BY BETH TRACEYELED 318

FALL 2009

MTTS 1, 2, & 3: Synthesis of Information &

Multimedia Project

Why?

To complete a review of the

literature on the legal, social, and ethical issues to become familiar with the primary concerns/policie

s associated with each.

Important Topics:

Ethical Issues

Digital Divide

Legal Use of Media

Ethical issues for safety and security

There are many different areas of ethical concern for the safety and security of students in a classroom as well as professional environment.

Ethical issues for safety and security include topics such as:

Social Networking Acceptable Use Policies Netiquette Cyber Bullying Student Data Internet Privacy

Definition:Definition: Issues for Students:Issues for Students:

In education, this is when a group of teachers with a common interest get together to try to learn from each other, teachers can find each other on web sites and keep in touch through e-mail about ideas, lessons, and even how to handle certain issues in the classroom.

This is a great tool for teachers! For example, first year teachers can get ideas for their classroom from other, wiser teachers, they don’t have to figure it out on their own.

“Unsafe disclosure of personal information”Students feeling the need to share to much online with strangers.

“Addiction”Students spending to much time online and not enough time in the “real world”.

“Risky sexual behavior”Students having problems with adults.

“Cyber bullying”Students bulling other students on the web.

“Dangerous communities”Students getting in touch with people or knowledge that is dangerous to them.

Social Networking

Definition:Definition: Issues:Issues:

A policy in schools that “clearly defines appropriate and inappropriate use of classroom computers”.

AUP’s are helpful as well as putting appropriate filters on computers used by students.

AUP’s are not the substitute to adult supervision and will never come to be the best way to watch out for kids on the internet. “The frequency with which new and potentially dangerous sites are added to the internet that goal a practical impossibility.”

Acceptable Use Policies

Definition:Definition: Issues:Issues:

The etiquette you practice over the internet and on the computer.

Not everyone has proper netiquette, as teachers we need to promote it to our students by not downloading illegal music or videos, showing students that it is wrong to bully someone whether it is online and in person as well as to give students the tools to go online and be safe.

Netiquette

Definition:Definition: Issues:Issues:

“Being cruel to others by sending or posting harmful material online or through a cell phone, or by engaging in other cruel actions.”

This problem is becoming more and more frequent, “MySpace, FaceBook, and other sites have been the scene of cyberbullying and online predation”.

As teachers we need to make sure our students are comfortable enough to come talk to us about these issues as well as checking up on the websites they are using in the classroom and why they would be using that site.

Cyber Bullying

CHILDNET INTERNATIONAL: CYBERBULLYING

“Cyberbullying is bullying”

Definition:Definition: Issues:Issues:

Students contact information, grades and student work.

This is a helpful tool to have online in the classroom because “Creating a database record for each student is class allows a neat, easy-to-update filing system.”

When everything is put on the computer is not necessarily private information, it can be easily hacked or accidently deleted. To prevent these things teachers always need to make sure they have a backup file in a different location, like a zip drive at home and password protect everything, making it harder to access the information in the first place.

Student Data

Definition:Definition: Issues:Issues:

Individual Privacy: your identity and private/personal information.

Web Privacy: what your doing on the web as well as personal information about you.

Individual Privacy: there are problems with people stealing your identity and personal information

Web Privacy: someone could be stalking you electronically, knowing exactly who you are and what you’re doing.

It’s important for teachers to be aware of these issues so they can better protect their students.

Internet Privacy

Digital Divide

“The gap between people with effective

access to digital information and technology and those with very

limited or no access at all.”

The digital divide includes topics such as:

Gender Socio economic Race Resource equity Teacher bias

Gender

Gender is an important thing to keep in mind when creating software for children. Creators of educational programs but be aware that both boys and girls will be using this software so it has to be user friendly for both or unisex. Right now a lot of technology is being aimed towards men, so this is something to be aware of when picking out technology to use in your classroom.

Socio Economic

“Many studies have found that literacy exists in low-SES (low socioeconomic status) children's daily lives--it is the meaning, frequency of use, depth, and general use of literacy at home that affect the children's progress in school.” Usually this affect for low SES students is negative.

Race

SES plays a role in the literacy of children. The lower the SES, typically the lower the literacy because students don’t get any practice outside of school. If children aren’t literate then the chances of them being prone to using technology is low.

Resource Equality

Some schools get more funding then others, this is resource equality. The goal is that all schools will have the same resources available but that is not the reality. The lower the schools test scores the less money that school receives to put towards things like technology. Teachers can improve their resources by looking for grants to use in their classroom.

Resource Equality

Teacher Bias

The amount of technology used in the classroom is really up to the teacher.Older Teachers-

Tend not to use as much technology in their classroom.

Teachers also have to be careful not to overuse technology in the classroom, it’s important for students to learn how to use it, but technology can’t do everything a lesson does.

For example: Students could virtually dissect an animal; but they wouldn’t get the full experience of doing it themselves or have the opportunity to explore some important aspects of the lesson.

Legal Use of Digital

Media

This section is about how to use digital media and things you need to look out for before you use it.

Issues involving the legal use of digital media:

Copyright Fair Use Creative Commons

Copyright

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law in 1998. This act provides law to protect digital sources from copyright.

“Under federal copyright law, no copyrighted worj may be copied, published, disseminated, displayed, performed, or played without permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with fair use or licensed agreement.”

Fair Use

“Four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair: The purpose and character of the use, including

whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes

The nature of the copyrighted work The amount and substantiality of the portion used

in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole The effect of the use upon the potential market

for, or value of, the copyrighted work”

Creative Commons

“Share, Remix, Reuse — LegallyCreative Commons is a nonprofit

organization that increases sharing and improves collaboration”

This is a great resource for teachers because you can look at project ideas, wikis, and get news updates as well as see what’s going on with education internationally.

Work Cited Page:

Willard, N. (2006). Schools and online social networking. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/issues/issues423.shtml

Bitter, G.G., & Legacy, J.M. (2006). Using Technology in the classroom. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Unavoidable ethical questions about social networking. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/social-networking.html

Peterson, M.E.H. (1997). Low-ses literacy backgrounds: effects on formal schooling. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED408559&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED408559

U.S. Copywrite Office, Initials. (2009). Copyright: fair use. Retrieved from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

  Creative commons. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://creativecommons.org/

Childnet international-cyberbullying. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNumIY9D7uY