Scenario 1: Collaboration = Harassment?
A student is using Google Drive as a writing and collaborative tool for
peer reviewing. Juan and Jeremy have used the platform instead to
exchange comments that involve name-calling and racial slurs. Jeremy’s
parents object when his account is suspended claiming it will negatively
impact his academic progress.
The students should meet with the building administration on this issue to determine a consequence for the students' behavior. Our district has a policy about harassment within the technology policy. The policy states that a student's account is a privledge and could be suspended. I would recommend meeting with the students and parents to discuss alternate ways to peer review. I would also recommend reviewing the district's technology policy at the beginning of the course with parents and students.
Scenario 7: Chernobyl Meltdown…
Ms.
Jansen, a special ed. teacher, has been using screencasting in her
class to post review screencasts of her lessons and study materials.
These screencasts have been heavily used by students and she has
received glowing emails from parents thanking her for going this extra
distance. Ms. Jansen decides it’s time to have her students create their
own screencasts. She struggles with how best to post and share their
screencasts and decides to use a class YouTube account/channel. Because
some students want to do screencasting from home, she provides students
with the class YouTube username and password so they can upload their
videos from home. Two disasters ensue: 1.) Students post more than just
their screencasts including inappropriate random YouTube videos as well
as change the privacy settings of the account. 2.) Students post video
content of themselves and their peers and the teacher discovers that
some of these students have “no photo” stipulations on file in the
office. Before Ms. Jansen can even blink, these videos have been
shared/linked to Facebook pages and have an assortment of inappropriate
comments posted from outside users.
Ms. Jansen should have kept her user name and password private. I would recommend that Ms. Jansen reset her password and her privacy settings so no additional videos can be posted. Then, Ms. Jansen should speak with all parties that have a stake in this site starting with her building principal. After coming up with a plan with her principal, she should clean up the site. In the future I think she should teach the students how to share videos with her that she can then add to her site. This is more work for the teacher, but it will allow only videos that are attached to an assignment on the class YouTube account.
These scenarios demonstrate just how easy technology and all it's conveniences can get away from people. I agree that it's best to rely on the district policies to enforce expectations and administer consequences. This activity also reminds me that student understanding of the district regulations and policy is very important. Plus, students need to take the policy and regulations more seriously.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Therese. I would definitely rely on administration to help with the issues. It is also important to know the tool that you are going to use inside and out and try to predict any problems ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteWe all know how awesome technology is and how much students can learn from it, but we have to be careful. I agree that administration would play a key role in enforcing district policies and expectations.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well. It's important to be very transparent if you made an error and try to fix/explain to the best of your ability.
ReplyDeleteAnd teachers, always know which of your students have a no photo stipulation!! Especially when opening up any platform for digital image sharing. This seems like a no-brainer to me, always cover your back from a legal standpoint!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas for number 1- I think it's important to review the policy before starting a project. It reminds students of what they should be doing! It also reminds parents of how technology should be used by their student.
ReplyDeleteDoing things well and correctly often times does take way more time and energy on the teachers behalf, but quality lessons and improved student learning is worth it.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to know the district's policy, and to try to foresee any problems before they occur.