Twitter is a great social media site for all kinds of communities to interact and share information among one another. Using twitter, you can find your interests and explore posts and creators that share similar interests, values, career fields, passions, etc. In my past experience with social media, I never used twitter for my personal social media. I always felt like in the past, I had trouble navigating and keeping up to date on the never ending posts. However, I realize now after using Twitter as a resource for EME, that it can be a great source for helpful tips, tricks and quick information. I followed my classmates, instructor, the FSU College of Education as well as a few other teacher social media creators. For my future career, it will be beneficial to follow the social media pages of my school district and community of teachers to stay updated. Following other teachers is a great way to be inspired, encouraged and supported in a demanding field.
The digital divide is a huge accessibility problem that needs to be addressed more. In my own personal experience, I saw how the lack of access to the internet and technology can put students a great disadvantage to their education and opportunities in the future. During the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, my high school had to face the problem of the digital divide. During the shutdowns of the schools across all of the United States and the world, schools had to figure out how to continue education without falling behind. The greatest resource during a world wide school shutdown was technology. Schools could live stream/zoom class meetings and use online resources and school websites to assign, track and grade student work and progress. However, this structure of school was not ready to implement in all areas of the world, even in the U.S. In my own school district, students did not have home access to stable internet or devices to complete school on the daily. Libraries and coffee shops which are known for having free WiFi for customers to use was no longer an option for students during the pandemic. Therefore, my school attempted to decrease the digital divide my providing school laptops to students in need and working with the local internet provider to pay for students home WiFi during the pandemic school shutdown. I myself, benefited from the school's support. My family was gifted free WiFi during this time because of our lower income. This made doing school and work from home not a stressful home environment or a burden on our source of income. The digital divide is much more common than you would think in our world of expanding technology. As a future teacher, it's important to understand the digital divide and the disadvantage many students face at home. Therefore, it is crucial that teachers implement and help their students gain experience and knowledge of technology while at school. Schools can offer so much access to technology that students do not have at home.
Technology is one of the greatest tools for classrooms. Technology opens up methods and resources of learning that would be limited without the use of technology. In my experience being a student, I have had to navigate and learn how to use several different academic software. My first high school primarily used Google software including Google Classroom, Docs, Drive, etc. While the other high school I attended used a software called Blackboard alongside Microsoft to aid in our learning.However, now at FSU, our primary academic software is Canvas. I preferred the functions and resources of Canvas opposed to other software I've used in the past. It is good to be well acquainted with several software so that as a student you can be best prepared for what it required of you and so that you can expand your technology skills and knowledge. As a future teacher, I can see myself implementing online resources such as Google classroom or Microsoft Office 365, both resources are very similar in the functions that they offer for student's use. These software can help students grasp technology and explore its use for academics.
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