Activity #9

Without training, when school administration simply hands out technology tools to teachers and expects the teacher to figure out how to use the tools on their own, I can see how these scenarios could take place. (see scenarios 1 and 2 below)

Ethically, in Scenario 2 Mr. Kirk needed to consider the fact that giving the students technology tools without policies and procedures allowed for a carte blanche approach - students could explore without limits until told to do otherwise.  He gave students the means with which they could have access to other students work as well as the access to changing others’ work.

It is not as clear in Scenario 1 whether Miss Starbuck omitted a policy and procedures discussion with students and parents prior to using the technology for discussion, but she hadn’t discussed her use of technology with the principal.  A discussion prior to instruction, a principal has the opportunity to help think about possible pitfalls and pre-emptive steps.   The principal could help the teacher review the policies and procedures that the district has in place.  It would also help the principal address concerns by parents after instruction began.

Student physical safety may not have been jeopardized in scenario 2 with Mr. Kirk, but student well-being is at risk in instances of cyberbullying. The negative psychological effects of this type of bullying is now well-documented.   Student safety with Miss Starbuck in scenario 1 was definitely at issue as private information about individual  students was given out in the blogosphere.

Teachers embarking on the use of technology need to define classroom rules and acceptable use before putting tools in student hands.  Posting expectations as a year-round reminder is a helpful step, and alerting parents to expectations and district policies provides another source to help students explicitly understand how technology can be used positively.

In scenario 2 with Mr. Kirk, the incidences where students were able to change others’ work could have been avoided with proper privacy setting instruction prior to utilizing Google apps with students.  Expectations for privacy in creating and commenting on blogs would have been helpful in scenario 1 as well.  

The Moundsview resources Acceptable Use policies below help teachers to plan instruction prior to technology use, gives parents an understanding of district expectations, and provides a tool that teachers can present to students for class discussion.  A couple of pertinent excerpts for scenarios 1 &  2 include:

Restrictions and Limitations on Acceptable Use Access to the District’s System is a privilege. The District may revoke the access of any user who violates any District policy or applicable law. In addition, users are prohibited from using the District System or personal electronic devices to send or receive messages, pictures, or documents that are fraudulent, illegal, pornographic, obscene, indecent, sexually explicit, discriminatory, harassing, defamatory, threatening, or which are intended to promote or incite violence against person or property. Any electronic recording, including audio and visual, or staff or students is not allowed without the express written permission of those being recorded.

All teachers and staff will follow the acceptable use policy and accompanying regulations. Individual teachers will define their classroom rules as it pertains to the use of personal or school provided electronic devices within the boundaries of their classrooms as long as they do not exceed those expressed in the policy and regulation. The teacher’s acceptable use policy will be posted in the room, in the course syllabus and on the teacher’s web page.

While I have not personally experienced the types of incidences described in these scenarios, I have seen a couple of very disturbing situations with my own children over the last 8 years.  When my daughter was in middle school, a friend of hers created a Facebook page for her without her knowledge. The friend used my daughter’s personal information to create a public page.  While she did not post anything negative, the ability of someone to do this so easily was frightening.  At the time,  I had to explain to my daughter why this was scary - it did not occur to her that she needed to have control over her private information and public image on social media.

A second incident played out in the social media realm amongst my children’s peers when a student wrote an anonymous hateful letter about a gay student.  The letter called for violent acts against the homosexual student.  On a positive note, there was an outpouring of positive support for the student, and a public denouncement of the contents of the letter.  These types of public debates seem to create extremely polarized and skewed opinions among young people.  I worry that the uncontrolled conversation can become based more in vitriolic opinion rather than in reasoned conversation.

I will plan lesson prior to handing out Chromebooks to my class that include district policy, posting expectations in the classroom, and presenting students with scenarios that could be damaging to themselves and to their peers.  Ongoing discussion around many of the  literacy standards could also help students to mature into productive online discussion and collaboration:  determining fact versus opinion, justification for thinking, point of view . . .  I will limit instruction and access to small parts of the Google suite to start with, controlling privacy settings, and rolling out access to more public student blogs and website until later as students show the ability and maturity to handle these parts of the Google suite will be important in avoiding the ethically compromising situations described in the scenarios with Mr. Kirk and Miss Starbuck.

Scenario 1

Miss Starbuck decided to have her reading students use Blogger to create blog posts.  The students were really excited about the idea.  Many started to log in from home to create posts and comment on each other's work, but their posts quickly got out of hand.  One student figured out how to post photos and included dangerous details like names and locations.  Other students posted mean comments about classmates.   An angry parent complained to the principal, who was unaware that Miss Starbuck was using Blogger in the first place.  

Scenario 2

Mr. Kirk is excited to use Google Apps for Education with his third grade students.  He jumps in with both feet and his classes are off and running.  Because he started so quickly, he never thought about putting policies and procedures in place.  After a few weeks, students are spending more time off task than on.  They are creating and sharing Docs as a way to bully each other, adding inappropriate comments in Google Classroom, and deleting or changing other students' work.  Mr. Kirk doesn't know what to do, so he suspends all technology use in his class, abandoning it completely and any of its benefits.