the obvious Applied Design Skills and Technology. Literary Studies 10: “Access information for diverse purposes and from a variety of sources.” Obviously in 2022 this requires the internet. English Language Arts 12, a course mandatory for graduation: “Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create engaging and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.” Again, in 2022, this surely must include digital texts. 

In the world of inquiry, we start with a hunch. This was my hunch: There is tremendous inequity in terms of access to technology in British Columbia. I spent 16 years teaching in North Vancouver, then moved to Grand Forks for eight, and am now back in North Van. So I have experienced both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum.

However, after digging a little deeper— “new learning” in inquiry parlance— I find my hunch is only kinda accurate. This is why we dig deeper.😊

There is disparity across communities in BC. However, my hunch was predicated on disparities in spending by districts. But in reality, this disparity exists because of parents’ varying abilities to subsidize their children’s education. 

It turns out sucky access to meaningful technology use is widespread, because, as we said, the ministry only encourages use of technology. If you were to ask a ministry representative, they would tell you that they disperse funds to BC’s 60 locally elected Boards of Education who make allocation decisions based on “local spending priorities.”  Sounds like passing the buck. (Pun not intended.)

To move my research beyond my own two school districts, I decided to drill down on the 2021/2022 budget for Coquitlam (SD43). School districts can pay for technology either out of their general operating budget or from their capital fund budget. SD43 received $303,743,095 in block grant funding, and through other sources (international students, facility rentals, etc.) brought their operating budget up to $324,201,551. (This includes the regular per student funding as well as additional funds to support special needs, Indigenous students and adult education. There is also funding for “geographical factors.” For example, it costs more to heat and cool a school in the Interior. Rural districts also need to provide bussing to school.) However, salaries and benefits— the biggest expense in a school district— ate up $296,797,438, over 90% of the budget. (This was on the high side due to COVID-19 absences). That leaves around $27 000 000 to provide all remaining services and make all remaining purchases for the students of Coquitlam. That year they had around 31,147 students. This really doesn’t give school districts much wiggle room, or room to chase those “local spending priorities.” Beyond the block budget, the Capital Fund Budget specifically covers “land, buildings, computer hardware and software, vehicles and equipment,” but at just under $17 000 000, does not provide enough revenue to even meet projected expenses. The bottom line is that school districts do not have a lot of money, already have almost 90% of it committed to salaries, and have a lot of needs to meet with that limited money.

I also looked at Vernon’s (SD22) Technology Plan. It is a 50 page document and looks very much like the documents from my own district: a lot of committee work, planning, and recommendations (including a recommendation for an annual dollar amount of $845000). It all sounds good. We’re doing the work. We’re making a plan. It’s a three year plan. We want to align technology with our goals. We have bulleted points summarizing our practice. Ditto innovation. Blah, blah, blah…  I have been involved in this process too many times and have been in the BC education system for too long to think that this fancy report means the students in Vernon get enough technology from their school district.

The bottom line is, according to a look at school technology funding in The Vancouver Sun, “there is no equity across the province, both in terms of access to technology and teachers’ ability and willingness to embrace it.” Because the government does not “directly fund technology in schools,” a BC student’s access depends on where they go to school. Is it a school where the parents have the time and expertise to fundraise? Are the parents comfortable fundraising? Is it a community that has the financial capacity to raise adequate funds? Do they have a teacher who will even use the iPad cart once it’s purchased? Because there is “no baseline level for technology in classrooms mandated by the provincial government,” teachers classrooms vary widely, from no tech to some tech to lotsa tech. Some teachers don’t have access. Some teachers simply opt not to use it because they  don’t know how to use it or choose not to. As I predicted, the official government response is that they “provide operating grants each year to school districts, and they have the autonomy to decide whether to spend it on new technology” (Sherlock, 2015).

But is it a choice?!

When I lived in Grand Forks, I wanted better, regular access to technology than I could get with the shared resources, so I applied for and received three grants: two each from SET-BC for 10 iPads, and then $10 000 from Best Buy to purchase additional iPads and a set of Chromebooks. So kids in my classes got daily, meaningful (I hope) access to and experience with technology. But what about the rest of the students in that school? Access wasn’t even equitable within a school: it depended on who their teacher was. Grand Forks is a community with considerable poverty and therefore limited fundraising capacity. (Of course I’m sure this helped with my success in receiving grant money.) Many kids don’t have access to devices at home, or have limited access because multiple people are sharing one device, as we learned when COVID hit. The district loaned out every laptop and Chromebook it had, but there were still kids without. Some didn’t even have wifi. I had one student who had to get in his truck and drive into town to a friend’s to access their wifi— and because of isolation protocols had to remain in his truck, learning on his phone.

Then there’s West Vancouver, “the richest place in Canada.” West Vancouver schools use the Google Suite for Education and therefore require students to have access to a Chromebook or laptop. In a community with “an average household net worth of $4.5 million” (Naraghi, 2019), this isn’t a very big ask. But for those rare West Vancouver families who cannot afford to purchase a device for their children, there is a process to borrow a device from the district. I attended a PSA day conference in West Vancouver a number of years ago where Superintendent Chris Kennedy was the keynote speaker. In a Q&A session afterwards, I asked him how many West Vancouver students needed to borrow a device. His answer was “one or two per school.” At that rate, it is obviously feasible for West Van to make this offer. Grand Forks, clearly, cannot. 

I’m old enough that I was teaching on 9/11, a school day seared into my memory. On that day I was lucky enough to have already scheduled my students to be using the iBooks (remember those bricks?!) and my students were able to watch history unfold live on the internet. We had school laptops in 2001, not because the school district had purchased them, but because the PAC had. Every year our family of schools PAC held a fundraising auction that raised around $100 000. So we had laptops. (And vans for our PE program.) When I arrived in Grand Forks in 2014, they still didn’t have laptops. 

I teach in a 1-to-1 program in North Vancouver where a personal iPad is required for every class. However, a family’s inability to purchase a device will not keep a student from being able to join the program; the district will loan one to a family in need. We currently have approximately 175 students in the program, and two require a device loan from the school. Again, Seycove can make this offer because, like West Vancouver, the clear majority of families have means. Innovative programs like ours can exist in communities with means because the schools themselves will not have to provide 1-to-1 device access. In a community like Grand Forks, a program like this simply could not run. Kind of makes the ministry’s proclamation of equitable access “regardless of [students’] background or where they live in B.C” ring hollow. 

Last year the professional focus of my school (GFSS) was on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), looking to focus on learning design and environments to plan for the success of all students. Technology makes this all the easier as it offers adaptive learning (such as voice to text), different ways of learning (audio and video to complement traditional text), and a wider variety of resources. However, many of my colleagues were really frustrated at this initiative because they did not have regular access to technology in the classes. I remember one colleague sarcastically saying something like, “Well, I’ll plan for the success of all students on Tuesday because that’s when the Chromebooks are available. Not sure what I can do on Wednesday and Thursday.” We can explore great pedagogy like UDL that seeks to offer equity in education to all students, but we need the means of implementing it. 

Anecdotally, I reached out to teacher friends in four districts (Burnaby, Kelowna, other North Vancouver schools, and Vancouver). Unsurprisingly, no one feels there is adequate access to technology in their local schools. Unfortunately, I am left largely relying on anecdotal evidence because it is virtually impossible to find hard numbers on access to technology in schools. It’s not published. No where does it say: this school with x number of students has x number of devices. It seems to me, if districts thought their technology was adequate for 21st century student needs, they’d be shouting it from the rooftops.  I would also love to know how much schools rely on kids using their own devices and how many students get left out because their families can’t afford devices. But that’s not published.

But you know what information kept popping up as I tried to find concrete information on tech in schools? Organizations that are trying to help subsidize our schools with donations of technology. Very telling that they exist:

If you were to investigate official policy in BC, you might get the impression that we were on track. The ministry website would have you believe every student has equal opportunity to become and “educated citizen.” I have always believed education has the potential to be the great equalizer, but we’re not realizing that potential in BC. We have all seen some version of this meme:

 

The reality in BC is, the tall kid is from West Van and he’s the one who has the boxes to stand on. The short kid is from Grand Forks and he is the one standing on the ground.

 

References:

AZ Quotes. (n.d.). Victor Hugo quote. AZ Quotes. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.azquotes.com/quote/613172 

CAST. (2022, September 2). The UDL guidelines. UDL. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://udlguidelines.cast.org/?utm_source=castsite&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=none&utm_content=footer

Coquitlam School District. (2022). Learning for a Lifetime- Budget and Fiscal Plan 2022/23-2024/25. Budget 2022-2023 – School District no. 43 (Coquitlam). Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.sd43.bc.ca/budget/Pages/Budget-2022-2023.aspx 

Gill, A. (2019, October 30). An answer to that viral equality meme. AIER. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.aier.org/article/an-answer-to-that-viral-equality-meme/ 

Naraghi, A. (2019,  August 8). Canada’s richest communities 2019. Macleans.ca. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.macleans.ca/economy/money-economy/canadas-richest-communities-2019/ 

Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education. (2022). Spiral of inquiry. Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://noiie.ca/spiral-of-inquiry/ 

Province of British Columbia. (2022, May 5). Ministry of Education and Child Care. Province of British Columbia. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure/ministries-organizations/ministries/education 

Sherlock, T. (2015, October 2). Standards lacking in public schools’ use of technology. Vancouver Sun. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://vancouversun.com/news/education/standards-lacking-in-public-schools-use-of-technology 

Vernon School District. (2020, April). SD22 technology plan – update 2020 revised – school district 22 Vernon. School District No. 22. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://sd22.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/SD22-Technology-Plan-Update-2020.pdf 

West Vancouver School District. (2022). Digital Resources for Students. West Vancouver Schools. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://westvancouverschools.ca/digital-resources