This assignment from EDUC 633- Human Development: Implications for Education addresses the disparities in available technology between the Langley (SD 35), Abbotsford (SD34) and Chilliwack (SD 33) school districts, and highlights how the “digital divide” has been allowed to proliferate within SD 33. Utilizing qualitative research, and public available data included in each district’s Statement of Financial Information (SOFI), it shows how spending on technology per capita significantly impacts the practice of educators, as well as the learning of students.
This writing is particularly poignant for myself working in a two teacher household. With my teaching in SD34 and my wife in SD33, it is impossible to ignore the financial discrepancies in technology spending between the two districts. This is glaringly obvious in the availability of devices at seemingly every level. For example, I am provided with a teaching laptop, and my wife is not. I have access to nearly triple the number of classroom laptops and tablets that she does, and Abbotsford pays for significantly more software licensing comparatively to Chilliwack.
While geographic neighbors, SD34 and SD33 could not be more polar opposite in their approaches to technological availability, and as a result has become a significant aspect of professional practice in the two school districts in the Fraser Valley.
