Overview

When you hear the word access you usually think of that meaning that everyone has access, but that is not always the case. Through Wikipedia accessibility is defined as the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. When you talk about accessibility in the school system that should mean that everyone in the school has access to the same things, but again, that is not always the case. If people do have access does that mean their access is the same as others? The answer is no.

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Lets say that a student in the classroom has an Iphone with the internet but does not have a computer, while another student has a computer, they do not have the same access because although you can do almost the same things on each of these components they are both very different. If the student that has an Iphone but not a computer needs to type a paper, that is extremely different than typing on a keyboard of a computer. It would take the student a significantly longer period of time typing on an Iphone than it would on the computer. Now this does not even take into account the students with neither an Iphone or computer with internet access. Although there are libraries that students can go to and use their computers the issue arrives of if the student even has transportation to get to the library.

Students not having equal access to technology can definitely affect their achievement levels in school. According to "Technology's Impact ON Learning" technology can enhance the achievement of all students if used properly. Even outside of school access comes into play. In class we had watched a video on a child who did not have access to a computer and how because of that he had no idea that there were other schools around that would challenge him more that he could apply to get into. His older brother had went online and researched for him and found out this information for him so that he could get a better education. Had this child had access to a computer they could of maybe had got him into a different school sooner if they would have known about it. Access also comes into play with the news. Besides the newspaper a lot of the news is broadcasted through media such as television, cell phones, and computers. It takes a day to get the newspaper to find out the information that happened the day before but it could take less than five minutes to find out something that had just happened on the internet or television.

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Resource 1:
"Accessibility". Wikipedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, May 18, 2013. Article. May 25, 2013.
Resource 2:
"Technology's Impact On Learning". Technology's Impact On Learning. NSBA. Article. May 31, 2013