Chapter 2

Jenny R. Couture
January, 2009
Chapter 2 in the
Handbook of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
(TPCK) for Educators

This chapter made me feel a bit bad! As a teacher and a single mother (who grew up without a computer), I did not realize the importance of having one in the home. I do have a very basic computer that my children use to type on. I also have dial-up internet, which is rarely used, because we never have time to just get on and explore. Getting twin five year old boys home, fed, bathed, read to, and into bed has been my priority. I guess we’re a prime example of the “digital divide,” which makes me thankful that my children do have computer lab one day a week at school.
Before reading chapter two in the Handbook of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Educators, I hadn’t realized that there were multiple digital divides. The aspect of equity, referred to as the first digital divide, is the basic one that I believe most of us think about when we think about equal access to technology. The second digital divide has to do with the inequity of how ICT is used in and outside of schools. The schools that have “fewer technologically skilled teachers, the children who get different technology assignments, and those who have less skilled parents,” are clearly at a disadvantage. The third digital divide has to do with the extent the TMI (technology mediated instruction) received by students is sensitive to their cultural backgrounds (p.43). This has to do with it’s “user-friendliness.” Bridging this divide requires us to think about cultural differences, being sensitive, and creatively incorporating them into TMI.
This chapter also led to some questions. What does ICT (information and communication technology) literacy really involve? I am one of the two literacy teachers at my school, and I have never before heard of ICT literacy. What is it? What is the best ways to teach it? And truly how important is it, when my main goal is to get lower achieving students to meet, and hopefully exceed the average reader and writer in his or her class?
I have a feeling I’m going to learn a great deal from this class. I had never heard of TMI, the three digital divides, or ICT before now, so my knowledge can only grow!