Week 29 Influence of Law and Ethics
Week 29 Influence of Law and Ethics
A Youtube situation:
The challenges of allowing students to use media in the class and developing the skills to use web based media that then over flows into their personal lives. Henderson, Auld, Johnson (2014) raises the concerns of social media and the ethical dilemma's teachers face in teaching students about the public/private boundaries they have to navigate.
We were recently working with students who have been active on You tube sharing clips containing images of themselves and friends. The students were using pseudonyms but were identifiable with links to their followers. Although the clips that were posted were recorded at home they were using their school email accounts.
This group of students when questioned felt they had acted correctly in that they were not using their own names and therefore it was 'ok'. Henderson, Auld, Johnson (2014) noted that there was debate when teaching young people about what constitutes private and public data and how participants view this debate. They further note that young people did not fully understand the long term implications of posting to social media.
Recognising and responding to this situation required talking to the students involved and showing them how easy it was to access their Youtube clips and share and manipulate these. The students were unaware of what could happen once they had posted their clips and how easy it was. Students parents were rung, many were unaware of their child's activities and requested information on how to shutdown accounts. Some of the parents felt there was no issue with their child posting clips of themselves on Youtube and were aware that they were doing so. They felt once the student had changed the email to a personal one they could continue posting.
As teachers we now face the dilemma of families who either have strong ideas about social media or limited/no surveillance/opinion of social media at all.
Code of Ethics
Hall states that “the legal system of New Zealand recognises the doctrine of in loco parentis. That doctrine expects that any teacher will exercise a standard of care of children in his or her change” (p.2). In consideration of this, all children are in our care as if they were our own and keeping them safe online is our total and complete responsibility alongside educating them to keep themselves safe. It was important to keep families/whanau involved so together we can support students to be safe. It emphasised that although students have been taught digital citizenship at the beginning of the year it is an area that needs revisiting frequently to keep students safe.
Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers
Henderson, M., Auld, G., & Johnson, N. F. (2014). Ethics of Teaching with Social Media. Paper presented at the Australian Computers in Education Conference 2014, Adelaide, SA. Retrieved from http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/attachments/HendersonAuldJohnson_EthicalDilemmas_ACEC_2014_0.pdf
A Youtube situation:
The challenges of allowing students to use media in the class and developing the skills to use web based media that then over flows into their personal lives. Henderson, Auld, Johnson (2014) raises the concerns of social media and the ethical dilemma's teachers face in teaching students about the public/private boundaries they have to navigate.
We were recently working with students who have been active on You tube sharing clips containing images of themselves and friends. The students were using pseudonyms but were identifiable with links to their followers. Although the clips that were posted were recorded at home they were using their school email accounts.
This group of students when questioned felt they had acted correctly in that they were not using their own names and therefore it was 'ok'. Henderson, Auld, Johnson (2014) noted that there was debate when teaching young people about what constitutes private and public data and how participants view this debate. They further note that young people did not fully understand the long term implications of posting to social media.
Recognising and responding to this situation required talking to the students involved and showing them how easy it was to access their Youtube clips and share and manipulate these. The students were unaware of what could happen once they had posted their clips and how easy it was. Students parents were rung, many were unaware of their child's activities and requested information on how to shutdown accounts. Some of the parents felt there was no issue with their child posting clips of themselves on Youtube and were aware that they were doing so. They felt once the student had changed the email to a personal one they could continue posting.
As teachers we now face the dilemma of families who either have strong ideas about social media or limited/no surveillance/opinion of social media at all.
Code of Ethics
Hall states that “the legal system of New Zealand recognises the doctrine of in loco parentis. That doctrine expects that any teacher will exercise a standard of care of children in his or her change” (p.2). In consideration of this, all children are in our care as if they were our own and keeping them safe online is our total and complete responsibility alongside educating them to keep themselves safe. It was important to keep families/whanau involved so together we can support students to be safe. It emphasised that although students have been taught digital citizenship at the beginning of the year it is an area that needs revisiting frequently to keep students safe.
Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers
Henderson, M., Auld, G., & Johnson, N. F. (2014). Ethics of Teaching with Social Media. Paper presented at the Australian Computers in Education Conference 2014, Adelaide, SA. Retrieved from http://acec2014.acce.edu.au/sites/2014/files/attachments/HendersonAuldJohnson_EthicalDilemmas_ACEC_2014_0.pdf
It is important to remember that while we are very lucky to have support in terms of what we ought to do when faced with ethical and challenging situations involving online dilemmas and students that parent, as you stated, do not have the same support or understanding in order to repeat the necessary messages and set the same expectations for their young people that they do need to hear on a regular basis.How do we, as a society, go about resourcing this support for our parents/ caregivers?
ReplyDeleteJuly 2, 2017 at 3:40
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. Children have the technological knowledge but often lack the maturity to think about how their actions may have long lasting consequences. You have raised a good point Patricia regarding support for parents/caregivers. The secondary school my children go to are offering some parental workshops regarding online ethics. It will be interesting to see the amount of interest that this generates. Digital citizenship is an ongoing challenge and so agree with your comment about revisiting this frequently, particularly when real life contexts can be used.