Activity 9: Digital Citizenship

Senario 2 - Mr. Kirk and his apps

Ethical Issues:  Mr. Kirk should have established a Code of Conduct with his students and clearly outline consequences of not following the code. He also should have spent time discussing and teaching what cyber bullying is, how to avoid it, and what to do if it happens. Giving students the tools before hand could have stopped potential problems from happening, or at least kept it contained. 

Student Safety: Absolutely students were at risk here. Putting your work out for others to see can be very anxiety inducing. If students write mean things or bully others - mental health comes into play. If someone changes something someone has worked hard on or completely erases it, grades and academic standing come into play.  

Advice: Get organized upfront. TEACHER TRAINING is a must. I would have loved to have this class last summer. I totally get that it is a process, but knowing what I now know, makes me scared for where I was last year. 

Personal Connection: I feel a bit like Mr. Kirk. Last year I jumped right in to using chromebook/google docs/apps and didn't think about looking at the policies/privacy settings or getting permission to use any of the apps. Fortunately, my students used them correctly (to the best of my knowledge)! I am now thinking about things to add to my parent night and working with my PLC to develop a Code of Conduct and list of apps we plan to use to present to parents. We also should run our intentions by our principal. :)

Senario 3 - Mr. McFly and YouTube

Ethical Issues: So many! Putting videos with students faces out to the public, not asking for parent/district permission, not helping students make the site as private as possible, exposing them to a site that is so volatile in terms of the content it possesses. 

Student Safety: All of the above are safety issues as well. Scary! You need to make sure the students know to not divulge any personal information. Even a school T-shirt, the student's face, and first name could lead someone right to the student.

Advice: Just using YouTube in the classroom I am careful to have the video cued to the exact start and shut it off immediately to make sure nothing pops up on the screen. Putting the acceptable use policy in the teacher handbook would be a good idea. (Not sure if it is already in ours I am ashamed to say!) Making sure staff see it each year is important as we get more and more devices. PREVIEW THE WHOLE THING. Get permission from everyone - district/principal/parents.

Personal Connections: I don't have one really - but even when I have been careful I have had some not-so-great-for 8-year-olds pictures of ladies in swimsuits show up in the side bar. UGH! I think I will give the kids links to the exact video in classroom if they need to see something rather than have them on YouTube alone. 

How can MV Resources help to implement high quality instructional practices with technology? 

I think having several templates of a Code of Conduct available for teachers/buildings at different levels would be a great idea. Much of this is an unknown for me. I learned a ton from the reading for this assignment. We need to learn from those of you that have more experience. We can tweak and make it our own, but I solid starting point is crucial.

If there was money (which there never is but you asked) I think having a tech educator for teachers in each building would be amazing. Or at least a tech coach - similar to a reading/math coach - for 2 buildings to share.   


Procedures I want to implement:

*I love the hand signals! using those would really help me determine who to get to first. I also liked the idea of using students to then verify other students work in a chain reaction way. I sometimes have one checker, but this would keep the others motivated. 
*We need a Code of Conduct. 
*Be more intentional about informing parents of what apps we will be using throughout the year.