Lab Objective. By successfully completing this lab, students should be able to:

• describe five common ethical concerns of classroom technology integration
• in jigsaw writing groups, think through typical ethical issues and cases of the wise use of technology in classrooms

Activity Guide:

1. Lab Admin & Course design review (2 or 3 credits, how to upload to TS, etc.)
2. In small groups, play 1 round of Cards Against Educational Ethics (CAEE)
   1. We will be playing on at Not All Bad Cards… (Note to instructor: card deck code:  fldiSqrVJ) Instructor will give you game link on the day of lab.
   2. Be sure to play until there is an identified winner, play an extra round  if needed to break any ties.
3. Note that some of the prompts have connections with real cases (see Gdoc with some links). Discuss topics that arise (polleverywhere stream)
4. Whole Class discussion of game play and readings
   1. (create draft/outline for class assignment in Google Doc) please be sure to share with uconnmike2000@gmail.com (my gmail)
   2. Connection of Ethics to Lesson Plans
5. (Optional: if needed & time permitting) Play a 2nd round of CAEE
6. Discuss topics that arise (polleverywhere stream) (Real Black Cards link)
7. Assignment: In your jigsaw writing groups, compose a consensus statement (for teachers and K-12 students) concerning the ethical use of technology for instruction. Be sure to consider the legal and policy resources provided in this module, plus the experiences you gained from playing Cards Against Education Ethics to craft a statement that addresses the abstract principles of ethical tech use, and the complexities presented when current laws and policies do not specifically address the context, technologies, and circumstances that present for each student and teacher working in authentic situations.

Discussing (online) discussions:  discussion of  jigsaw group design and/or cyberbullying case

{we will decide that on lab day and clarify what you are asked to do. It will depend on progress on the writing assignment and other factors that may affect class time}

What makes for an effective discussion? Well there are several reasons teachers ask students to discuss, including externalizing their thinking so the instructor can assess understanding. Another is to ensure that students’ voices are equitably heard. And a theory of the social construction of knowledge would encourage teachers to have students discuss in order to find consensus and provide social validation for the understandings and take-away from the class. For any discussion to be judged as efffective, it must at least meet the intended goal.

But many students are reluctant to speak up in public. Some will resist speaking until they are confident they have a fully formed and reasoned position to share. Some may have other types of limitations such as emergent bilinguals with limited vocabulary to express their thoughts. Others may not trust that their thoughts will be valued or met with respect. Scholarly debate and discourse is often intended to evoke contrasting ideas and to use public discussion to interrogate ideas that those who initially offer them may find offensive, threatening, or confrontational.

Technology in the form of anonymous postings, upvoting, and digital discussions that require that warrants for claims and citations of sources be included in all posts, can help establish trusting and open forums for discussion. To build a true consensus requires open and honest discussion. Unfortunately, the way threaded discussion tools are often used in school, students view them as assignments to post to a word limit, or number of posts, rather than to contribute their ideas to an authentic discussion. Without such superficial constraints, some student might choose to dominate the discussion while others might choose to only lurk and not contribute at all.

To prepare for all online modules that relies heavily on discussion, let’s practice with an authentic online discussion.

1. Share your thoughts about the jigsaw groups approach as implemented in HuskyCT Blackboard. Would you consider using this design for distance students?

or

1. Time permitting: As a class, Confront several Ethical Dilemmas (pdf)  Section I Scenario 1 pp. 3-4 emailing students, and Section IV Scenario 2 cyberbullying pp. 24-25.

Upload to Taskstream

Upload to Watermark/Taskstream the link to your consensus statement concerning technology and ethics in the context of educational environments. Add some text reflecting on your contribution and other thoughts about the shared statement.

For you target lesson…

Consider your target lesson plan, and any technology use it might involve or currently involves, such as having students access online material, participate in online discussions or other digital social interactions, or provide performance data as part of the lesson. For you final reflection, be prepared to address the ethical issues associated with the tech integration, including protection of student data, digital citizenship and how to treat each other online, and how technology might make digital cheating, plagiarism (cut/paste without citation) or other mischief easier for students. How might you proactively address such issues and how might you use students’ bad choices as an opportunity to teach digital citizenship?

Up Next

Technology can help all students learn. With many districts now emphasizing personalized learning and seeking to teach every student, our next module will focus your attention on how assistive technology, designed for special needs, may be leveraged to meet the needs of all students, both identified and regular education students. For instance, instead of requiring that all student write their list of ethical issues (as we did here), what other forms could this response take, if supported by technology?