Week 3 discussion

For this discussion I have chosen to do option: I have chosen to write about what happened my nephew while he was in 10th grade (I was not in this degree program as of yet but I knew that there was issues and figured out how to address them). I think it is a good example of technology and ethics. In his history class a wikispace was set up for the students to do a project on WWII. There were a discussion board where the students answer a question put forth by the teacher and that’s where it got ugly for some of the students. Here is the Scenario it was brought to my attention by my nephew to me. Nephew: "Auntie, can I show you something?" Me: "Sure" Nephew: “Here is my wikispace that I need to do homework on...each day we have to answer a question about something on WWII." Me: “Okay?" Nephew: “Will you read the comments on here and tell me what to do? I don't think they are good...I think it is cyber bulling against student s." And after reading all of the comments I realized he was right. The first thing that I wanted to do was look for rules to see how to approach this situation and then present it to my nephew. After researching and from just starting college I see that Ashford had something that was called “netiquette" but did not see anything of the sort on the wikispace itself. The next thing I did was talk to my nephew about it explaining to him what netiquette means. So our conversation proceeded after I was able to look up some information. ME: "I really think that you need to talk to your teacher about this." Nephew: "And say what?" ME: “What it is, cyber bullying." Nephew: “Will you come with me." ME: “Okay, I guess I can do that." The next day my nephew told me that the teacher was willing to talk to us about the problem she had with the wikispace. I started the conversation like this... ME: "Mrs. Jackson, my nephew has brought something to my attention that I think should be looked at and quickly. Will you look at the wikispace that you put together and we will explain what we are talking about?" Teacher: "Sure, how is that space working out for you Jason, do you like being able to collaborate with other students outside of the classroom?" Nephew: "I did until I started to see what was being said" Teacher: "What??" As we looked at the comments and I talked to her more I realized that she was new to wikispace and didn't even consider the fact that she could actually see the comments, she was just looking at the activity monitor to make sure all students were participating. Plus, she hadn't even considered that she needed to set rules...she stated that she had thought that all the students would "know better" than that. At that time I wasn't sure how to even consider talking to her about it at her level...I wasn't a teacher and thought better of it because I wasn't an expert on the issue. She agreed that there would be rules set up, that the students that were responsible for the bullying would be held accountable and that she would get with another teacher who knew how to work wikispace so she could learn. What do I know now? I will tell you what I know now. I know now that yes there are real risks using technology in the classroom but if used correctly it can be of great use! I also know now that she was using the wikispace to make sure that the constructivism theory was being applied in her lesson...good for her but with her lack of attention to the ethical part of using technology to have collaboration present she hurt a student and with that said, it is very important to. 1). Make sure you know how to use the technology first. 2). Have rules! 3). Monitor all the time. If these things are done the safe environment that students need to have to learn will be there and the technology itself will lend that helping hand!