This document discusses using technology and differentiation strategies to achieve educational equity. It outlines how technology can help differentiate content, process, and products for assessment. Assistive technologies can help students with disabilities. Culturally responsive teaching views student backgrounds as assets. Learner-centered strategies include meeting social needs through collaboration, cognitive needs through various thinking skills, and metacognitive needs through reflection. Overall the document provides guidance for teachers on using technology and differentiation to create an equitable learning environment.

1. Educational Equity:
Understanding Assistive/Adaptive
Technology and Diversity
J. Kennedy
Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School

2. Benchmark Study-
National Educational Computing Conference,
2009
 Using technology is an absolute must for the 21st Century Learner; however,
according to a 2009 study, schools “are still weak in their use of technology
for assessments and creating educational equity” (THE, 2009)

3. Differentiation
 Achieving Educational Equity
 When differentiating, teachers need to be aware of:
 Different Learning Styles
 Multiple Intelligences
 Disabilities

4. Using Technology for Differentiation
 Technology can help teachers differentiate:
1. Content (what you are teaching)
Ex.) WebQuests
2. Process (how students are learning)
Ex.) Digital Storyboarding
3. Product (the assessment)
Ex.) Blogging

5. Assistive Technologies
 Many computers have built-in accessibility features that can help exceptional
students.
 Assistive Technologies help students with disabilities communicate through
pictures, words, and symbols

6. Being a Culturally Responsive Teacher
 Six Key Behaviors of a culturally responsive teacher. They:
 Are socially conscious
 View students’ backgrounds as assets rather than liabilities
 Feel personally responsible for helping schools be more responsive to all students
 Know about the lives of their students
 Design instruction building upon prior knowledge and experiences; stretches them
beyond the familiar

7. Learner-Centered Strategies:
Meeting the Social Needs of Students
Creating a Collaborative Environment
 Teachers need to create an invitational learning environment. They do that
through:
 Modeling- Thinking out loud and showing students how they work through
problematic situations
 Questioning: Challenging students to go beyond what they can find doing a simple
search.
 Quality Responding: Communicating sincere in knowing about students’ thoughts
and feelings in classroom interactions
 Peer interactions: Encouraging genuine discussion and buy-in from peers
 Reflective journals: Providing students with a platform to share thoughts and
feelings

8. Learner-Centered Strategies:
Meeting the Cognitive Needs of Students
 Teachers need to provide opportunities in learning that promote different
kinds of thinking:
 Observing closely and describing what’s there
 Building explanations and interpretations
 Reasoning with evidence
 Making connections
 Considering different viewpoints and perspectives
 Capturing the heart and forming conclusions
 Wondering and asking questions
 Uncovering complexity and going below the surface

9. Learner-Centered Strategies:
Meeting the Metacognitive Needs of Students
 Metacognition: Thinking about thinking
 How can teachers get students to think about how they think through
challenges, activities, and situations.
 Reflection is key!
 Provide students with time and space to reflect.
 Reflection does not become a habit unless it is used continually.

10. Bibliography
 Cennamo, K. S., Ross, J. D., Ertmer, P. A., & POTTER (2014). Technology
integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach.
United States: Wadsworth Publishing Co.
 Tech Adoption Still a Work in Progress: New Research Shows Mixed Results in
K-20’s Effort to Achieve Technology-Integrated Instruction
(2009). Technological Horizons In Education, 36(7), 10.