Every student needs access to technology- a technology he/she can interact comfortably with – to make the most out of their potential. But, as we all know it, there are access barriers that prevents this from happening. Some of these access barriers are discussed below.
Location and income disparity– students of rural and students of urban schools are at disadvantage to access the digital community. The students from rural schools suffer from lack of availability of technology and quality of teachers. The Urban schools’ students are at disadvantage because neighborhoods are segregated by social class and therefore the poor population lacks the funds to access digital resources.
These barriers can be eliminated, however, can be eliminated if there is political willingness to do it. Rural schools can get access to technology and quality teachers by expanding distance education. Impoverished communities can be helped to access the digital community by making some changes to the formula of funding schools and by building schools that can be attended by all socio-economic classes of students.
Disabilities – in addition to the challenges of instructional technology they face as any other student, students with disabilities also have basic access barriers in interacting with the educational technology product. This could be ability to use a standard keyboard, the monitor display may not be suitable to students with visual impairments, and the speech output of an instructional technology may not be understood by a student with a hearing impairment. Therefore it is imperative that the technology to be equipped with alternative input and output features for students with disabilities to interact with educational technology at equal level with other students. This can be done through "built-in" features or ones that are "added-on" to the product. Example, keyboards can be adjusted to allow for sequential rather than simultaneous keystrokes and the computer can be equipped with software that provides the capacity to adjust the size of the visual display output to a variety of enlargements.
Politics and educational policies– this is how federal, state, and local politicians give this issue a priority as they prepare annual budget.
Location and income disparity– students of rural and students of urban schools are at disadvantage to access the digital community. The students from rural schools suffer from lack of availability of technology and quality of teachers. The Urban schools’ students are at disadvantage because neighborhoods are segregated by social class and therefore the poor population lacks the funds to access digital resources.
These barriers can be eliminated, however, can be eliminated if there is political willingness to do it. Rural schools can get access to technology and quality teachers by expanding distance education. Impoverished communities can be helped to access the digital community by making some changes to the formula of funding schools and by building schools that can be attended by all socio-economic classes of students.
Disabilities – in addition to the challenges of instructional technology they face as any other student, students with disabilities also have basic access barriers in interacting with the educational technology product. This could be ability to use a standard keyboard, the monitor display may not be suitable to students with visual impairments, and the speech output of an instructional technology may not be understood by a student with a hearing impairment. Therefore it is imperative that the technology to be equipped with alternative input and output features for students with disabilities to interact with educational technology at equal level with other students. This can be done through "built-in" features or ones that are "added-on" to the product. Example, keyboards can be adjusted to allow for sequential rather than simultaneous keystrokes and the computer can be equipped with software that provides the capacity to adjust the size of the visual display output to a variety of enlargements.
Politics and educational policies– this is how federal, state, and local politicians give this issue a priority as they prepare annual budget.
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