The Social Justice and Digital Equity Symposium at the SITE conference on March 23 2003, will be a joint effort of the Digital Equity Network and the Site Equity and Social Justice Committee.  It will be a day long symposium that will focus on Social Justice and Equity in the morning and Digital Equity and Resources in the afternoon.

With the location of the SITE convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico, you will have an opportunity to learn first hand about the accomplishments of the Native Americans. The success they have had and how these successes can serve as a model for others that face great difficulty in Internet access. In our discussions and planning during the symposium, you will also have the opportunity to learn what you can to do to accelerate efforts to bring social justice to all citizens. One of the key figures in this area, Karen Buller is a member of the Steering Committee and will be sharing her expertise and provide many examples for consideration and understanding.

The Symposium will run from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. There will be two breaks and lunch served during the symposium.

Social Justice and Equity--Morning sessions will consist of three parts as follows:

Part 1: An exploration of the access and social justice activities and
accomplishments from the Native American perspective.

Part 2: An exploration of the commonalities of needs for access and social
justice in education.

Part 3: Developing action plans and educational programs that will work.
This will be done in small focus groups and shared with all attendees to
refine the ideas.

Digital Equity and Resources--Afternoon session will also consist of three parts:

Part 1:  Brief consideration of the major barriers to addressing digital equity in education

• Awareness: Lack of awareness among educators that digital divide challenges exist.

• Affect: lack of faith/hope that it is even possible to personally address these challenges with any success.

• Knowledge: lack of familiarity with strategies for locating individuals and             organizations that can assist one in improving access to learning technology resources for students and their families, and educators.

Part 2: An exploration of strategies and resources participants can use to foster more awareness, self-confidence and knowledge among future and current educators to recognize and address digital equity concerns in their classroom and community. (Discussion in small groups then the whole group culminating in identifying and sharing concrete resources and steps by which participants could address digital equity in meaningful, practical ways in their own professional practice.)

Part 3: An exploration of collaborative steps that participants could follow to widely disseminate information about strategies and resources teacher education programs could use to foster such awareness, self-confidence, and knowledge on larger scales nationally and internationally. (This section will generate discussion that is substantive, starting in small groups and then synthesizing the results in whole group discussion by focusing on ways in which participants can leverage the resources of SITE and the Digital Equity Network, schools and teacher education programs to encourage awareness and implementation of digital equity strategies by current and future educators.)

If the attendees are willing, we will develop a report of the day's proceedings and distribute this electronically both to participants, through web, listserv, and SITE's forums.

Fee: Symposium registration is $65 and includes Morning and Afternoon Beverage Breaks and Lunch.