Moral and Legal Issues

 

    The use of technology in the classroom has the power to greatly enhance engagement and education as a whole. However, with this power comes the responsibility for students to learn how to use resources effectively and safely. In the video "Importance of Teaching Digital Citizenship" (2014), teaching digital citizenship is compared to teaching 16 year-olds to drive. You wouldn't give a 16 year-old a license without learning the rules of the road, so why would you give a student Internet access without learning the rules of the web? With digital citizenship comes a plethora of moral and legal issues, which will be described below.

Moral issues

     I think the most prevalent moral issue associated with technology use is teaching students about cyber bullying. Many students think of their online worlds and their real worlds as entirely different entities. They do not think about how their actions online could impact their relationships in person. Students need to be taught what cyber bullying is, because many of them might do it without even realizing so. For example, leaving a sarcastic comment on a friend's picture might not seem like bullying, but it has the potential to hurt the friend's feelings, which is considered bullying. Students need to know to recognize and stop cyber bullying.

     Another moral issue in today's schools is confidentiality. Students need to see how anything that is posted online can be viewed by anyone around the world, and that it never disappears. For example, teachers have to think about cyber predators before posting any pictures of their class (Burt, 2010). Many teachers and schools do like to use images because they promote a sense of reflection and pride when the world sees your learning in action (Burt, 2010). However, teachers should not include students' last names on any pictures or videos posted online.

    Lastly, schools need to consider what should be kept public vs. private. There are arguments to be made for both sides, such as that posting things like blogs or presentations publicly could boost global media education, while keeping things private could limit the global learning aspect and stifle the project's momentum (Burt, 2010). In my opinion, teachers should be encouraging of students to share their work in wikis, blogs, or presentations publicly. However, teachers must also teach students what this means and teach them how to be safe when doing so. For example, students need to be able to recognize when a cyber predator has commented on their blog and know how to block and report the person.

Legal issues

     One of the most wide-spread legal issues in technology today is plagiarism.  Plagiarism occurs when a student copies someone else's language, ideas, or material without giving credit to them (The Council of Writing Program Administrators, 2003). It can happen for a variety of reasons, such as that students as afraid of failing, have poor time-management skills, or the school does not enforce penalties (The Council of Writing Program Administrators, 2003). To avoid plagiarism, students need to be taught how to cite sources as well as the importance of doing so. The availability of resources on the Internet makes plagiarism much too easy for students to do, and they need to understand the legal protocol behind it.

     Legal issues can get messy when schools have no policies developed. If anything negative happens while a student is using the Internet and they have not signed an acceptable use policy, the school could get in huge trouble. For this reason, schools and administrators need to ensure they have developed acceptable use policies, social media policies, and even policies about bring your own device (Module four, n.d.).

     The main idea is that students want to be safe on the internet, but it is the teachers' and parents' jobs to teach students how to do so.

References

Burt, R. (2010, Nov. 30). We should talk: What are you doing to ensure student safety online? Edublogs. Retrieved from http://edublogs.org/2010/11/30/we-should-talk-what-are-you-doing-to-ensure-student-safety-online/

Common Sense Media (2014). Importance of teaching digital citizenship. Retrieved from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/the-importance-of-teaching-digital-citizenship

Module four: Ethical, legal, and moral practices in technology (n.d.). Retrieved from bb.snhu.edu

The council of Writing Program Administrators (2003, Jan.) Defining and avoiding plagiarism: The WPA statement on best practices. Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/node/9

Using Blended Learning to Promote Global Education

What is blended learning?

     When you think about today's classrooms, you might picture a variety of things. You might see a teacher lecturing a class using traditional materials and methods. Or you might see students engaged using different forms of technology. Blended learning is an approach to education that combines the traditional methods of teaching with computer facilitated activities (Module three, n.d.). Blended learning has the power to be the greatest model for education we have ever created. With the blended learning approach, students are in the drivers' seat of their own education. By participating in interactive  activities using technology, students are able to learn the same skill but at their own individual pace (HighlandInst, 2013). Blended learning allows teachers to reach every student by providing differentiated instruction that the students are the leaders of. 

How can blended learning promote global education?

      It is clear that blended learning is an effective model for classroom instruction. Blended learning can be thought of as the mixture between traditional and distance learning (Educationelements, 2011). It is about immersing students in digital content that provides them with skills and practice in mastering content material. This is all great, but how does it connect to a global education?

     The variety of global education tools available today are extraordinary. Students can use wikis, blogs, RSS feeds such as Twitter, videos, or podcasts to learn from different people around the world. Teachers can arrange for video hangouts using Google or Yahoo, or students can Skype directly with partners around the world. These activities can take place during the school day to allow students to gain information about a topic of study. Students can also use project-based learning sites like ePals to become directly connected with other classrooms. With this site, students e-mail each other to learn more about desired topics.

     With the blended learning approach, students engage in traditional learning as well as technology-enhanced learning. This means that the entire school day is not spent Skyping with another class. Skyping with a class could be one part of a lesson, while another part is writing a reflection or completing an assignment with the material discussed during the video conference. Students might use ePals to communicate with other students, but they would also complete a traditional project that demonstrates mastery of learning objectives. 

     The environment with a blended learning classroom provides individualized instruction as well as differentiated small-group instruction (Educationelements, 2011). This environment is possible to achieve while promoting a global education. Teachers must learn about available tools to enhance students proficiency in technology as well as global education.

    The video below helps to describe blended learning a little bit more.

References

Educationelements (2011, Sep 24) The basics of blended learning. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xMqJmMcME0

HighlandInst (2013, Jan 24). Blended learning at the RI model school. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BGoqKN_Od0

Module three: Blended learning: An integrated approach (n.d.). Retrieved from bb.snhu.edu