Zachery Mock![]() A country just across the border can feel like worlds apart when talking about aspects of culture. A leaf instead of stars and stripes, the Mounties instead of the police force, and Canadian bacon instead of ham (realistically the same thing). Our “Around the World” segment this week takes us to our friends just north of us: Canada! Home to about 5.1 million public school students, Canada is a thriving country as is the United States when discussing its education system. We are going to discuss the comparison between the two neighboring countries and see if one of the largest shared borders in the world splits just two countries apart. Or rather splits two opposing ideas apart. Who truly is more technologically advanced in the classroom? First we must observe what the main differences are between the United States and Canada with the addition of technology in their classrooms. Canadian schools obviously have some differences compared to American schools. To begin, Canada has a different outlook on internet usage when compared to the United States. 77% of homes in Canada are equipped with internet access. This is surprising since only 73% of American homes have broadband access to the internet. Personally, I always figured that the U.S. statistically had broader connection when it came to the internet. It is also an interesting fact when you consider that there are more cityscapes spread across the United States than in Canada. Another major difference between the two countries is the access that each student has with devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers. For students in Canada grades 3-5, about 18% of them have easy access to a tablet (Editorial Team). Compared to students of the United States, the ratio of students to number of technology devices they own is 1:3.6 (EdTech in the United States); these statistics do not surprise me. Every time I turn around I see another kid with a piece of technology. I was never actually scared about the future of humanity until I heard of a 5-year-old receiving an IPhone for a Christmas present (this is no joke)! Pulling from my past, my classmates and I never received tablets/laptops throughout our times in middle and high school. I always thought I was cheated out because of this, but I am glad at the same time that I got to learn how to use a laptop and tablet on my own time and at my own pace. Looking deeper into the facts about Canada’s technological advances in education facilities, it is clear that they wish to continue moving forward in the advancement of technology for students. And it is clear that the students want to continue this advancement, as well, with 46% of students saying they want to electronically connect with their teachers via e-mail outside of class time. In college this function has worked wonders for me. I can name multiple times where I desperately needed help with an assignment and contacting my professor outside of class time saved my life. It makes sense why students are pushing for the ability to advance their technological uses within the classroom. Speaking from personal experience as a student at a school in the United States, I feel technology for educational purposes is rapidly increasing faster than we can ditch the old chalkboards. Laptops, tablets, and smart phones all come into play on a daily basis in order for me to live up to my full potential as a college student. Even as a high schooler, I was challenged with tasks of papers that I typed on my laptop and the occasional Kahoot! game one had to access from their smart phone onto the Smartboard that was all monitored by our teacher. The main concern for Canada being behind as far as devices per student is because there is more device activity here in the U.S. The top largest cities here in the United States add up to over 20 million people approximately. In Canada, the top largest cities do not even reach 10 million people. A big issue with expanding technology in Canada is the number of people that reside in the country. The less people there are, the more likely government funding is going towards projects to improve the growth rate of the country as a whole and not solely the education system. This lack in funding cuts down on public school’s opportunity to expand themselves technologically and from there the students are expected to continue learning through older media. The other aspect that puts the United States ahead in the technology race is the diversity of our device access we have. As I mentioned before, a fun day in the classroom for us in high school was using our smartphones to play an online game against one another in the class with trivia questions displayed on a smartboard. The U.S is constantly updating normal ways of life by vamping up the technology we include in our daily lives. This includes vamping up the classroom experience, as well. It allows us to become more advanced with the usage of technology, but it also means that less money is being put in opposing areas of the educational system. So, who is the top dog in this battle? Both countries continue to advance their educational technology usage as time goes on; however, Canada is just slower in its progress than the U.S. But the U.S. is so rapid with their classroom updates that it is tough for some teachers to keep up with the times. I feel both countries have the right idea and are just going through the process at opposing rates. These two countries may be split by one border. But truly are two worlds themselves. Works Cited Editorial Team. “[Infographic] How Canadians are Integrating Technology Into the Classroom.” EdTech Review. 18 September 2014. Web. 15 October 2017. “EdTech in the United States Infographic.” Educational Technology Infographics. 28 July 2015. Web. 15 October 2017. Rainie, Lee & Cohn, D’Vera. “Census: Computer Ownership, Internet Connection Varies Widely Across U.S.” Pew Research Center. 19 September 2014. Web. 15 October 2017.
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