Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice
There is no doubt that the use of social media for learning has the potential to engage and motivate students to learn in a way that they can relate to. Judging by the amount of time some of my students spend on such networking social media sites it seems to be a good opportunity to tap into it and try to use it to our and the students educational learning advantage.
(Source: http://teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/what-social-media)
However, the use of social media as an educational tool is littered with potential problems and issues and as a professional teacher we have a responsibility to try to preempt some of those issues to try to prevent them becoming a serious incident that goes against not only our own personal ethics but also the teachers code of ethics that we are bound by. We also need to offer some type of educations to students on how to stay safe and the correct etiquette when using social media within, and outside, the classroom. As an avid Facebook user myself, I have come up against and considered moral dilemmas such as students wanting to 'friend you'. For myself, I don't think having students as 'friends' is appropriate. I think it is important to have that boundary, my Facebook account is mainly family and friends and I think it is an excellent way to keep in touch, especially when most of my family are in the UK or Europe. Even though I am mindful of what I write or display, I would not feel comfortable knowing that my account was being viewed by students or having messages from them. Although, I am sure that it is view by some students, as some have parents who are personal friends. This does make it tricky, but as much as possible, I try to keep a clear line in the sand, with regards to my school media platforms and my home and social ones.
As a professional teacher I believe I have a responsibility, especially under the code of conduct, to try to preempt some of these issues and also to behave in a way that is appropriate to keeping my students safe. The 'Code of Ethics for certificated teachers' governs my own practice, and all other certified teachers, by providing guidelines to the required minimal standard of conduct expected by a teacher.
As a professional teacher I believe I have a responsibility, especially under the code of conduct, to try to preempt some of these issues and also to behave in a way that is appropriate to keeping my students safe. The 'Code of Ethics for certificated teachers' governs my own practice, and all other certified teachers, by providing guidelines to the required minimal standard of conduct expected by a teacher.
(Source: http://teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/guidelines/commitment-learners)
This year I have been experimenting with a student-led blog. Before I set up the blog, I considered how I could keep my students safe from things like cyber-bullying. I spoke to the students about the blog and their responsibility to comment on the blog appropriately and what an appropriate comment looked like. I thought it would be a good opportunity for parents and the community to view what things the students were learning about at school and I also thought it would be an opportunity for the students to demonstrate their skills and show off the work they had been doing.
I decided to run the blog from my own site, allowing students to write a class blog during lesson time. The reason I did this was so that I could manage the site, check that any messages that were added were appropriate for the audience and that no cyber-bullying was taking place and that the photos being added were appropriate. If some of the audiences comments added to the blog were inappropriate I was able to edit and remove the comment and deal with this issue without it spirally out of control with regards to school bullying or retaliation amongst the students. As well as taking into consideration my own students and their families. There were also times we had visitors and at these times I needed to make sure I had asked their permission to put their photos on our blog.
One particular potential dilemma that could of arose is that some children may need to be kept safe from others in the community and therefor you are not allowed to take photos of them and place them in public places, such as blogs or local newspaper. This is something I had not considered and could have become a serious threat to that child's safety during a young children group visit to our school. This potential issue could arise by simply having the child in the background of a photo shot or just not even being aware that the child is not be be photographed.
(Source: https://teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/guidelines/before-you-share)
References
Education Council. (nd). Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-ethics-certificated-teachers-0
Education Council. (nd). Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-ethics-certificated-teachers-0
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
Hi Alison. My school's digital citizenship programme is ten hours long and spans several weeks interspersed with numerous school values activities. Despite this we still have increasing numbers of problems with managing the social aspects of technology. I think we are starting too late with high school aged students.I feel like the students have already developed bad habits before they get to us which are hard to break. Digital citizenship and etiquette needs to start to be taught as soon as a child is old enough to use a computer or tablet. We also have teacher social media problems that remain 'unspoken'. Particularly with young teachers befriending senior students and students from other schools on Facebook. A couple of years ago we had a young teacher who seemed to think it was appropriate to discuss any and all school issues on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading about Cybersmarties in Ireland who have set up a heavily controlled social media site similar to Facebook specifically for primary aged children which focuses on safety and teaching etiquette. Proactive instead of reactive is best but very difficult to put into practice. Thanks for sharing your blog.
Hi Grace, Thank you for commenting on my blog. When you talk about your school digital citizenship program is that just for the students. After the example you give of the young teacher, I wonder whether staff would also benefit from such a program. I am not sure what happens at my school, at the moment I think it is just taught during ICT lessons. Maybe we all need to become more aware, I have just got some IPAD's in my room and I just presumed the students would of already been briefed on being cybersmart...something I think I will go and ask my students about and maybe I need to also be proactive with making sure they are being good citizens when using digital technologies.
DeleteYes, I agree with you Grace. Digital citizenship and etiquette needs to start when children start using computers / tablets. Pre-schoolers can be seen using mobile devices; iPads; iPods with confidence and Early Childhood centres encourage confident use of devices. A majority of parents and early Childhood teachers monitor what their pre-schoolers are ‘play-learning’ on these devices but this is not formalised as digital citizenship /etiquette. Perhaps something like ‘The Social Media for Kids Program’ (video on the MindLab portal) which is held for Grade 6 students after school and teaches students how to be responsible online citizens could be something to consider. Having ‘responsible secondary students’ tutor in a program like this could contribute to the collaborative development of a community of responsible online citizens. Like you succinctly put it and I agree totally with 'proactive instead of reactive is best but very difficult to put into practice'.
DeleteLike Grace I also believe that we are starting too late when talking about digital citizenship with students. Like the development of language it needs to start as soon as a child is old enough to use a computer or tablet. This is the more natural way of learning and if my 4 year old grandson is anything to go by then that is as early as we can do it.
DeleteAs stated we have a professional responsibility to not only our students but also to the wider community as we take it seriously to ensure our students physical safety then that must also surely be true of our students emotional wellbeing as well?
Like some others who have responded to your blog - I do not engage with students on Facebook and I choose to use this space for my personal friends. I also find it hard to be a regular poster within the realm - often choosing instead to be a passive reader only!
Hi Alison
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the personal Facebook issue. I have had students that are now in high school that want to be friends but like you I don't believe it is professional and appropriate. I also only use my Facebook for family overseas ands close friends. Even then you need to be aware of what you are posting as I am sure students try and check us out. I have told my class that many employers check out facebook pages to see what type of person you are before hiring you. In the past I have used my facebook to show photos when on holiday or checking in at the airport but no longer is it safe to advertise you are not home. The joys of social media. I am constantly reinforcing learning with my class around cyber safety so they are informed when faced with decisions.
Hi Alison
ReplyDeleteA couple of things that tweeked my interests in your post, which I can completely relate to. Through the Schooldocs site we have catered policy that we believed would be 'best case scenario' ideals for both staff and students and their whanau in our kura. With the introduction of the Mindlab course, the interaction with, and feedback from students and whanau has been that social networking is the best way to continue communication. Therefore, to keep up with the trend, we as a kura created a facebook page. This has become problematic at times because of privacy issues, as you stated above around photos and children's names. We also have a waiver that is signed on enrollment to combat the legal issues associated with this. Also the administration of the site, who holds responsibility for it, and how can it be used to promote the kura as well?
Legally and Ethically: As a fellow facebook user I have been bombarded by friend requests from present and past students, which I decline, but a little upsetting considering I am a Year 4 - 6 teacher?!?!! This does not reflect the expectation of whanau when they signed the cybersafety agreement with the kura? This is against the teachings of our dedicated staff also, who want our tamariki to be safe in this environment, but wonder if they are being monitored at all within their homes. One exceptional circumstance was of two lovely 8yr old girls creating a youtube channel and broadcasting their '8yr old' antics across the internet!!!! Thankfully a classmate was able to bring this to my attention and I could suggest very strongly to their parents to have the posts removed!
As a teacher, I have set up my own blog, just have found myself more focused on the idea of setting a good example for my tamariki with their own, teacher reviewed blog in seesaw; https://blog.seesaw.me/paharakeke .In this arena I can model to them appropriate language and the quality of work that should be showcasing our learning in the classroom. I am hopeful that through this, the tamariki will create an awareness of the expectations of good, wholesome interaction. Because I also have the control around what comments are added to their blogs, I am also making professional decisions around the value of these for them as learners.
I loved your attachments, they are very useful for my own blog. Thank you Alison.
Hi Alison,
Deletevery interesting conversation you have here. I know where you're coming from in regards to students trying to send friend request's via facebook, we need to remain professionals within our social lives and this can be by limiting the amount of exposure we share with our students and even their families. It then however comes down to the choices we make outside of our profession that could result in online postings.
Throughout this course I have come across a range of platforms that suit us more because of our profession. Discussing, sharing, promoting or exposure in general has evolved completely and has made working collaboratively with others much more effective and for this I am thankful.
I co-teach teach in a new entrant classroom and have recently come across class dojo, we use this platform as a way to make and keep contact with parents/ caregivers, we also use it as a forum for posting what we do throughout the day with the students, any pānui we may have for the parents and we also use it as a tool to help encourage positive behaviour within our class. We have had very positive feedback from parents and colleagues around the use of this platform, however the challenge just like most things is maintaining and continuing to use if effectively.
Rowie: I like what you are doing within your class and using seesaw as a platform for social networking with students and their whānau. I like how you have mentioned how you are focused on setting a good example for your tamariki. Personally I hadn't thought of using our choices in platforms as a means for our students to browse and take ideas which then develop and grow, for me it was more of a aid to discussions at home. I think that I can improve my use of class dojo by showcasing and modelling the language that I want my students to learn and share at home with whānau.
Hi Alison,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your blog. And this privacy and ethics issue is one that I have had to consider myself. I teach at the tertiary level in a business PTE, therefore it allows for a very interesting dynamic. Student and tutors are often friends as they have been employed by the college and had already befriended many of the students. There, there is an expectation that we are all adults. I decided to take a progressive response and use Twitter back-channel experiment, which was in effect another layer of dissemination and naturally in provided a platform for teachers and tutors to scaffold the learning journey process. Although there were a number of benefits that spontaneously occurred, the experiment was plagued from the start with ethical concerns, which ultimately led to the experiment grinding to a halt. The issue was essentially that the Twitter Back-channel was asking students “to perform in public or semi-public arenas. In this situation we are faced with the ethical question of whether this practice is caring for the identity of our students.” (Henderson, Auld & Johnson, 2014). Traditionally the classroom can be thought of as a private space, and once a class is over embarrassing comments etc. quickly dissolve away with time. I believe that when we first began the Twitter Experiment, there was an illusion by both teachers and students that this was in fact a private space, but the very nature of Twitter and the digital footprint it creates would quickly uncover anticipated problems that neither management nor I could have anticipated. After some time an ethical dilemma began to surface. This being what to do about content that either portrayed students or teachers in a less than optimum light. Whether that be students sleeping in a lecture, or negative comments about a teacher’s competency in general. Beyond the individual ridicule of those affected, whether or not it was ill attended, some content might end up having an adverse effect on the public image of the college. A meeting was called to suggest ways of containing possible future fallout. One of the ideas was students who had created potentially harming content, should be asked to take it down. Immediately this solution presented an ethical dilemma, that being should the reputation of the college be put before individual student expression. Although we have a clear policy for staff engagement with social media, with students the policy is much more ambiguous, and even within the student handbook, to date nothing has been codified. In the end we decided to let the experiment come to a natural ending. It was the end of a semester and we had another big intake and we decided not to promote the back-channel. Basically we really were not sure if we had a robust enough strategy prepared for the inevitable cross over between public, private and shared spaces. This is now an area that is of real interest to me as I see a similar fundamental dilemma crossing over between many different facets of our lives.
Hi Regan, Thank you for commenting on my blog. Wow! that sound like the original initiative was a great idea but it soon presented cause for concern and a dilemma about how to go forward with making positive us of an private/open space. It is a real issue that images or written comments may stay 'lost in space' and be accessed by other non-intended readers at any time. It is also of concern that things that are not true maybe written and the person may not even be aware. Or when things that are true, but not nice, and not appropriate to discuss or show in an open arena are broadcasted for the world to see. I thank my lucky stars that the likes www/fb/twitter were not so prominently accessible when I was a university!...lord knows what would be floating about,some great times had, but I'm happy for them to stay just in my memory and photo album. I am sure many feel the same. It could be really damaging to someones repetition and harm someone both career-wise and affect them personally. It really presents a can full of worms and I would be interested in hearing more about your research if you look into this further, especially ways you may find to eliminate or work around this issue.
DeleteThanks for your reply. I agree I think when we were in school we had a lot less worries if we got caught sleeping in class. I am working on a little project right now, and would love to share it with you if you like.
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