Participate 3- Accessing Digital leaning Communities

Students who use digital learning may have different barriers to leaning due to internet access. My level of access to the digital resources great because of the area in which I live.

What type of barriers might impede students' opportunities to access digital learning?
The different type of barriers that impede the students opportunities to access digital leaning are low bandwidth, disabilities, income disparity. Students usually don't have jobs which pay enough to run a household.  The student must have access to an electronic device in order to participate.  Along with this, they will need some form of high speed internet service which can provide them with the speed and capability to download from and search the internet.   Some students live in areas where internet access is not available.  Other students may have parents or caregivers who cannot afford high speed internet connection. If a student has a disability, this causes even more of a barrier because they may need specialized equipment as well. All these are things that are generally out of the child's control.

What might we do to eliminate such barriers?
To help eliminate some of the barriers people with knowledge and resources must get involved.  This includes getting the word out about different services that which offer free high speed internet to low income families.  A lot of times, people have no idea what is awaiting them if they apply for help.  Also, showing low income families the important of internet services.  Schools also should have programs for students to receive a laptop or other electronic device if they do not have one.  This is the only way one can participate in digital leaning.  They must have a device.   Students with disabilities should be assessed to see what specialized equipment they would need and then that equipment should not only be provided, but the student and parent should be shown how to use it. Public libraries and many restaurants have free wifi which students may be able to use if they have their own computers. This can be helpful as a back up plan if power is lost.

Participate 2- Collecting Reputable Digital Resources

When collecting digital resources for students the resources must be reliable. Students should be taught to look for reputable domains such as. mil (US military), .gov( government), .edu ( education), and .org ( may be a non-profit organization).  As I did my walk about I was able to come up with some helpful digital resources for students. I explored Zonniverse, Classroom 2.0, Khan Academy, Edutopia, and Discovery Education.  Each of these resources can contribute to making online teaching more engaging, efficient, and effective.  Here is a link to the list of bookmarked resources complied during my exploration.

  https://del.icio.us/nurseq/Dig.%20Resource

The three most useful tools or resources resulting fro the web walkabout are Zonniverse, Khan Academy, and Classroom 2.0.  Zonniverse gives online students an opportunity to research many fields of science and have interactive and engaging activities.  Khan Academy contains videos tutorials for math, science, test prep, computing, arts & humanities, as well as economics & finance.
Classroom 2.0 is a free community supported network.  One must sign up and become member and then they can join in the discussions.  This will be helpful for students new to digital learning.
Students can be taught to safely collect tools and resources which can maximize their leaning by about reputable domains. Students should also be taught about the database used by Google and Mozilla to block harmful pages known as StopBadware.  They should be taught about the Web of Trust ( WOT) which is a crowd-sourced online database that offers reputation ratings for domain names.
When giving assignments, teachers should place guidelines on which sources students should use. For example have students use resources with reputable domains such as .mil( military), .gov ( government), .edu ( education) , and .org ( non-profit organization). Teachers should also have students to use the WOT to check to reputation ratings for the domains they will be using.  Having these policies and procedures in place may help students to maximize their learning.