Ethical Issues of Technology

By Lorenda Kirby

4/9/2014

Being a teacher in a world that is becoming more and more technologically dependent can bring several challenges to your career. When being a teacher you need to be ethical by treating all students fairly, with respect, and without pre-judgment. It is important to be an ethical teacher in the classroom, but also when it comes to the use of technology. There are four areas that need to be covered and kept in mind when dealing with the issue using technology in an ethical way. The four categories are social, educational, cultural/ equity, and legal. Below I will explain my personal framework which will include what each area means and how important they each are. The first area is the social area. Social media seems to be taking up the time of most adolescents and teens these days. Most students (no matter the age) have personal email and personal social media sites. While these can have positive qualities such as allowing for long distance communication or sharing homework files for a project, they also are very dangerous. With these cyber sites comes cyber bullying. Cyber bullies are people who instead of bullying in person, use the internet to name call, verbally abuse, and more. This is a real danger in middle school and high school, but seems to becoming an issue with younger grades each and every day. An online research article surveyed students about this topic and it was reported that 1,521,000 students out of 7,066,000 were cyber bullied sometime during their school career (DeVoe). This statistic is frightening and I want to be sure to handle this issue as best as I can. In my classroom these issues will be dealt with privately. If I know of a student cyber bulling another, I will set up a private conference first with each individual student, and then with the two of them together. I will also inform the parents of the issue at hand. I do not want any of my students to fall to being bullies, or victims and will do all I can to help solve any issues that arise. Another important issue is the educational importance of being ethical. Technology can be a blessing for education, but also a problem. With the invention of email and internet sites to submit work, cheating has become an easy thing to do. With electronic submission, it is hard to judge who the writer of the work is because there is no handwriting, and anyone can log on to anyones account. As a teacher you are to hold your students to academic honesty. I will treat all homework equally whether it is online, or turned in. If students cheat, they will receive a zero for the assignment. While I want this to be the policy, some gray area occurs when you dont have solid evidence of cheating. This is why it is important to pay attention to your students language, quality of work, and more. That way if you notice a severe change in their work, you can question what is happening. An online article makes a connection with cheating to educational self- confidence (Finn). If a student is confident in their ability, they will not feel the need to rely on others to do their work, but if the student does not believe they are capable they will be more likely to cheat. It is important that I set up guidelines for students to follow from the very start of the school year. They will sign an honor code, saying that they will do their own work and that they understand the zero policy if they are caught cheating. I want students to
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know that I would rather they get a poor grade by trying hard, than a good grade by cheating. Albert Bandura did quite a bit of research about the social cognitive theory. One aspect to this theory is the thoughts on behavior (Bandura). Bandura explains that behavior is often modeled or copied. Students are more likely to do something if they see it being done by others. This starts in early childhood, but also continues up to high school and beyond. If students see others cheating they will be more likely to cheat because they will think it is ok. I want to have it known that cheating is never the answer, and no matter who is doing it-it is not ok to follow. Cultural issues can come in to play when you are dealing with the use of technology. It is not fair to assume that everyone has the devices to do the work. For example, if you assign students to make a power point presentation at home, you should not expect all students to have the program available at their house for them to use. It is important to keep this idea in mind when we are working with students and assigning work for them. In an article written by the Washington Post, students without computers at home often experience fear and nervousness when they are assigned work that requires technology (Gowen 2009). Teachers often assume that students will be able to do the work at a local library, but this is not always the case. Libraries are often full of people waiting to use the internet, and time is limited for usage. The digital divide has decreased very much over the past few years, but there are still students who do not have a computer in their home to use. It is not easy for them to get this work done as other students would because they do not have the same advantages when it comes to having a computer in the household. In my classroom students will be allowed plenty of time to do work so that the stress of not having a computer can be eliminated. Students will also be allowed to come in before school, or after to finish any work they need to. I will also encourage parents to become involved in the educational process together. I will encourage parents to go to the library with their children and spend the day looking at books and exploring the computer. This will help parents become more familiar too. The last area is the area of legal issues. Internet and technology are wonderful things, but they can also cause some illegal activity such as illegal downloads and illegal usage of information. This can be done by students, but can also be done by teachers. Something that is an issue is illegal usage of software. Teachers will buy a software that is licensed for only one computer, but use it for multiple. This may seem helpful for the students because more of them can use the program, but really it is illegal and puts your career in jeopardy. Something that is beneficial for teachers is the use of open software. This is software that is free for teachers to download and use in their classroom. The site, United Federation of Teachers, does just this by providing downloads to a variety of software programs. The website is clear in their goals, which are to help stop illegal downloads by providing software downloads for free (UFT 2014). Teachers also need to hold their students to this level. Students should never be allowed to perform illegal downloads, or use information in an illegal manner. The theorist Skinner says that students can learn best with operant conditioning, especially positive reinforcement. Skinner believed that people were more likely to perform the desired task if they were trained and
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conditioned to do so (Simply Psychology). This can be done through positive reinforcement in the classroom. If students are caught cheating they will be punished, but if the class remains cheat free for a designated amount of time they can be rewarded with extra recess, one less assignment, or something else to help reinforce their behavior. This is a step I will take in my classroom. As a teacher I pledge to uphold these values in my classroom. I will work to make sure technology is used in the correct way and to the best of its ability. I will teach my students to respect it and not use it in a negative manner. Students will be held to high standards such as no cyber bullying of any kind, no illegal downloads, and more. I will be fair in dealing with students, but also firm so they know the proper way to use the technology that they are provided with in the classroom. As a current college student I will uphold these values as well by staying true to the honor code I signed freshman year. I will not partake in any cheating, nor will I use software of information in an illegal way.

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References Scragg, Sandy. "Open-source software for educators." United Federation of Teachers. UFT, n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. <http://www.uft.org/linking-learning/open-source-software educators>. DeVoe J., Murphy, C, & National Center for Education Statistics, (. (2011). Student Reports of Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Results from the 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. Web Tables NCES 2011-336. National Center For Education Statistics. Finn, K, & Frone M. R. (2004). Academic Performance and Cheating Moderating Role and School Identification and Self-Efficacy, Journal Of Educational Research,97(3), 115 122. "Social Cognitive Theory of Learning."Social Theory. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. <http://info.psu.edu.sa/psu/maths/007%2 Gowen, Annie. "Without Ready Access To Computers Students Struggle."Washington Post. The Washington Post, 6 Dec. 2009. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp dyn/content/article/2009/12/05/AR2009120 McLeod, Saul. "Skinner - Operant Conditioning." B.F. Skinner. Simply Psychology, n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html#positive>.

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