Activity 9: Fitness Assessment

Scenario 1: Collaboration = Harassment?

A student is using Google Drive as a writing and collaborative tool for peer reviewing. Juan and Jeremy have used the platform instead to exchange comments that involve name-calling and racial slurs. Jeremy’s parents object when his account is suspended claiming it will negatively impact his academic progress.


Ethical issues:  This is clearly bullying and harassment, and improper use of technology.  The ethical issues reside clearly with the students involved and their behavior.  However, there is also an ethical issue with the teacher:  was an acceptable use policy explained, clearly outlined and signed?  If nothing was done along these lines by the teacher, then the parents have a legitimate concern (though not argued well -- the boys can still make academic progress).  If the teacher took these measures, then I would explain to the parents that the boys are receiving appropriate consequences for their actions.  And I would further argue that the academic objectives will still be met with paper and pencil in a more old-fashioned method despite the suspension of the boys' accounts.


Safety or well-being of anyone in jeopardy:  The bullying/harassment is the key component to be addressed by the teacher -- immediately.  Diversity sensitivity lessons and empathy training would be paramount for me to teach and reteach.


Advice, strategy, or policy recommendation to individuals or schools:   The key issue, with regard to the parents' concerns, is that students have initial lessons on Acceptable Use.  Clear consequences would need to be stated.  I would role-play various scenarios that are similar on the playground to how it would look with technology.  I would also communicate the Acceptable Use policy and consequences to parents in advance.


Real-life incidents or personal connections related to the scenario:  Because I taught 1st grade the last 3 years, we didn't have as many opportunities for students to get involved in these kinds of risky behaviors.  However, I did have iPads, and had one student who would try to hide and go to apps I hadn't assigned.  I had him always sitting in a place where I could see his screen; if/when he strayed, he lost the privilege the next time we used iPads.

Scenario 6: Course Management Overload

Ms. Carlson is excited to use Edmodo, a course management system similar to Moodle with her students.  Although Edmodo isn’t officially supported by the tech department like Moodle is, she is excited to use it because she finds it much more intuitive to use and she likes the interface better than Moodle.  Ms. Carlson is vigilant about the privacy settings, has informed her principal and parents of her instructional goals and objectives. Her students jump on board and post to the discussion at record numbers. Ms. Carlson is pleased to see such motivated dialogue on a novel that had previously felt like pulling teeth.  Two weeks into the unit, she receives a parent complaint. The complaint is as follows: 
     Dear Ms. Carlson, Mr. Miller, Mr. Hamilton and Ms. McIntyre,
     Although my son is a motivated and active participant in all of your classes, I am concerned that the school does not seem to have a unified course management system. He is using Moodle in Math, Edmodo in English, Schoology in Science, and Kidblog in Social Studies. Furthermore, all of these sites require different logins and passwords. As a parent, I am having a difficult time keeping this all straight and am requesting that the school discuss this issue and figure out a more streamlined approach. 
     Thank you for your consideration,  

     A supportive but confused parent

Ethical issues:  I don't see a lot of ethical issues.  I suppose going away from the district's supported platform could be considered somewhat controversial, but it's not wrong.  There could be an ethical issue with regard to the parent being a helicopter parent and not letting the student deal with the reality of a variety of sites and passwords.


Safety or well-being of anyone in jeopardy:  The biggest issue here seems to be the parent and his/her helicoptering.  Students are much more adept than adults at adapting to new platforms and technologies.  At a younger elementary age, accessing all of these platforms and remembering all of these passwords might be too taxing, but I don't see that happening in the real world.


Advice, strategy, or policy recommendation to individuals or schools:   Because of the parent's concern (and massive "To" list), the issue must be addressed.  It would probably need to be addressed at a higher level:  what is the district's policy with regard to unsupported platforms?  If they want to make clear black &  white lines about what can/cannot be used, then the district would be limiting the capabilities of teachers and backing themselves into a corner for future technological breakthroughs by imposing evaluations/wait time/studies etc.  Technology changes so rapidly that I think we don't want to set those kinds of limitations.  On the flip side, we can be proactive as a district and provide online tutorials for using these platforms.  If a teacher strays from district-supported platforms, perhaps it should be mandatory that he/she provide such a tutorial on his/her website.


Real-life incidents or personal connections related to the scenario:  Again, coming from 1st grade, I don't have any personal connections from school that relate to this scenario.  However, I do empathize with the parent's concern about remembering a bunch of passwords; it is hard.  At the same time, this is the world in which we live and we have to find ways to teach the students and their parents tools to manage their sites and passwords.