Journal 3

Journal 3

In the article “Social Justice—Choice or Necessity?”, authors Colleen Swain and David Edyburn raise a number of questions regarding social justice as they pertain to a teacher’s selection of classroom technologies and their availability to all students. While providing some admittedly poor examples of technology use from a social justice perspective, authors Swain and Edyburn do provide a general set of ideas that define truly equitable technology use in the classroom, claiming that it should be equally “available; used routinely; used in ways that reflect real-world applications of interest, complexity, and power; used to enhance learning opportunities for all students; and used to monitor teacher/students progress over time.”

Questions

1. Is it really such a big issue that it needs an article written for it and a “Digital Equity Portal” devoted to providing resources for effective and fair technology use?

I don’t know if it’s that easy of an issue to solve. Social inequality exists because of historic prejudices, stereotypes, existing social systems and programs, and basic geographic and economic inequality that are intermingled with the others. It seems to me that this ideal of social justice looks good on paper, but as far as making it a reality in a classroom, a kid with a personal computer in his or her room will still be more technologically adept than a student who has to take a bus ride or wait for a parent to come home from work to get to the library for computer access. While the classroom can attempt to be a level playing field for all students, it cannot possibly hope to be the final solution to the problem of social and economic inequality and their effects on student opportunities.

2. Why is social justice in the classroom so important?

As educators, it is crucial that we create a learning environment that aims to promote equality and fair treatment for all students. In terms of technology, this includes providing equal access and being prepared to assist those students who may be at a disadvantage when it comes to learning through technology. This is how technology use in the classroom enters the realm of social justice and gains new significance.