ABSTRACT
Digital Learning in High-Needs Schools examines the challenges and affordances that arise when high-needs school communities integrate educational technologies into their unique settings. Although remote, blended, and networked learning are ubiquitous today, a number of cultural, economic, and political realities—from the digital divide and digital literacy to poverty and language barriers—affect our most vulnerable and under-resourced teachers and students. This book uses critical theory to compassionately scrutinize and unpack the systemic issues that impact high-needs schools’ implementation of digital learning tools. Incisive sociocultural analyses across fifteen original chapters explore the intersection of society, technology, people, politics, and education in high-needs school contexts. Informed by real-world cases pertaining to technology infrastructure, formative feedback, Universal Design for Learning, and more, these chapters illuminate how best practices emerge from culturally responsive and context-specific foundations.
Section 1: Understanding the Intersection of Students, Families, and Schooling in High-Needs Communities 1. Understanding the Sociocultural and Sociopolitical Contexts of U.S. High-Needs Public Schools Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic 2. Ramifications of the Digital Divide on Cognitive Development and School Preparedness 3. Strategies to Help For Administrators, Teachers, and Parents to Achieve Equitable Digital Learning in U.S. High-Needs School Communities Section 2: Vision and Leadership for Digital Learning in High-Needs Communities 4. Bridging the Digital Divide: An Analysis of Federal, State, and Local Policies in U.S. Schools 5. The Role of Twitter for Professional Development and Learning in High-Needs Schools: Considerations for School Leaders 6. Feedback, Evaluation, and Grading: The Unique Considerations Distance Learning Poses to the Evaluation Cycle and the Task of Ensuring Equitable Practices 7. Students’ Informational Needs: Applying the Principles of Universal Design to Address Inequity in High-Needs Schools During Virtual Learning Section 3: Pedagogical Strategies and Digital Tools Across the Curriculum
8. Content-Neutral Technologies as a Pedagogical Response in High-Needs Schools and Communities: Design Thinking, Making, and Learning 9. Strategies to Facilitate Digital Learning in Urban High-Needs Social Studies Classrooms 10. Designing a Culturally Responsive Multilingual Arts-Integration Program: Read-Aloud and Book-Inspired Art-Making Videos 11. The Influence of an Online Mathematics Activity on Elementary School Students’ Engagement and Learning in a High-Needs Context 12. Digital Learning for Students With Disabilities 13. Using Bitmoji® and Google Classroom® to Support Remote Literacy Instruction in High-Needs Schools 14. A Whole New World: Virtual Excursions for Learners From Urban Settings 15. Rural Social Studies Teachers’ Post-Pandemic Use of Technology Tools
