Standard+III

Standard III: Legal, Social, and Ethical Issues

Outcome: Demonstrate an understanding of the legal, social, and ethical issues related to technology use.

Indicators: 
 * Identify ethical and legal issues using technology.
 * Analyze issues related to the uses of technology in educational settings.
 * Establish classroom policies and procedures that ensure compliance with copyright law, Fair Use guidelines, security, privacy, and student on-line protection.
 * Use classroom procedures to manage an equitable, safe, and healthy environment for students.

Personal Reflection I liked this assignment because it helped me realize that some of the things we do as teachers are illegal. One way I can use this in the classroom is to teach students about what is safe in the classroom. I will use this to help them and myself keep everything in order in the classroom so that we do not violate any safety regulations. The students will be able to understand that keeping the classroom clean and everything off the floor will help them not get hurt.

Activity: At the beginning of each class, the students enter and sit where they choose, occasionally arguing over seats. For the four classes with more than 22 students, Mrs. Jones pairs a boy and a girl, assigning the boy to operate the computer and the girl to take notes. Mrs. Jones starts the class by sharing a model of a final product, a PowerPoint presentation. Without guidance, she encourages the students to freely copy any graphics and text from the Internet to brighten up their slides. She explains that they will have one day in the computer lab to complete the assignment and that, if they do not finish in class, they must complete the work at home within two days. She directs them to use the atlas software and to search the web for sites about the country assigned to them. At the completion of class, she gives them time to save their work to the class folder on the local area network and reminds them not to access other folders. During the first class period with students, a few students become distracted with the computer in the first row where Mrs. Jones had been working on her gradebook program at the end of her planning period. They begin reciting aloud the classmates' scores that are still visible on the monitor. She closes the program and puts the students back on task. Several students sitting by the windows complain that they cannot read their monitors due to glare. During the next class, Period 3, several students rush in and sit toward the back of the lab while the teacher does hall duty. As the other students enter the class, they become interested in the stifled giggles from the back row. The bell rings and the teacher enters the room approaching the group of students huddled in the back around a monitor. She disperses the group and finds the monitor displaying a commercial web site for movie videos. She proceeds as she did with the previous class. When the bell rings at the end of class, several students rush out without properly logging out and the backpack of one gets hooked to a monitor cable. Luckily, a student nearby catches the monitor before it falls. Period 4 begins more smoothly than the last, except for a brief delay to locate a workstation for a wheelchair-bound student. One student has already started the assignment at home and has brought his work on disk. He opens the file and continues his work. Several minutes into the 5th period, the guidance counselor brings a student new to the school and introduces her to Mrs. Jones. The counselor explains that her mother is downstairs completing the entrance paperwork. Mrs. Jones briefly describes the assignment and seats the new girl next to another student accessing the Internet. The day concludes with a smooth opening to period 6; however, 15 minutes into the class, the power to the lab server goes out. Mrs. Jones calms the excited students and asks them to be patient, assuming the power will be on within a few minutes. The principal makes an announcement that a local power surge affected the server and the lab computers will be down for the remainder of the day. Since there are 35 minutes left until dismissal, he encourages teachers to continue their lessons. Mrs. Jones mentions to you that she really had nothing else planned and she does not want to begin the next day's lesson, which would put the classes out of sync with each other. She tells the students they will have to complete the project on their own and allows them to talk quietly until the dismissal bell rings. After the final bell, Mrs. Jones dismisses the students and tells you to reflect on the day.
 * //Case Study//** You are a student teacher at Greater Maryland Middle School. Today you are observing Mrs. Jones teaching her social studies class in the computer lab. Her first period is her planning period. She has asked you to assist her with setting up the lab for her lesson plan. She is installing the school's only copy of an atlas software program for a single user license on the 22 computers in the lab. She explains that her lesson will require students to download information about the country that they have been assigned from the atlas program and to also search the Internet for more information for a PowerPoint presentation. Mrs. Jones encourages students to freely use any information from the Internet for their presentation.
 * //Questions for students to answer.//**
 * 1) Underline or highlight all questionable practices that you noted in the case study.
 * 2) Of those legal and ethical issues (one of which must deal with copyright), identify three different issues that arise from this case study and explain what laws, policies and/or procedures are most applicable to each issue.
 * 3) Of those health and safety considerations raised in the case study, identify three. Suggest at least one potential way of addressing these types of issues, including classroom management techniques that may facilitate a safe and orderly environment.
 * 4) Of those security and/or privacy issues raised in the case study, pick three. For each instance, describe the policies and procedures that may help ensure security and privacy.
 * 5) The case study highlights several advantages and disadvantages of widespread use of, and reliance upon, technology in the classroom. Address the following:
 * Identify one advantage and describe how it impacts technology use in educational settings. Support your answer with examples based upon your prior knowledge and experience.
 * Identify one disadvantage and describe how it impacts technology use in educational settings. Support your answer with examples based upon your prior knowledge and experience.

Technology Standard III: Legal, Social, and Ethical Issues Case Study and Questions

2. a. She downloaded a single license software program onto 22 computers. She could have just let the students use the program on her computer and gave them more time to finish the work in the classroom. b. When the power went out she should have had something for the students to do there should always be a back up plan if something goes wrong. c. She let the students use anything they wanted from the internet. She should have taught them about plagiarism and taught them how to make works cited pages.

3. a. She lets the students sit where ever they want which causes fights. She should have given the students assigned seats based on their groups so that there would be no fights over who wants to sit where. b. There was no accommodations for handicapped or wheelchair students. If she knew she had a student in wheelchair that accommodations should have been made during her planning period so that class could run smoothly. The school should have made it easier for students. c. There was a glare on the computers by the windows. She should have let the students move or have shades or something to put in front of the window so it would not affect the children's eyes or their work.

4. a. She left a computer program with grades up for the students to see. She should have been more careful about putting that away before the students came into the class. It is not legal to let others students see their grades. b. The students were looking at inappropriate websites while she was out of the classroom. She should have had someone in the classroom during her being in the hall because students where on other websites. c. The students don't log out properly. She should have told the students exactly how to log out of the computer so that they could not have other people looking at their work and their files.

5. One advantage is that it is easier for students to learn and be creative while learning. They can use the internet for pictures and videos for presentations and it will be much more interesting for other classmates to look at. Students can also find more things that they are interested in and it will allow them to be more active in their studies. One disadvantage is that students rely on the internet more to do their work and aren't learning anything from the book anymore which means they aren't reading as much. Students can find answers to anything on the internet which in turn will affect how they take tests in order to pass