This post is for parents who have kids the age of 0 to 5 years olds. First of all, I want you to watch this amazing ted talk by a fabulous 7 years old, Molly Wright. After watching that video I felt scared and sad for the infants whose parents keep staring at the screens while their kids reach out to them seeking attention and engagement. For those kids, their parents are their everything, their safe home, and their best friends. Imagine you are trying to have a conversation with someone you Love, someone you depend on for your source of happiness and warmth, but they neglect you in times when you need them the most, they don’t make eye contact with you, and don’t engage with you when you want to engage. How does that make you feel? As an adult, we would feel frustrated, angry, and our relationship would take a hit with that person. Kids trust their parents drastically when their parents fail to support them in their needs when required. 

Some parents treat their kids like a washing machine: Some parents give their kids food, leave them with a device, and then go back to their own digital life. After some time the kid potties, they tend to their kid, but then go back to their devices. It’s a cycle of bare minimum engagement for a long period of the hours they spend “together” and that’s exactly what people do with the washing machines when they do laundry. In a washing machine, we engage with it first when we put our clothes to wash, and then after we go back to our phones/work. We come back to it when it makes the beep sounds, we move the clothes into the dryer, and then after we go back to our phones/work. After the clothes dry, we go back for the final time to take the laundered clothes out. Technology has been shown to have a negative impact on language development, social, and emotional development, especially for kids 0-2 years. But what has helped language development and helped in establishing a social connection for 0-2 years old is to regularly skype with loved ones. (Check out Diana Graber’s Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology). Nevertheless, Graber still stresses the importance of spending a lot of time with your kids and letting your kids feel boredom. Constantly stimulating the brain with what screens have to offer is setting up kids for a future with whether they will struggle to focus (lower attention spans). Yes Sir Ken Robinson talks about how kids just don’t pay attention when exposed to boring activities and seemingly endless talks, and rightfully it calls for improvement on the teaching and lesson planning side of the game. However, I still think that constant stimulation from the screens has an impact on the kids’ (and adults’) natural attention spans.

Another interesting video to watch is The Attachment Theory: How Childhood Affects Life

After watching the attachment theory video: what kind of child will your child grow up to be? After they grow up, what will they say about your relationship with them?

Some questions to think about: 

Q1: How many hours in a day do you spend actually talking, playing, and caring for your child? Is your child being raised by a screen?

Q2: Do you give your child a device and leave them without engaging with them? 

Q3: When your child cries, do they depend on a screen to pacify them or do they rely on you to pacify them? What does the answer to this question mean for your own relationship with your child?

Q4: If you have a child under 2 years of age, why do you think they need a device?

Q5: How often do you use your phone around your child? Are you on a phone while your child is asking you for help?

Healthcare is perhaps the most important area that must be addressed primarily in the context of digital divide for obvious reasons. People’s literal lives depend on the services from the healthcare personnel. After listening to Erin Todoki, the Continuous Improvement Project Manager at the Center for nursing excellence and innovation at UCSF, share her experience I got to learn about the challenges that the digital divide poses to the services that healthcare professionals provide. People of color, especially for whom English is their second language, and research on digital divide shows that the same demographic is the most affected by the digital divide. 

Approximately 8% of the U.S. population English is their second language (Patient Education and Counseling editorial). Providing important information such as quarantining, testing, and vaccinations in all languages is crucial for the way the fight against the pandemic is being fought. Todoki shares “especially amongst our hospitality staff and our services staff, they were really not getting the messages of you know needing to master what it meant to have a household exposure.” But the work does not just stop at delivering information in the language of the communities in consideration. The unique socio economic situations must also be taken into consideration. For instance, many people from such communities cannot afford to take days off from work and live in household conditions that makes it hard for them to quarantine in solitude.

Digital literacy of such communities must also be taken into account. I know from my personal experience that my parents did not really have an email. I made emails for them and I manage them, they do not know how to run the emails. So when we signed up for them to take the Vaccine, I was signing them up and delivering the important necessary information to them. However, other people might not have anyone to assist them with signing up and logging in and keeping up with important information such as the date of their second dose. If a nurse signed them up, or a community person, the follow up on that information would be convoluted by the fast flow of the time―the business of our lives. 

Looking back at my own experience of how my parents were getting their information, I can say that they were not completely disconnected from technology even though they do not manage their emails. They would receive video clips on WhatsApp detailing information about the pandemic. Of course, a lot of the time it would be bogus information, conspiracy theories, and other discussions. But I could see how easily accessible visual media was through WhatsApp. Perhaps we need to look into what existing technologies are communities, that are affected by digital divide, are connected to. WhatsApp audio and video clips can be so useful. Even pre-recorded messages that can be played by a doctor in front of the patient in their language in cases when a translator is not available. A translator would already record the message explanation of a certain thing to the patient. All the doctor would need to do is play that audio as a resource of explanation. When we are in emergency crunch time we need to work with what we have. As Todoki said “you kind of move with it.”

               Back when I was in high school, special education students has classes only in a certain area. It was only a room at the end of the middle hallway on the first floor of Roger C. Sullivan High School. When the pandemic hit and as well all started to Zoomify multiple aspects of our lives, I wondered what those students would be doing for their classes on zoom, I made the assumption of them being on zoom naturally. Frankly, I had no idea about their classes. I only saw them in their classrooms in the glimpses and peeks as I waited to enter my business class that was across from the class where students with special needs were taught. Even in those quick peeks in their classrooms I do not remember whether they ever worked with technology. Now, it is a little harsh to say that special education teachers should have incorporated the use of technology for seeing a pandemic, but it is extremely important to discuss the scope of the usage of technology in special needs classrooms.

The challenge of Replication: For all of education over the past two years, the challenge has been this: how can we keep supporting our students the same way as before while not being physically present with them? One consistently used answer is we will create whatever we had before virtually. Thus, virtual classrooms, virtual extracurricular meetings, virtual tutoring, and virtual xyz. The list goes on. This set up ends up creating more challenges. The biggest is lack of engagement. This challenge hits with a thousand times more magnitude in the world of special education. It becomes extremely hard to work with students who were so used to the physical guidance and learning. One teacher shared that even getting them to angle the camera appropriately so that we can see their faces properly was extremely hard. That’s why instead of forcing the replication of our physical world, what if we brought other ideas to the table. [1] Train their parents or an elder in the household to effectively teach a certain topic for the student. (They will continue to get the same kind of support as before instead of online. [2] Instead of teaching the students their usual material through zoom, why not take the pandemic to establish a technology routine with the students. (Even if it is getting their camera in the right angle). [3] Have fully vaccinated individuals who are studying special education gain practical experience through assisting those students whose parents are unable to assist during a class session. [4] As schools get back to in-person establish a relationship between technology and students to identify their abilities with technology and how they can be used virtually for learning. Of course, these recommendations may also have their own challenges, but the idea is that we need unique solutions to these problems instead of zoom adaptation of our regular in-person classroom—for some populations it is extremely hard to do it.

Special Education Technology (SET): The technology that we have right now in education is not friendly to our students of special needs. Applications like zoom and google classroom that requires careful and timely turning on and off of the camera and audios, and it so many other features that are simply not designed for some with special needs. What if we had a laptop that immediately maneuvered the angle of the camera to display the student who is barely in the camera. We need software that is specifically designed for special education that is dynamic in way that it allows for learning usage based on the extent of the ability of the student with technology. These are technologies that the world of Ed. Tech must imagine and produce for the future of SET.

I have had my long frustrations with education, not just in the United States, but also when I was back in India. But in this post I want to talk about our beloved teachers:

I have been watching this YouTube TV series called Kota Factory, it is about a student, Vaibhav, in India who wants to get into IIT, so he goes on to live in Kota, a city/hub that mostly contains coaching centers that prepares students for various entrance examinations for schools like IIT. The show does a great job of showcasing education as a business commodity. One scene that particularly stuck out to me was when Vaibhav’s father was making the payment and was offering an additional sum of money so that his son could get into a better cohort. There are 10 or 12 cohorts (A1 through A12). A1 is the cohort for the best students who are usually provided with the best services from the coaching center, and A12 being the lower rated students with not so good services. The business runs on A1 students getting high ranks in the state and national rankings in these examinations so that the coaching centers can use the ranks of their students to boast and promote themselves to other incoming students. The students judge the coaching centers by looking at the percentage of the chance they have of getting into schools like IIT if they join that particular institute. Throughout the show aside from one or two teachers in the coaching center, all other teachers seem average, even below average. One particular teacher, Jeetu Bhaiya, who is the most favorite among students is shown to be heavily involved with students’ academic, social, and personal development. He deeply cares about his students, but all the other teachers fall way below the standard that Jeetu Bhaiya holds.

Looking back at my own educational experience, there were only a few teachers that I can honestly say that taught me well, and took care of me like Jeetu Bhaiya does. Shouldn’t that be the job of every teacher? To take care of student’s holistically. When we are hiring teachers, what are we looking for?

• Someone who conveys information? Conveys information well?
• Someone who while conveying information well, they are also engaging?
• Someone who cares about their students? Academically, socially, personally, emotionally?
• Someone who is a great public speaker?
• Someone who is flexible and adaptive?
• Someone who manages conflict well?
• Someone who is creative?
• Someone is passionate about the subject that they teach?

All these qualities were present in the teachers that had the most impact on me.

In the job description for most of the jobs there is a list of skills that employees look for, and there is usually a way to hold the worker accountable for their work. How do we hold our educator accountable? Especially in college, so many professors are experts who are horrible teachers, but they are kept in their positions regardless of their teaching abilities―perhaps because of their research and the money that the grants that they get will bring to the university, but the students in their classrooms suffer. Even in schools, passionless teachers go about their day blabbing out information without enthusiasm, and the students hate their classes but still have to sit through one because that’s what they are supposed to do. But is it too much to expect from our teachers considering the financial compensation that we give them for the work that they do? I often heard people say about the teaching job that “if you are in it for the money, you are in the wrong profession.” I hate it when they say it. Everyone wants to be compensated well and adequately for the job that they do. Teaching has to be the same. Teachers are abused financially by our education system. There needs to be an increase in the teacher’s salaries. In my imaginary educational system I have higher salaries, and have higher expectations for our teachers. One of the reasons we see teachers leaving their jobs is because of the imbalance between the work that they do and the money that they get for it. That’s a shame. 

A lot has been said about digital inequity. We all know at this point that the data clearly shows that digital equity has increased over time (read Closing the K-12 Digital Divide in the Age of Distance Learning). Here I want to talk about three issues that are the main pillars of digital equity. Without addressing these obvious problems, the digital divide cannot be closed.

1. Access to technology: The essence of the digital divide is access, and it starts with the obvious one―access to adequate technology. Adequate technology consists of desktop computers, laptops, and tablets; along with internet access that is 25/3 mbps (downloads/upload speeds) at a minimum. And it may surprise some of us, but about 15-16 million youth are without internet access or adequate devices at homes. 300k – 400k teachers are without adequate internet connectivity, but the impact of them not having adequate internet is magnified 16 times across their classrooms. And this data only consists of years prior to the pandemic. Insufficient funding for schools and affordability is the main reason for the digital divide. During the pandemic, the high demands for digital devices and the shortage of them left schools without technology even if they might have the funding for it. Without access to technology, especially during the pandemic, students are unable to continue their education in a flourishing manner. Their relationship with their teachers and their peers are cut off, learning loss, homework gaps, and lack of access to other resources like mental health, extra curricular, and special interests leaves students feeling like they are on a long vacation. 
2. Access to Knowledge of using technology: I remember one of my friends in college telling me that just by giving access to technology is not going to do anything, and I kept arguing with her to show her that Yes! It’s not going to do anything, but it is the first step. The second step is the access to the knowledge of how to use technology. I had a CS professor back at Georgetown who did not know how to open Adobe! I mean can you imagine a computer science professor not knowing how to open an adobe file on his laptop! One of us had to open it for him! He had the resources and access to technology, but he did not have the knowledge to use technology. So many teachers, who have used the traditional chalkboard method of teaching, may have had a really hard time moving to online teaching which requires the knowledge of using technology. The knowledge of using technology consists of the ability to use all the features of the device, and relevant software/applications necessary for teaching. 
3. Access to the knowledge of integrating technology for teaching and learning: Knowing how to use technology and knowing how to use technology for effective teaching and learning are two different things. The latter requires a pedagogical knowledge in relation to technology. Aside from the necessity created by the pandemic to use technology for teaching, we have also often seen teachers using technology for the sake of using technology without having a clear intent for the usage of technology. The knowledge of integrating technology for teaching and learning includes: the ability to identify when to use a certain appropriate technology for a certain lesson, or when it is best not to use any technology at all. It also includes the ability to design a lesson plan, if the use of technology is identified, incorporating technology for the best experience of the students. This sort of knowledge distinguishes meaningless usage of technology and meaningful usage of technology for learning and teaching. I think schools need a department of pedagogy that assists teachers in developing their pedagogical skills overall, specifically addressing the usage of technology within their classrooms.

This is my reflection on Dr. Browning M. Neddeau’s talk. Dr. Browning M. Neddeau (he/him/his) is enrolled in the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. He is a jointly appointed Assistant Professor of Elementary Teacher Education and American Indian Studies at California State University, Chico located in Chico, California, USA.

I have always been interested in learning about Native American struggles within the United States. I often wondered how it might feel like to live in the U.S. knowing the fact that historically the whole country is built on occupied land. I am glad that I got to listen to Dr. Browning Neddeau from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation (The People Of The Place Of The Fire). The Citizen Potawatomi Nation is a federally recognized government and it represents over 36,000 tribal members. Although it acts under a ratified constitution and has executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The relationship between the U.S. government and the recognized governments of the Native Americans, such as the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, is mainly political. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation governs all matters involving the members of their community. The U.S. government does provide services through the Indian Health Services, to the citizens of these nations and funding for programs as well. However, as Dr. Neddeau shared with us the perception of the U.S. in the Native Americans is that of mistrust and skeptical. For instance, when a Native Health Center asked for supplies to fight COVID-19, it was given a package full of body-bags only. Many non-Native American health clinics don’t even record the Native American’s identities appropriately in the clinics, and because of this the health data that the congressmen use to help them in allocating resources for the communities, the data is misrepresentative of the Native Americans and Native Alaskan numbers.

When COVID-19 hit, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation got $64 million in COVID-19 relief for the citizens of their nation. The funds were received sometime in July 2020 and must be spent by no later than December 31, 2020. The U.S. government did not help their perception within the Native American community when it gave them a 6 month deadline to spend $64 million dollars and then changed it well in the midway to almost a year. The change in the deadline caused confusion and disruption of the plans that were made based on the initial deadline. Dr. Neddeau asked us in the class, what would we do with that kind of money? How would we distribute the money among the Tribal citizens, with the contingency that the expenses must be related to a response to or a preparation for COVID-19? Immediately me and my classmates, said a huge part of the money must be spent on the medical needs (sanitizing materials, COVID-19 vaccination/testing stations, informational campaigns about the virus and the vaccines etc.), needs of the Native American educational systems and its citizens (laptops, internet services, a program for teaching the usage of the technology needed to thrive during the pandemic, etc.), and financially supporting Native Americans through giving relief funding to their businesses and individuals. 

Obviously, this was a textbook response to the questions how would you use the money for COVID relief purposes. The Challenges, as Dr. Neddeau pointed out, how would you go about the act of distributing the money, and making sure that the money went to those who were in need of it. He shared that some citizens did not have the technology to even apply for the relief funds, and paper forms were arranged for them. This was a challenge considering the fact that we wouldn’t paper forms would have been very hard to distribute in times when you want people to quarantine inside their homes. In order to solve one problem often you need to address other problems that are preventing you from solving that one problem. After the government had announced the relief funds to the tribal nations, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation saw a huge increase in the applications to be the member of the nation, claiming the tribal affinity. The challenge is determining if people just want the funds or if they are actually from the tribe? 

But $64 million is a lot of money so the new tribal members can be included in the distributions for funds. The opportunities lie in using this money wisely. Using it as a relief for COVID-19 while also spending it on infrastructure that will support the community even after the pandemic. Spending it on any educational reformations that are needed. Digitalizing those parts of the community that are deprived of access to technology. Establishing programs that work with non-Native American health facilities in order to collect accurate health data for the Native American health across the U.S. Establishing a long term plan for online education that is easily “transition-able” from in-person to online almost immediately―to better respond to future pandemic-like situations.