Ethical Use of Technology Catherine E. Rosario EDU 697: Capstone: A Project Approach Dr.

Keith Pressey December 16, 2013

Ethical Use of Technology There are many trends that occur in any aspect of development, especially education. According to Richardson, one trend that shows no sign of stopping is the movement of curriculum to a digital, online environment. Although some schools invest in expensive content management systems like Blackboard, many Weblog packages can accomplish almost as much as a much lesser cost (p. 21). With these trends come change and adaptation with in the means and the people who are utilizing those means. Some of the changes we must make in our education system to expand the classroom walls include utilizing more technology in the classroom including Internet tools and web-based learning. There are many tools available on the web for all ages that can support learning in and out of the classroom. Web-based applications and classrooms offer easy and efficient ways to subscribe information to a large audience all at once which they can obtain at their own convenience and as often as they would like. The Internet is a quick and inexpensive method for sharing writing, images, and other content (Newby, et al, 2011. p. 196). Whether putting a bunch of documents and projects together in a wiki or creating new documents and information in a blog or a website of your own, these can all be convenient ways of sharing material efficiently. Wikis are typically for groups of people working together on the same board and can be edited by anyone while blogs are written by one person and can only be commented on by others. Some of the ethical and safety considerations educators must consider when developing webbased learning opportunities include creating expectations of themselves and the students. There must be a guideline of behaviors and rules that should be followed during web-based learning. Since there are so many ways to communicate online, and without physical and verbal cues,

written work can easily be misunderstood. Students and instructors should be helpful, encouraging, and considerate of each other. They should treat each other with respect at all times and be aware that everyone has different lifestyles and experiences. It is also important for us as individuals to be aware of not posting personal information, like precisely where we live or detailed information about ourselves or our family, because we never know who is in our classroom or who could gain access to it accidently. We should also be keeping our usernames and passwords in safe keeping and close all windows when our work is completed, especially when sharing a public computer. Also, the latest AECT definition of educational technology includes the word ethical where prior definitions did not because today it is so important for professionals to maintain a high level of professional conduct following a particular code of ethics (Reiser & Dempsey, 2012. p. 4). Unfortunately, in todays society expectations like this have to be in writing to protect students and other teachers rights as well as to spell out expectations to instructors who should follow this code of conduct anyway. Stating these guidelines and expectations, along with consequences if necessary, from the beginning is important in order to maintain the well-being and positive identity of all students and teachers involved. Reflection While I did not make many changes to this particular ethics assignment, I took the time to explain the background of why ethical standards are needed when technology enters the picture. The original assignment I completed was a pamphlet I created on my own Universitys vision and mission statements including ethical practices. I turned the pamphlet into a PowerPoint presentation and included technology into the programs ethical standards. I love creating PowerPoint presentations so that aspect was not difficult, but I wanted to wording to be perfect

and professional which took time. It is important that students understand a code of conduct and ethics as well as the teacher or professor in order to keep a solid teaching and learning foundation. It also needs to be understood that there are boundaries, what those boundaries are, and if they are crossed, what the consequences are for those unethical actions. Conclusion The trends that occur in any aspect of development, especially education that involves technology can get ethically tricky. With these trends come change and adaptation with in the means and the people who are utilizing those means. Some of the changes we must make in our education system to expand the classroom walls including more technology in the classroom together with Internet tools and web-based learning. There are many tools available on the web for all ages that can support learning in and out of the classroom, but as always with appropriate guidelines and expectations.

References Newby, T. J., Stepich, D. A., Lehman, J. D., Russell, J. D., & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. (2011). Educational technology for teaching and learning (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Reiser, R. & Dempsey, J. (2012). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.