Legal | Ethical | Safe |
Copyright infringement/ appropriate attribution | Plagiarism/fraud | Privacy issues, especially children’s personal information online |
Discrimination: Disability, racial, religious | “Netiquette” | Security of information: passwords; financial details |
Hacking, breach of terms and conditions | Cultural sensitivity, blasphemy, obscenity | Stranger danger – online predators |
Theft: piracy of software and digital audio/video files | Intimidation, harassment, stalking, blackmail | Cyber-bullying |
Defamation: libellous content | Image manipulation | Exposure to inappropriate content |
Sedition | Respect | Health and Safety due to overuse: ergonomics, visual strain, etc. |
Where better for a teacher to look than QCAR Cross-Curriculum Priorities for ICTs? They dictate that by the end of Year 7, pupils should:-
"understand the role and impact of ICTs in society. They develop and apply ethical, safe and responsible practices when working with ICTs in online and stand-alone environments. They:
• apply codes of practice for safe, secure and responsible use of ICTs
• review the use of ICTs in terms of safety, ethical practice, legality and responsibility
• apply values and codes of practice of the ICT environment that respect individual rights and cultural differences when accessing and delivering information online
• apply protocols to acknowledge the owner(s)/creators(s) of digital information sources and develop an awareness of legislation relating to digital theft and plagiarism
• apply a range of preventative strategies to address issues relating to health and safety when using ICTs
• develop and apply strategies for securing and protecting digital information, including personal information
• evaluate how their use of ICTs meets ethical and legal criteria
• reflect on, analyse and evaluate the use of ICTs, assess their impact in the workplace and society, and consider future needs".
There is a wealth of information on the web, with policies, procedures and precedents to put meat onto the bones of most of the issues raised above. For example:-
Legal
Education Queensland – Copyright, including "All Right to Copy?": An Interactive Teaching and Learning Resource
Ethical
Privacy
Safety
Digital Parenting a magazine from Vodafone to help parents get to grips with their children's digital world.
TheTeachersGuide.com – Parents’ Hints and Tips Guide to Internet Safety
[This PowerPoint was sourced from Google Docs. Finally, they've done something useful for me :o)]In today’s ever-changing ICT environment, however, it becomes ever harder to avoid risks of a breach of any one of these issues, by any one of many students, parents or teachers. The teacher’s duty is that of risk assessment: identifying risks; assessing them: excluding them (or limiting them if they cannot be excluded) and reviewing – a circular process.
Pupils and parents have a role to play and teachers can reduce their personal risk exposure by educating and communicating to pupils and parents. They cannot be the sole guardians. Education Queensland has various policies and procedures in place to save teachers re-inventing the wheel, and there are many web resource which even make pupil learning of online issues fun.
Case Study Example
When researching Presentation Tools, it was noted that both the Glogster service and the Prezi service states that they are “intended for adults only. You must be 18 years old...or have obtained the consent of your parent or guardian”. This is in the small print along with the following:-
Prezi will never knowingly solicit, nor will it accept, personally identifiable information from users known to be under thirteen (13) years of age
Personal registration information submitted by a minor violates the website terms of use and will not be accepted. Any general information provided by minor and gathered (for example, through the use of cookies) during his or her visit may be used as indicated in this privacy policy. Prezi is committed to protecting the privacy of children and has no intention of collecting personal data from minors. We encourage parents and guardians of minors to regularly check and monitor their children’s use of email and other activities online.
PLEASE NOTE: The Prezi Service is general audience service, and does not direct any of its content, products, or services specifically at children under 13 years of age. We understand and are committed to respecting the sensitive nature of children’s privacy online. If we learn or have reason to suspect that a user of the Prezi Service is under age 13, we will promptly delete any personal information in that user’s account. If you have such information, please contact us as under13@prezi.com
Whose Responsibility?
“Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe – this isn’t just about a top-down approach. Children will be children – pushing boundaries and taking risks. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim.”
What are the teacher’s responsibilities?
Educating pupils (and assessing their understanding) via fun, interactive games (see above);
Monitoring pupils’ behaviour;
Displaying reminder posters in class and on Class Wiki;
Informing parents of the issues to be aware of to protect their children at home, by publishing school policies and Helpful Hints on the Class Wiki (see example here);
Obtaining signed parent/child consent/agreement form re. internet use;
Consider the setting up of Gaggle Student Email addresses, for pupils, to avoid them storing any personal information online.
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