VI. A:

Teachers model and teach legal and ethical practice related to technology use.

Current and emerging technologies make access to information and media almost effortless. “Google” the internet for five minutes and you can hear a new country music release, read about the latest archeological discovery, understand the symptoms of arthritis, and download a copy of a pirated movie. Unfortunately, obtaining or distributing illegal material is becoming so routine and common, that teachers must go to elaborate lengths to verify whether student work is authentic. I believe that stealing is stealing, even when it is easy, and as role models and learning-leaders we must maintain a high ethical standard personally, and hold our students to that same standard.

It is commonly believed that at the university level copyright law is clearly understood and adhered to. This is not always the case.  I formulated a policy plan addressing copyright issues for my Technology Leadership course, which I believe demonstrates appropriate modeling of ethical practice.  In that same course, I constructed a Powerpoint presentation outlining an annual review of the computer lab policies in my department.  Many of these policies address legal and ethical matters that are frequently considered in technology rich environments.  In Technology Coordination, I constructed a similar presentation describing policy needs in the department. This presentation emphasizes what is needed to be changed and why.

Teachers apply technology resources to enable and empower learners in diverse backgrounds, characteristics and abilities.

Technology offers many new advantages to students with disabilities and while applying technology cannot completely “level the playing field” among students with varying abilities, it comes very close in many cases. Most of my work that applies to the consideration of accommodations for people with disabilities occurred in Technology Leadership. In that course I created an Equity Assessment that reviewed the process and availability of accommodations in my university. A second artifact that supports this standard is the case study I completed to review technology solutions to assist Deaf Students in mainstream classrooms. Both of these activities revealed an odd contradiction of technology: While we have the tools and knowledge to make diverse learners more comfortable or better accommodated, we do not always ensure that appropriate solutions are in place in advance. In my department, as I was building a computer lab several years ago, we determined it was generally more cost effective and less disruptive to provide accommodations as they are needed. This approach works reasonable well, but we must not become complacent. I believe it is our responsibility as technology implementers to remain vigilant to students who may have need of accommodations so that we can avoid obstacles when possible and offer additional accommodations swiftly and appropriately.

Teachers identify and use technology resources that affirm diversity.

The best artifacts to demonstrate my mastery of this standard come from the Technology Leadership course. The case study to accommodate Deaf students is my first example, while the policy statement I formulated further addresses these topics. These examples describe strategies for inclusion and accommodation of students with disabilities, however, there are other dimensions to diversity, and technology can allow us to introduce cultural, physical and spiritual differences to our students. I believe it is essential that students acquire awareness about other peoples and their customs and cultures.  It may be cliché to say, but the world is “shrinking” and we have an urgent responsibility to expose and educate our children about other people of the world so that perhaps they may lead us to peaceful solutions to some of our conflicts.

Teachers promote safe and healthy use of technology resources.

My work in the Technology Leadership course included evaluations of software for children. I conducted an evaluation of software filtering programs and the completion of a software evaluation instrument used when evaluating the Jason Project application. Both of these exercises demonstrate my awareness of the importance and process for promoting safe use of technology. As I learn more about the ways technology, and the Internet in particular, is being used to exploit children. I am stunned. These examples are small exercises that depict the work that educators must do to keep children safe from predators.

The two policy presentations I made, one as an Annual Review of lab policy and one as a statement that documented essential changes recommended in the existing policy, further exemplify how I promote healthy and safe use of technology. These examples identify ways to address appropriate use of technology resources in public situations. I believe that by enforcing strong usage policies, technologists and educators model appropriate behavior and usage principles. There is not a better way to teach safety and ethics than to model them.

Teachers facilitate equitable access to technology resources for all students.

The policy presentations I created for each Technology Leadership and Technology Coordination address the issues of equitable access to technology for all students. It is essential that educators work to make technology available to all students they instruct. Perhaps more importantly, as we demonstrate to our students the importance of equitable access, we will impart this value to them and they will continue modeling it for others in the future. Additionally, the case study I conducted in Leadership addressed the specific issue of making accommodations for a person with a particular disability. The work I did for the equity assessment assignment in Leadership evaluates the accommodations and services present at my university. These artifacts demonstrate that I have mastered this standard and echo my belief that we strive to make technology available to all learners.

I  |  II  |  III  |  IV  |  V  |  VI