Ethics in Educational Technology

This week essential question is a subject I feel strongly about. Historically I have always noticed organizations doling out training on new software, policies, training or whatever but doing little to have the employee own the experience. Most often the onus for organizing, facilitation and followup would fall to the supervisor, or trainer if available. This model can work just fine in certain cases but often its not scalable or dynamic enough to prepare learners with just in time learning resources. Stuff is getting complex fast and the more invested a learner becomes in their own development the greater success they can achieve  When I began to work for Apple I noticed a big shift in how they approached employee learning. With the nature of work in technology, there was daily need to have the best information possible to perform at a high level. This culture of learning needs to start in early education and perpetuated through curriculums that are designed to put learners at the center of their experience. The trick is for the ownership of learning not to become overwhelming to the learner/employee. This requires feedback and support otherwise learning can become overwhelming vs. empowering. As an example at Apple I managed teams and would meet frequently with each member to discuss their individual learning goals, progress towards goal, challenges and wins. Almost always with those who had not made progress, time management was the number one issue for incompletion of self development, leaving the employee feeling hopeless to make any improvement towards their learning goals. Asking someone to own their own learning is not enough, as leaders its up to us to recognize where we can support with resources, to avoid a negative “self efficacy” loop that can kill motivation. Having an undergrad background in Psychology I am familiar with Badura’s work referenced in the Vilas & McCabe article, where feelings of success, positive reviews from peers, meaningful feedback, and creating a “safe” & supportive dialog  are promoted to enhance a learners belief “they can do this”. (Vilas & McCabe, 2014) So really we are talking about improving confidence of self, as Gunn states “ A confident classroom is a successful classroom”. Gunn also references the self efficacy tool kit which is also influenced by Bandura’s research, ultimately you cannot have a learner who takes their educational destiny by the horns in a vacuum, there must be support in the form of a mentorship, guide, jedi master, or even a friend. When my daughter was young and would get stuck she would say “I cant…” my response would always be “cant never could”. This is a variation on Gunns reference to the “power of yet” and this is the magic that we can impart with our language as educators to promote a strong narrative vs. using weak language like “I can’t”. If we want to feel strong we have to talk strong and research shows it.

References:

Promoting Students' Self-Efficacy in the Online Classroom. (2014, May 20). Retrieved July 30, 2019, from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/promoting-students-self-efficacy-online-classroom/

Stajkovic, A. D., Bandura, A., Locke, L.A. & Lee. D. (2018) . Test of three conceptual models of influence of the big five traits and self-efficacy on academic performance: A meta-analytic path-analysis. Personality and individual differences, 120, 238-245

I really appreciated the current 2019 reference material for this week essential question. In the Alaska Business article it talks about satellite data and bringing better connection speeds to rural communities as they lag far behind not only in access, & speed but also cost. In a 2019

Forbes magazine it states  “20% Of Alaskans Don’t Have Access To Broadband Internet.” An interesting footnote is that Pacific Data port was founded by Chuck and Sandra Schumman who I worked for as a training coordinator @ Microcom (their other communications company) training satellite installation technician. They are the real deal and have been providing digital communications in Alaska for over 35 years, they have seen the need for rural areas, specifically creating PDI to address that need.  With that being said the school I have used for reference Denali Elementary is part of the Anchorage School District, and having worked as a business analyst for ASD IT department I can say that connectivity in most Anchorage schools is average to good and decent enough for standard projects. However, recently I worked in Lower Kuskokwim in Bethel and not only cost, but the connection quality was a huge factor in doing online work. I could only imagine what the small village communities face in their schools. I know that I had to change the way I used technology when In Bethel as data was a premium and you would ask yourself “do I need to stream this? How important is it?” This week's question is more focused on how we can influence and equalize the gaps as a technology leaders. Currently I am a Training Coordinator for Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and my position was created out of a need the leadership identified around employee tenure and training. Additionally there exists a technology divide amongst many of AHFC employees as many have been onboard for over 25 years. As a recent example I was tasked at re-igniting employee's digital training via a Learning management system. I believe it is our charter as learning technology innovators to evangelize the cleanest line for navigating new technologies, for whatever applications we are educating. In my case I will be kick-starting a culture of learning for employees that is based around social learning and cloud based learning management. This will provide corporate directors with data about their teams knowledge, compliance and development with intuitive analytics and reporting. The days of bland excel spreadsheet managment are fading.

References:

Knapp, A. (2019, January 16). 20% Of Alaskans Don't Have Access To Broadband Internet. This Satellite Startup Aims To Change That. Retrieved July 20, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2019/01/16/twenty-percent-of-alaskans-dont-have-access-to-broadband-internet-this-satellite-startup-aims-to-change-that/#131f6a7a57e8

I love this question as it gets right at the heart of what’s wrong about how services like facebook, twitter, etc. are being used. Above I posted a recent pic I took under a bridge in Palmer, Alaska and ironically its really a less dynamic form of old school social media. Apparently Justin has been a very bad boy? What is said online can very easily create a false truths... I would argue that the collateral damage that can arise creates a potentially scary tangential narrative regardless of things said are true or not. If we are facilitating learning I think there is always an opportunity to coach a digital etiquette perspective when the right moment presents itself and there seems to be no shortage of opportunity available each day. I really like that recent examples of how this thing can go sideways were cited in other class posts for example: Shamai had cited posts by Teegan Hanlan that were co-opted and portrayed off message.. Just like the comment from the bridge photo words can live on and do harm once the return button is pressed, they can transform and become something beyond the original intent. This concept is something that I think is central to looking at how we talk and coach to our students right to speak out. The tech tools now are so good at the “deep fake” its hard to separate what really goes down from a digital manipulation. Should we limit free speech because we can’t trust it? This gets a bit orwellian philosophically as the question of should the actions of a few bad seeds subject all free speechers to some totalitarian controls to prevent a viral false media? Bringing it back to teaching and facilitating learning, the onus to build a mindful digital citizen starts with early conversations, with relevant examples and stories good bad and ugly and using your company, universities and or districts policy as a geofence of sorts to frame those student conversations. Stories make it memorable and memory becomes a heuristic default when face with tough decisions.

This weeks essential question reminds me of a research project I did on Florentine Dome architecture and the larger need for Brunelleschi its creator to protect his work, I became fascinated by the lengths (coded scripts, reverse imagery, etc.) to which artists of the time like Brunelleschi or Michelangelo would take to protect  trade secrets as it was a lucrative & competitive business to rip off someone else’s work. Having your methods stolen could cost reputation, lost commissions and obscurity. Brunelleshchi’s dome remains to this day the largest masonry dome ever created that still stands. In contrast,  today we have both an open source philosophy that exists within the vacuum of capitalism, quite a pickle right? To relate this back to the classroom my organization recently did a company wide values survey to better define the values of the corporation. This resulted in arriving at key words around values as reported by the employees  It would seem this would be appropriate for the classroom as well to set the tone of expectations around publishing work in this case. So under the domain of education and research I tend to agree with the open source strategy to move things forward however I think it is important to define the rules of sharing and reposting someone else's work, going back to setting the tone and having that conversation out the gate at the beginning of the year to level set for every student. There are differences in publishing something as a freelancer or as part of an organization outside the educational sphere and certainly different rules apply. I found the Stanford guide to fairuse overview of intellectual property law helpful in organizing my thoughts around this topic. This is another example of the need for dynamic engagement on this and other ethical topics as the ground continues to move beneath our feet. For example, I read an article about Youtube and the agitation in the tech industry around Youtube barring legitimate ethical hacking videos under the premise that blocking such videos makes us all less secure?

References:

Wolff, J. (2019, July 09). YouTube's Policy on Hacking Videos Makes Everyone Less Safe. Retrieved July 14, 2019, from https://slate.com/technology/2019/07/youtube-policy-hacking-videos-null-byte.html

I find that review my peers post really helps align my thoughts around each week’s essential questions. I rely heavily on their perspective from with in schools and look to adapt the concepts into my practice in employee learning. With that said, Cyberbullying  is certainly a top cybersecurity threat in schools, this could be in part due to varying views usage of devices in school all the way back to educating on positive digital citizenry practices. Inappropriate usage of social media applications happens...everywhere. As an example we have had issues with employees using an internal messaging system for badmouthing a supervisor and warning when that supervisor is nearby so as to look like work is being done or hiding things being said on the messaging app. This begs the ethical questions of surveillance and tracking, is this warranted because an employee of student is using an institutional system? Most companies have language written into their IS policies that state that any information on company equipment is governed by that organization. E.g. Apple, AT&T, Xerox etc. Should students be held to the same accountabilities? I think the short answer is yes, with the increased number of shootings and dangerous events that happen in schools, often major contributing factors can be traced back to digital contributions whether there was cyberbullying, manifestos, shopping for weapons etc. As I listened to the video from the class materials, it outlined 5 of the top technology trends which ironically all have a safety component. The one that inspired further thought is social media monitoring...I began to think how tools  like this could be used for good but in contrast be used in so many undesirable ways as well. Should school administrators have access to these types of data and does this now open up the avenue for law enforcement monitoring schools or workplaces covertly via social media? Where is the line between privacy infringement and tools against crime live in a school or work setting? Zooming back in and simplifying I would recommend any educator look at the ways technology is used or planning to be used for what they can control usually your classroom or facility. From that point researching vulnerabilities within the systems and applications specific to your curriculum. A previous mentor use to say “control what you can control” which is to say, do your research and have answers for how tech that you introduced must be used responsibly, beyond that it comes down to each individual to make good choices not only for themselves but for others they interact with…”if you see something say something”. It has been statistically proven that crime is reduced when a community e.g. a classroom acts collaboratively towards prevention and catch would be actors before something tragic unfolds. In the corporate world social media monitoring and listening are not all bad as companies strive to understand the customer and fine tuning branding etc. Ultimately creating a safe learning environment should be a top concern for an educator, however it would be very helpful to have support from higher levels around training and tools. This frees up time resources to focus in on the core learning and outcomes and less on the preparations for a safe environment. Unfortunately, it seems the leading indicator is the level to which an educators responsibility to navigate security issues around curriculum fall solely to them. Is there administrative support, clear guidelines, and tools?

“Integrating Cybersecurity into the Classroom.” National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies, niccs.us-cert.gov/formal-education/integrating-cybersecurity-classroom.

Tesmond, Matt. “Social Media Monitoring vs. Social Media Listening.” Sprout Social, 19 Mar. 2019, sproutsocial.com/insights/listening-vs-monitoring/.

As an technology educator the onus of responsibility concerning online privacy falls to us, however I would argue as more learning moves into connected spaces any educator should be comfortable coaching digital privacy skills. Undoubtedly, it is important for students to know who and what to trust with personal information online. Security programs and privacy controls can help mitigate some concerns, such as viruses and cookies, however students should also learn how to build strong passwords and keep private information safe. This makes a strong argument for beginning the privacy conversation in the early educational settings. So to answer this week’s essential question is to look at the continuum of education. This is to say that a particular aspect of privacy may be more appropriate based on age, grade, or other reasons. Beginning in elementary school, students can be taught the “why’s” of looking at a website's privacy policy with their parents/family and making decisions about creating accounts or downloading files together. Middle/High school  can explore strategies for spotting scams, and taking back control  of the types of personal  data collected via apps and websites. Privacy awareness is like a muscle it can be trained but needs constant exercise to stay tip top.  Building a skill set around web privacy and safety can help set a core foundation for a student and their digital path in the world.

So on the first tier of privacy things like identifying strategies for creating and protecting strong passwords, avoiding online scams and basic knowledge of Internet safety and privacy, can cover the basics. A second tier or facet could include the what and why companies collect personal data, and navigating privacy policies. A third tier could be drilling down to specific applications like Facebook and instagram to navigate privacy settings and why this matters to them and friends/family.  

Often adults may not realize the’ve created a vulnerability, because dubious methods can be hard to identify. With your help, students can become adept at a constantly shifting landscape of privacy and threats to personal and corporate data. password creation. Finally these are only stone tools compared to the levels of sophistication found on the dark web, stylometric piracy, onion sites...ignorance is not a strategy!

Reference:

Jason Ohler provides a wealth of resources around this topic on his page, a little dated but still a great resource. I remember years ago a friend and colleague at the time first talked about the concept of getting up in the morning and grooming the digital self. of course I was aware of cyber threats and security breaches involving stolen identities and cards, but it started me thinking abouts what we put out on the web about ourselves and the path that information takes once its out there.  At the time myspace was at its height and facebook was still for the college students.  I have always had a less is more mindset around my own personal digital self but it has become increasingly difficult to keep our information, pictures etc. offline. Becoming a parent brought the digital self back into the conversation as I thought about a future where kids are commoditized  by their own parents striving to be the next Youtube star.  Bring it back to "What traits..." I would call out safety and morality as the standout traits that must be fostered in students. This can include pesonal safety but also the impact of digital actions and the weight they might carry. Essentially a baseline of digital ethical guidelines needs to be explored for every student. I like the language from the House bill 213 introduced in Utah as its really all about appropriate behaviors filtered through current technologies. I also like that a focus of that bill looks at not just avoidance but how can students ca give back and contribute to their communities. I do think that the traits we want to impart on students around appropriate use are constantly transforming as new tech comes online and well written guidelines can frame the navigation of whats next. I would like to call out the critical thinking aspect as with the increased complexity of online systems and consequent inter-relations students need a rock solid set of tools from which they can asses validity and veracity of online media they consume. information becomes easier and easier to obtain the onus of responsibility must originate with each student to do the right thing. This must be included in the traits that are taught and assessed. I have included the link below to the UTAH DigCIt site that is a great well laid out resource for digital citizenry and resources.

I have enjoyed reading some of the other posts on this weeks essential question and it got me thinking about the work I do in employee education and the ethical challenges in that space. First as a disclaimer I believe that the ethical challenges must absolutely be addressed in early education as for the generation "Alpha" it will be all they know and will continue to look vastly different from what we even know now. The second part of that is wisdom which is where the adult or more experienced perspective comes in to mentor or guide. Many of these challenges are the same regardless of age however in the professional setting the ethics can get more complicated when mixed with technology.  As Jackie Gerstein stated "Society is a dynamic system." we must have an open and ongoing dialogue to keep up. For example ethical challenges can occur when the employees don't look things up in a policy knowledge base, don't bother with e-learning training, and don't take advantage of an mentor or  e-coach. Which can lead to liability and a culture of cut and paste applications of technology with out regard for individual rights. Author Daniel Goleman's book titled "Ethical Intelligence" explores 5 core principles that embody the ethical intelligence competency in the work setting. For example the principle of "do no harm" can be applied to just about any classroom situation regardless of age. The challenge of staying ahead of when a new technology usage, application or otherwise becomes an ethical concern is the greatest challenge todays/tomorrows educator faces. This begs the question... How can we educators prepare for the ambiguity whats next in high tech affect on learning ?

Weinstein, B. D. (2011). Ethical intelligence: Five principles for untangling your toughest problems at work and beyond. Novato, CA: New World Library.

T D Profiles Allison Rossett, Professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University. (2017, October 11). Retrieved May 22, 2019, from https://www.td.org/magazines/td-magazine/t-d-profiles-allison-rossett-professor-of-educational-technology-at-san-diego-state-university