The digital divide is the gap between those of us who have access to the use of technology, such as computers and the internet, and those who do not have the proper opportunities to use new age technology.  The digital divide relates to education in a couple ways.  For one, computers and the internet are great tools for students to learn from and help further their education and interaction.  Technology can help stimulate student's interest in newer ways by given the chance to use tools such as SimplyBox, Wikis, and Glogster.  However, many schools still do not have computers making this difficult for children to use.  

   The participation gap focuses more on the difference between those who have 24-hour broadband access and those who only have access to the technology while at school or at a public library.  The problem is the limited use the students with limited technological access get to learn how to navigate around the internet and use computers.  With limited access comes limited practice.  Technology is becoming more and more important in everyday life.  This means that knowing how to use modern technology is imperative to succeed in today's world.  It is most important to educate these students that only have access to technology in school or at the library to give them the most time to learn this ever-advancing necessity.

   If there was a strong digital divide in my teaching community I'm not sure how I would go about trying to fix that.  I may try to do some fund-raisers and apply for grants for my school so that we may purchase some computers.  I also may bring my laptop into class and try to show the students how to work the basic properties of a computer.  A participation gap in my community it would be much easier to work with that a digital divide.  I really like fifth-grade teacher, Brian Crosby's action to close the participation gap.  He asked for the computers that the school was going to discard during their upgrade and used them in his classroom.  He found a way to incorporate technology into almost everything he teaches.  This is a great idea and can greatly help these students in the future.

By: Alaina Latella