It is important to keep in mind ethical issues arising from the use of technology in the classroom as we increase its implementation. In order to address the most pressing ethical issues in our classroom, we need to identify the biggest ethical issues.
The classroom and technology
To create a thriving learning environment, ethics has always been essential. It’s well known that we teach students ethics by using principles, such as: this is the rule (don’t push); this is the purpose of the rule (don’t harm others).
New ethical issues arise as a result of the widespread availability of technology. Technology in the classroom can be extremely disruptive, according to Doug Johnson, an expert on educational technology. Unlike adults, children are not emotionally developed for some of the things society has forbidden them (for example, driving after 16, voting after 18, and drinking after 21). We are pushing children into cyberspace without providing any guidance in our effort to teach them computer literacy. When we haven’t fully taught them how to act ethically in real-life situations, how can we expect them to behave ethically on the internet, with their identity hidden?
Technology advances are speeding up faster than adults can understand the ethical implications of their use, according to the Alliance for Childhood. Children learn ethics more thoroughly in face-to-face interactions, especially at developmental ages, which is becoming increasingly rare due to screen time distractions.
It would be helpful if we spent some time understanding the most important ethical issues that affect our classrooms, so we could determine how to address them.
Research Ethics and Academic Honesty
Today, downloading multimedia files online is easy (whether you do it legally or illegally). The line between what is free and what is copyrighted is further blurred by sites that offer unlimited downloads of movies, music, and games. Copying and pasting isn’t considered plagiarism in some cases because the source material was ‘common knowledge,’ and there was no author assigned.
There are many ethical concerns related to plagiarism, especially with search engines making it easy to find any query. Students can also fabricate research and fake sources due to the widespread availability of knowledge. This can be minimized by helping students understand how to cite authors and why it is important to respect other people’s intellectual property. A citation requirement will also help to prevent the fabrication of research.
Communications by electronic means
It can be helpful for teachers to communicate with students electronically, but sometimes the line between business and personal can be blurred. Educate students about the dangers of thinking of their emails and text messages as personal, and make sure that electronic communications are professional. Email systems used by schools or businesses make it easy for these types of communications to be made public.
Cyberbullying & Social Networks
According to Facebook’s company page, 1.79 billion people are active on the site, with 66% logging in daily. How impressive is that? The use of Facebook is gaining more traction among educators for sharing multimedia with students, or for connecting with them and brainstorming together. We had a Facebook page at my college, but while it was created for the purpose of connecting students, no guidelines were provided for its use, which lead to ethical problems. On the page, students began taking pictures and posting them of a particular student to make fun of him. Cyberbullying is a pattern of repeated, hurtful behavior over time.
Using social media
Teachers who are friended by their students may also be faced with ethical dilemmas because of the use of social networking sites. Students’ posts about underage drinking may give teachers information about them. They often think that Facebook is anonymous since there is no face-to-face interaction, and they do not realize that they gave up their right to privacy by posting things on social networks. Another student was cyberbullied due to my classmate’s feeling of powerlessness. The purpose of this is to explain to students that Facebook is not a diary and that it is an anonymous platform. One day we could be prevented from obtaining a job because of actions and posts on public social media.
I appreciated your reflections on the importance of teaching students the ethics of social media and internet usages. Your comments regarding society’s limits on students with respect to driving, drinking, and voting were relevant and prompted deeper thoughts. We spend much time educating students about responsible societal behaviours in regards to these aspects of life. These are all connected to legal issues and moral issues with being a responsible citizen. We need to ensure that students receive the same lessons regarding internet use. These are all legal and moral issues as well. Students need to know that there are laws regarding our online behaviors and learn how to respectfully follow the rules for the benefit of all.
To protect students’ privacy, teachers are encouraged to use specific tools and digital resources for them. Depending on how it is implemented, any piece of technology can be used for either the betterment or the damage of society. It is difficult to determine who has access to all of these digital resources. As a result, relevant knowledge about ethical, moral, and legal issues of technology should be offered to educators, students, and their parents. great post!! thank you for sharing.
This is another reason why I strongly believe that we need an explicit curriculum that covers digital citizenship and literacy, that scaffolds every year. Students should be aware and learn of the ethical and legal issues of the world they are engaging with to be proactive, and know right from wrong before they are dealing with a bad situation. Being reactive is not a great way to educate students, and we know that this model doesn’t work.
I really like how you pointed out the fact that children are being pushed into or exposed to technology when they are not always developmentally ready. I feel that this is an important observation and we have seen first hand in the classroom over the years how students have become accustomed to certain things due to exposure to devices at a young age (ex: instant gratification needs). This has definitely impacted many young children.
You made some really great points, Amanpreet. I have never really considered the way in which kids are shielded by certain aspects of society (voting, driving, etc.) by a legal age being set. There are so many ways in which students/ kids could be protected from online dangers. As you discussed, the development of skills around ethics would be a start.