Week 29 - Legal and Ethical Contexts in my Digital Contexts

Week 29 - Legal and Ethical Contexts in my Digital Contexts

The potential and possibilities that the digital technologies, the internet and social media provide us with are phenomenal.  However, with every student at Whakawātea utilising digital technologies on a 1:1 level this caused some of our parents to be extremely concerned about cyber safety and other online dangers.  As a school we have taken a number of steps as in some cases the fears of parents could be realised.  According to (McGonigal, J.  2010) social media & making connections was the ‘buzz’ thing last decade, this decade, gaming & influencing behaviour is the ‘buzz’ so potentially this particular concern may be somewhat reduced.  There is no denying however that regardless we have never been as connected as we are today and not just with those we know but globally with people we have never ever met.  

Cell phones are now far much more than they ever were before and are often used more like mini computer.  They are Google ready therefore able to access Google apps, receive and send emails, texts, messages and much more.  This has meant that 24/7 access and use has now become the norm.  Regardless of this  “Social media was not designed for classroom use to support curriculum and assessment, the content of most social networking sites was not designed to be used in the classroom. This does not preclude their use in classroom contexts, as demonstrated by the growing number of studies.” (Snyder, Henderson, & Beale, 2012; Wong & Hew, 2010).  Being a primary school principal fortunately, Facebook and Twitter is not accessible legally until children are 13 years old therefore these types of social media can be safe guarded against currently.  This does not detract from the fact that schools, as well as ours have both Facebook and Twitter accounts.  The uptake of Twitter in New Zealand ,7.41% which is relatively low especially within our primary school age demographic.  Our Facebook account is used for communicating with parents and we also utilise this with urgent notifications or making closed groups for sports teams or school events and whilst this is quite useful it still raises an ethical debate about their use in school.  The Education Council of New Zealand have a Code of Ethics which states "I will work in the best interests of learners by promoting the wellbeing of learners and protecting them from harm", the use of social media has the potential to undermine this (Education Council, 2017).  

Whakawātea has committed to reducing the risk of Cyber incidents by implicitly teaching Digital Citizenship as the foundation of learning about digital technologies and using extensive monitoring systems to ensure the risks are mitigated or at least halted expeditiously.  To this end we have the following basic rules that are bot taught, reinforced and embodied physically throughout the school:

Ngā Ture o Te Ao Matihiko - Online Rules

Kore kore rawa e whākī atu
NEVER EVER DIVULGE OWN KUPU HUNA
Kia kaua e whakamahi i ngā parongo ao matihiko o tētahi atu
NEVER EVER USE ANYONE ELSE’S INFORMATION
Kia kaua rawa e raweke i ngā ao matihiko o tētahi atu
NEVER EVER ACCESS ANYONE ELSE’S AO MATIHIKO
 Kia kaua rawa e whakaweti ki tētahi atu i te ao matihiko ahakoa ki whea
NEVER EVER WRITE INAPPROPRIATE COMMENTS TO OTHERS OR SWEAR

We have discovered that these measures have allowed us to expose inappropriate cyber behavior quicker than bullying in the playground as we are able to both witness almost immediately what is being done and who is doing it. 

References

McGonigal, J. (2010).  Gaming can make a better world. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.

Education Council. (n.d). The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-et...

Ipukarea Kāinga o Whakawātea (2016).  Student Website Templates.

Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/a/whakawatea.school.nz/template-ikopaki/