Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Access

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I was brought from my slumber by a trip to the bathroom and my Bella letting me know she wanted out of her crate (to get in our bed) at 3:12 am.  As she nestled in next to my husband, I couldn't think of anything but this blog post that I needed to write.  Yes, Dr. Dennen your class invaded my sleep once again.

Lying in bed trying to close my eyes tight and regulating my breathing (in hopes to return to a VERY good night's sleep) I ended  up thinking.  So instead of tossing an turning for the next few hours, I ended up here.

My mind was on a conversation that I had yesterday and the list of educational apps that I had looked at earlier for this week.  Two different instances but on point.

They both boil down to access.  Access that is voluntarily and access that is involuntarily.

My youngest son will be traveling to London next week for soccer.  Unfortunately, I don't get to travel with him (because someone has to pay for his budding soccer career).  The coach told everyone to download What's App so that they will be able to correspond with the boys and parents about the schedules, changes in plans, and just share information.  I was first introduced to What's App back in March when he went to Portugal (for soccer, go figure) and it was a tremendous help, because of course I rarely got to talk to him but I was able to keep up with what was going on.  When he needed money, there was a parent that I was able to send money to through Paypal and all was great in the world.  Sorry, I digress.  Anyway, there was a parent whose son's will be traveling also and she stated that her sons don't have phones.  I stopped in my tracks, did everything in my power NOT to show the look of shock and continued with the conversation.  These are high school kids.  Their parents made a choice.

As a former classroom teacher, I love educational technology.  If it was going to make my life easier and be more engaging for my students and parents I was on board.  I was an Edmodo early adopter.  I taught science to all of the third grade students, so to keep parents informed of all that was going on my team introduced Edmodo.  We were excited and motivated and all of those warm fuzzies that go along with having something new.  We had made the decision as a team, so we of course had a plan of how it would be used.  We had the big launch, it was great, then I realized that about 1/3 of my families didn't join in.  So, invitations were sent--again.  Still. Nothing. This frustrated me especially with all of the work that we had put into this. Of course like any overworked, underpaid teacher, I  confronted (gently) them during parent conferences and had a wake up call.  Silly me, many of them didn't have a home computer.  Smartphones were not widely used.  It was a matter of access.

That was a turning point for me.  This access thing is real.  We may have the tools to do all types of great things.  I am typing this on my Galaxy Book, a pc that has tablet capabilities with a wireless mouse, in my kitchen using wifi but it is because I chose to do so.  There are many out there that have restricted access to some of the things that we take for granted.  My kids often have the latest technology because I chose to give them these things and they understand that, but it opens them to the privileged world of access.  I think that we need to remember that there are people in the world that don't have these things.  Working at the public library really opened my eyes for the short time that I was there because it is a sanctuary that provides access.

Needless to say, our Edmodo project only lasted one year.  We found that it was more important for us to have communication with all of our parents and we didn't want anyone to feel left out. I'm sure that our participation would have increased as the years continued, but at the time we didn't want anyone to feel left out.  That parent whose kids won't have access to What's App will most likely be fine, they will be surrounded by friends who will know where they are and adult chaperones.  Keep access in mind when working with students.  Everyone's situation may not mirror your own.

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