Standard 6
SocialNet Site
Copyright ChristinaHum
Copyright ChristinaHum
Chisholm (1998) states the dilemma rather eloquently when he says, “Ultimately, educational technology can only be as effective as how teachers implement it.”
“Can you please tell me how your website is safe for my students?” This is the question I received from one of my long-term customers one day via email. As a business owner, and a independent educator, I was responsible for making sure that students were safe and used proper etiquette on our social network. Not to mention maintaining their safety and privacy, while providing experiences that met such a variety of students needs. In fact, when we had first decided to share photos and videos that could provide enrichment for the students, we discovered that most schools block Youtube and Flickr. So we rolled our own photo and video gallery, which had no advertisements and could be maintained safely. In addition, we used websites like NING that provided a walled-garden social network, but once they started to charge, we quickly realized the need to once again roll our own social network. So, to answer that teachers email, “Have a look at our policies and use page, as well as the student expectations page.”
“Can you please tell me how your website is safe for my students?” This is the question I received from one of my long-term customers one day via email. As a business owner, and a independent educator, I was responsible for making sure that students were safe and used proper etiquette on our social network. Not to mention maintaining their safety and privacy, while providing experiences that met such a variety of students needs. In fact, when we had first decided to share photos and videos that could provide enrichment for the students, we discovered that most schools block Youtube and Flickr. So we rolled our own photo and video gallery, which had no advertisements and could be maintained safely. In addition, we used websites like NING that provided a walled-garden social network, but once they started to charge, we quickly realized the need to once again roll our own social network. So, to answer that teachers email, “Have a look at our policies and use page, as well as the student expectations page.”
Standard 6: Educational technology leaders understand the social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the use of technology in P-12 schools and develop programs facilitating application of that understanding in practice throughout their district/ region/state.
A. Model and teach legal and ethical practice related to technology use.
B. Apply technology resources to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities.
C. Identify and use technology resources that affirm diversity.
D. Promote safe and healthy use of technology resources.
E. Facilitate equitable access to technology resources for all students.
Statement: The concept that technology begins with whatever you have and how you use it is where accessibility and diversity comes in. Technology is a tool to help lighten the load. If it is not helping to lighten the load or provide a better learning experience, then it is no longer a useful tool.
Artifact 1: Social Network Site Policies
Artifact 2: Copyright, Internet safety, and Basic Searching Blog Entries
Artifact 3: Glogster copyright poster and lesson plan on teaching a class about copyright
Artifact 4: Research paper on Multimedia and Diversity
Artifact 5: Videoconference content programs that Kigluait Adventures
Artifact 6: Wikispaces and this link to our Class Pages.
A. Model and teach legal and ethical practice related to technology use.
B. Apply technology resources to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities.
C. Identify and use technology resources that affirm diversity.
D. Promote safe and healthy use of technology resources.
E. Facilitate equitable access to technology resources for all students.
Statement: The concept that technology begins with whatever you have and how you use it is where accessibility and diversity comes in. Technology is a tool to help lighten the load. If it is not helping to lighten the load or provide a better learning experience, then it is no longer a useful tool.
Artifact 1: Social Network Site Policies
Artifact 2: Copyright, Internet safety, and Basic Searching Blog Entries
Artifact 3: Glogster copyright poster and lesson plan on teaching a class about copyright
Artifact 4: Research paper on Multimedia and Diversity
Artifact 5: Videoconference content programs that Kigluait Adventures
Artifact 6: Wikispaces and this link to our Class Pages.
What does this standard mean to me?
Copyright Richard
and Christina Hum
and Christina Hum
Like any tool in our world, it is only as effective as how a teacher decides to use. Or as a famous female folk hero, Ani DiFranco, says in her song entitled My IQ Song, “Every tool is a weapon if you hold right.” Technology can be an amazing supporting tool to help students of diverse backgrounds and abilities to be successful, where they may not have been otherwise. By understanding how the tool is used, the possibilities of the tool, and how the tool can be dangerous, can result on strong learner outcomes. But with lack of understanding, misuse, or ignorance can result in legal, moral and unethical issues, ranging from cyber-bullying to copyright infringement. The following explanations will further detail this concept.
To begin with, educational technologists will model and teach using appropriate legal and ethical practices whenever they use technology. Legal practices include issues such as copyright, online etiquette, accessibility, digital footprints and privacy in relation to FERPA and CIPA regulations, etc. Perhaps the biggest argument opponents make is the unsafe nature of the Internet because it is fraught with pornography, racist and violent content, not to mention the predators lurking behind social networks. Research done in 2007, showed that “Both teen and adult use of social networking sites has risen significantly, yet there are shifts and some drops in the proportion of teens using several social networking site features” (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zichur, 2010). As a result, 2007 brought a request from all 50 state Attorney Generals to do more to protect users online through research done a task force by the Harvard's Berkman Center. “Those risks that do exist don't appear to be specific to the online world, as the report suggests, ‘the risks minors face online are complex and multifaceted and are in most cases not significantly different than those they face offline.’ As one of the participants stated, ‘the truth is that there is no 'Internet safety,' there is simply 'safety'” (Timmer, 2009).
This resulted in due-diligence by school districts and sites that had a target audience of youth to review and/or create adequate acceptable use policies. Some of the components commonly found in AUP’s include:
Furthermore, it is recommended that the Educational Technology coordinator (CTO) “participate in the development of policies that clearly enforce privacy, confidentiality, and copyright law and assign ownership of intellectual property developed with district resources” (CoSN, 2009, Ethics and Policies), as well as clear communication expectations and etiquette for both teachers and students, so both are able to interact and encourage interaction online between and amongst one another. In addition, including these in a student orientation can help to address CIPA (Child Internet Protection Act) and other policies issued around NCLB. “Section 215 is most relevant to schools and requires them, as part of their Internet safety policy, to educate minors about appropriate online behavior. This includes how to interact with others on social networking websites and in chat rooms as well as cyber-bullying awareness and response” (CoSN, 2010, What are the key federal laws affecting Internet access, safety and, social networking in schools?). Chisholm (1998) corroborates this by stating, “[in order] to prepare children for the technological, informational, and interpersonal challenges of the next century, schools need to implement instructional strategies that develop technological and interpersonal skills.”
However, Internet safety is not the only job that an educational technology leader needs to provide. Leaders also need to be able to facilitate equitable access to technology resources for all students. This means not only making sure that all students have equal and fair access to technology in school, but also having available access to technology outside of school if needed or required by teachers. In addition, once access to technology has been managed, technology resources can then be utilized regularly to help empower and enable the learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities in mind.
For example, “E-learning practitioners call personal learning environments -- mashup spaces comprising del.icio.us feeds, blog posts, podcast widgets -- whatever resources students need to document, consume or communicate their learning across disciplines” (Andrews, 2007). Such capabilities allow for students to demonstrate their learning or reach understanding in a variety of ways.
Moreover, Sales (2001) stated that, “Those with limited reading and writing skills function less effectively in environments where reading and writing are emphasized (instead of talking and listening, for example).” In addition, she found that, “Since social skills are important for successful cooperative learning to take place, it is important that we define and assess the computer-mediated communication skill needed by students.”
Again, when the tool is used effectively, students diversity needs can be met, as well as providing culturally diverse resources. Slowinski (Finding and Using Language Translation) feels that “Such an information-rich environment provides a wealth of opportunities for people around the world to communicate with one another, even if they don't speak the same language. Thanks to translation resources on the Web, people can access information in almost any language.” In addition, Sales (2001) found that “It increases the opportunities for sharing knowledge and learning experiences in multicultural settings. Online learning also benefits cooperative learning owing to the fact that a person can work in a group in an asynchronous way, thereby making their timetable more flexible.” For example, Chisholm (1998) found that when teachers or students take culture into consideration when communicating or learning they discover that they begin to have “an understanding of one’s own cultural heritage and how it influences perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors. Thus, an awareness of cultural and individual learning style preferences and behaviors is essential in culturally responsive technology use.”
In short, the use of technology can open many learning possibilities, provide support for learners and extend the social skills of students that will eventually be required in the work place. Furthermore, “73% of wired American teens now use social networking websites, a significant increase from previous surveys. Just over half of online teens (55%) used social networking sites in November 2006 and 65% did so in February 2008” (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zichur, 2010). This reason alone is why it is so important to help educate youth about Internet safety, privacy, digital footprints and etiquette.
To begin with, educational technologists will model and teach using appropriate legal and ethical practices whenever they use technology. Legal practices include issues such as copyright, online etiquette, accessibility, digital footprints and privacy in relation to FERPA and CIPA regulations, etc. Perhaps the biggest argument opponents make is the unsafe nature of the Internet because it is fraught with pornography, racist and violent content, not to mention the predators lurking behind social networks. Research done in 2007, showed that “Both teen and adult use of social networking sites has risen significantly, yet there are shifts and some drops in the proportion of teens using several social networking site features” (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zichur, 2010). As a result, 2007 brought a request from all 50 state Attorney Generals to do more to protect users online through research done a task force by the Harvard's Berkman Center. “Those risks that do exist don't appear to be specific to the online world, as the report suggests, ‘the risks minors face online are complex and multifaceted and are in most cases not significantly different than those they face offline.’ As one of the participants stated, ‘the truth is that there is no 'Internet safety,' there is simply 'safety'” (Timmer, 2009).
This resulted in due-diligence by school districts and sites that had a target audience of youth to review and/or create adequate acceptable use policies. Some of the components commonly found in AUP’s include:
- Having parents and youth signing AUP’s
- Posting and discussing rules such as online etiquette, cyber-bullying, copyright, etc. with students using examples of what happens when the rule is not adhered to (i.e. the purpose for the rule)
- Allow students to experience safe chat rooms and discussion boards that are monitored by an educator
- Teaching students how to search the Internet and identifying valid and invalid sources, as well as steering away from sites that may house inappropriate content. If it is a younger audience, the students should use a web-browser that filters the content for them.
- Finally, educate, educate, educate. Letting kids know about not sharing certain information and training kids on safety just as we would train them on safety with snow-machines.
Furthermore, it is recommended that the Educational Technology coordinator (CTO) “participate in the development of policies that clearly enforce privacy, confidentiality, and copyright law and assign ownership of intellectual property developed with district resources” (CoSN, 2009, Ethics and Policies), as well as clear communication expectations and etiquette for both teachers and students, so both are able to interact and encourage interaction online between and amongst one another. In addition, including these in a student orientation can help to address CIPA (Child Internet Protection Act) and other policies issued around NCLB. “Section 215 is most relevant to schools and requires them, as part of their Internet safety policy, to educate minors about appropriate online behavior. This includes how to interact with others on social networking websites and in chat rooms as well as cyber-bullying awareness and response” (CoSN, 2010, What are the key federal laws affecting Internet access, safety and, social networking in schools?). Chisholm (1998) corroborates this by stating, “[in order] to prepare children for the technological, informational, and interpersonal challenges of the next century, schools need to implement instructional strategies that develop technological and interpersonal skills.”
However, Internet safety is not the only job that an educational technology leader needs to provide. Leaders also need to be able to facilitate equitable access to technology resources for all students. This means not only making sure that all students have equal and fair access to technology in school, but also having available access to technology outside of school if needed or required by teachers. In addition, once access to technology has been managed, technology resources can then be utilized regularly to help empower and enable the learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities in mind.
For example, “E-learning practitioners call personal learning environments -- mashup spaces comprising del.icio.us feeds, blog posts, podcast widgets -- whatever resources students need to document, consume or communicate their learning across disciplines” (Andrews, 2007). Such capabilities allow for students to demonstrate their learning or reach understanding in a variety of ways.
Moreover, Sales (2001) stated that, “Those with limited reading and writing skills function less effectively in environments where reading and writing are emphasized (instead of talking and listening, for example).” In addition, she found that, “Since social skills are important for successful cooperative learning to take place, it is important that we define and assess the computer-mediated communication skill needed by students.”
Again, when the tool is used effectively, students diversity needs can be met, as well as providing culturally diverse resources. Slowinski (Finding and Using Language Translation) feels that “Such an information-rich environment provides a wealth of opportunities for people around the world to communicate with one another, even if they don't speak the same language. Thanks to translation resources on the Web, people can access information in almost any language.” In addition, Sales (2001) found that “It increases the opportunities for sharing knowledge and learning experiences in multicultural settings. Online learning also benefits cooperative learning owing to the fact that a person can work in a group in an asynchronous way, thereby making their timetable more flexible.” For example, Chisholm (1998) found that when teachers or students take culture into consideration when communicating or learning they discover that they begin to have “an understanding of one’s own cultural heritage and how it influences perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors. Thus, an awareness of cultural and individual learning style preferences and behaviors is essential in culturally responsive technology use.”
In short, the use of technology can open many learning possibilities, provide support for learners and extend the social skills of students that will eventually be required in the work place. Furthermore, “73% of wired American teens now use social networking websites, a significant increase from previous surveys. Just over half of online teens (55%) used social networking sites in November 2006 and 65% did so in February 2008” (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zichur, 2010). This reason alone is why it is so important to help educate youth about Internet safety, privacy, digital footprints and etiquette.
What artifacts demonstrate my mastery?
Copyright Christina Hum
The artifacts that I am providing to demonstrate mastery of this standard includes several examples of papers and multimedia to help teach about the ethical and legal side of technology.
As mentioned before, running my own business has required me to step up and provide policies to be sure that students and teachers are safe and behave appropriately when using our online social network or online classroom. This requires acceptable use policies on our Social Network Site and in our Online Classroom, Kigluait Moodle. In addition, it also requires that I spend additional time to help other teachers learn about legal issues, such as copyright. Thus, I wrote a series a blog entries on copyright, Internet safety, and Basic Searching to help teach other teachers a bit more about legal and ethical uses of technology. Finally I have also included a Glogster copyright poster that can be printed and used in a computer lab or on a mobile cart to remind students about copyright policies when they are completing projects or activities. This is followed by a lesson plan on teaching a class about copyright.
To demonstrate my mastery and understanding of how to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities, I have included a research paper covering methods for meeting diversity in the classroom through technology, as well as the importance of meeting these needs to help empower learners. In addition, a suggested lesson plan is part of the paper providing an example of how it could be done through a distance delivery lesson, helping to engage learners in a different culture as well as having them share about their own culture. Perhaps one of the best artifacts I can share that demonstrates evidence of diverse learning using technology are the 1 hour videoconference content programs that Kigluait Adventures provides to schools all over the US, sharing in the various cultures and history of Alaska by taking students on a virtual sled dog run to learn about the purpose of sled dogs in Alaska.
Finally, perhaps one of my more challenging experiences thus far has been to be able to provide equitable access to technology resources for all students. Returning to the classroom during the last year (2011/2012), I found it difficult to integrate technology as access was shared and at times limited. With all of the activities I wanted to do, I decided it would be best to see about getting a grant for a classroom set of iPads, which resulted in success. I immediately put the iPads into use by creating a partner check out system for the iPads, so they could be used in every class by every student. In addition, I set up the iPads with Dropbox, and dummy email account, apps that allowed login and out to help the students save and share their work. In addition, I made sure that all lessons created that utilized the iPads could also be done on any computer or without a computer if necessary. Thus artifacts provided for this are lessons that demonstrate utilization of the technology and snapshots of our class Wikispaces and this link to our Class Pages.
As mentioned before, running my own business has required me to step up and provide policies to be sure that students and teachers are safe and behave appropriately when using our online social network or online classroom. This requires acceptable use policies on our Social Network Site and in our Online Classroom, Kigluait Moodle. In addition, it also requires that I spend additional time to help other teachers learn about legal issues, such as copyright. Thus, I wrote a series a blog entries on copyright, Internet safety, and Basic Searching to help teach other teachers a bit more about legal and ethical uses of technology. Finally I have also included a Glogster copyright poster that can be printed and used in a computer lab or on a mobile cart to remind students about copyright policies when they are completing projects or activities. This is followed by a lesson plan on teaching a class about copyright.
To demonstrate my mastery and understanding of how to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities, I have included a research paper covering methods for meeting diversity in the classroom through technology, as well as the importance of meeting these needs to help empower learners. In addition, a suggested lesson plan is part of the paper providing an example of how it could be done through a distance delivery lesson, helping to engage learners in a different culture as well as having them share about their own culture. Perhaps one of the best artifacts I can share that demonstrates evidence of diverse learning using technology are the 1 hour videoconference content programs that Kigluait Adventures provides to schools all over the US, sharing in the various cultures and history of Alaska by taking students on a virtual sled dog run to learn about the purpose of sled dogs in Alaska.
Finally, perhaps one of my more challenging experiences thus far has been to be able to provide equitable access to technology resources for all students. Returning to the classroom during the last year (2011/2012), I found it difficult to integrate technology as access was shared and at times limited. With all of the activities I wanted to do, I decided it would be best to see about getting a grant for a classroom set of iPads, which resulted in success. I immediately put the iPads into use by creating a partner check out system for the iPads, so they could be used in every class by every student. In addition, I set up the iPads with Dropbox, and dummy email account, apps that allowed login and out to help the students save and share their work. In addition, I made sure that all lessons created that utilized the iPads could also be done on any computer or without a computer if necessary. Thus artifacts provided for this are lessons that demonstrate utilization of the technology and snapshots of our class Wikispaces and this link to our Class Pages.
Reference
CoSN K-12 CTO Council. (2009). What it takes: essential skills of the k-12 cto. Proceedings of the Webcast for CoSN members, http://www.cosn.org/Resources/2010CoSNPressReleases/tabid/6062/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/389/CoSN-Releases-Version-20-Framework-of-Essential-Skills-of-the-K-12-Chief-Technology-Officer-112010.aspx
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podscasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (3 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=CArG5bfUy-sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Will Richardson
Andrews, R. (2007, April 19). Don't tell your parents: schools embrace myspace. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/04/myspaceforschool
Lenhart, A, Purcell, K, Smith, A, & Zichur, K. (2010, February 3). Pew internet social media and young adults . Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults/Summary-of-Findings.aspx?r=1
Timmer, J. (2009). Report: biggest online threat to kids is other kids. Retrieved from http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/01/report-biggest-online-threat-to-kids-is-other-kids.ars
Chisolm, Ines Marquez; Six Elements for Technology
Integration in Multicultural Classrooms; Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1998, pages 247-268
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podscasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (3 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=CArG5bfUy-sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Will Richardson
Andrews, R. (2007, April 19). Don't tell your parents: schools embrace myspace. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/04/myspaceforschool
Lenhart, A, Purcell, K, Smith, A, & Zichur, K. (2010, February 3). Pew internet social media and young adults . Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults/Summary-of-Findings.aspx?r=1
Timmer, J. (2009). Report: biggest online threat to kids is other kids. Retrieved from http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/01/report-biggest-online-threat-to-kids-is-other-kids.ars
Chisolm, Ines Marquez; Six Elements for Technology
Integration in Multicultural Classrooms; Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1998, pages 247-268
