MTTS+Standard+3


 * MTTS Standard 3: Legal, Social, and Ethical Issues**

Demonstrate an understanding of the legal, social, and ethical issues related to technology use.
 * Outcome**:


 * Indicators:**
 * Identify ethical and legal issues using technology.
 * Analyze issues related to the uses of technology in educational settings.
 * Establish classroom policies and procedures that ensure compliance with copyright law, Fair Use guidelines, security, privacy, and student on-line protection.
 * Use classroom procedures to manage an equitable, safe, and healthy environment for students.

Technology Standard III: Legal, Social and Ethical Issues Case Study and Questions //Case Study:// You are a student teacher at Greater Maryland Middle School. Today you are observing Mrs. Jones teaching her social studies class in the computer lab. Her first period is her planning period. She has asked you to assist her with setting up the lab for her lesson plan. She is installing the school's only copy of an atlas software program for a single user license on the 22 computers in the lab. She explains that her lesson will require students to download information about the country that they have been assigned from the atlas program and to also search the Internet for more information for a PowerPoint presentation. Mrs. Jones encourages students to freely use any information from the Internet for their presentation. At the beginning of each class, the students enter and sit where they choose, occasionally arguing over seats. For the four classes with more than 22 students, Mrs. Jones pairs a boy and a girl, assigning the boy to operate the computer and the girl to take notes. Mrs. Jones starts the class by sharing a model of a final product, a PowerPoint presentation. Without guidance, she encourages the students to freely copy any graphics and text from the Internet to brighten up their slides. She explains that they will have one day in the computer lab to complete the assignment and that, if they do not finish in class, they must complete the work at home within two days. She directs them to use the atlas software and to search the web for sites about the country assigned to them. At the completion of class, she gives them time to save their work to the class folder on the local area network and reminds them not to access other folders. During the first class period with students, a few students become distracted with the computer in the first row where Mrs. Jones had been working on her grade book program at the end of her planning period. They begin reciting aloud the classmates' scores that are still visible on the monitor. She closes the program and puts the students back on task. Several students sitting by the windows complain that they cannot read their monitors due to glare. During the next class, Period 3, several students rush in and sit toward the back of the lab while the teacher does hall duty. As the other students enter the class, they become interested in the stifled giggles from the back row. The bell rings and the teacher enters the room approaching the group of students huddled in the back around a monitor. She disperses the group and finds the monitor displaying a commercial web site for movie videos. She proceeds as she did with the previous class. When the bell rings at the end of class, several students rush out without properly logging out and the backpack of one gets hooked to a monitor cable. Luckily, a student nearby catches the monitor before it falls. Period 4 begins more smoothly than the last, except for a brief delay to locate a workstation for a wheelchair-bound student. One student has already started the assignment at home and has brought his work on disk. He opens the file and continues his work. Several minutes into the 5th period, the guidance counselor brings a student new to the school and introduces her to Mrs. Jones. The counselor explains that her mother is downstairs completing the entrance paperwork. Mrs. Jones briefly describes the assignment and seats the new girl next to another student accessing the Internet. The day concludes with a smooth opening to period 6; however, 15 minutes into the class, the power to the lab server goes out. Mrs. Jones calms the excited students and asks them to be patient, assuming the power will be on within a few minutes. The principal makes an announcement that a local power surge affected the server and the lab computers will be down for the remainder of the day. Since there are 35 minutes left until dismissal, he encourages teachers to continue their lessons. Mrs. Jones mentions to you that she really had nothing else planned and she does not want to begin the next day's lesson, which would put the classes out of sync with each other. She tells the students they will have to complete the project on their own and allows them to talk quietly until the dismissal bell rings. After the final bell, Mrs. Jones dismisses the students and tells you to reflect on the day.
 * Artifact for Standard 3:**
 * 1) All of the questionable practices are highlighted in the above copy, they are in different colors but everything that is highlighted is a questionable practice.
 * 2) Legal issues are highlighted above in yellow. All of these legal issues breach copyright laws. The teacher should not have installed the program to all of those computers, especially when the program has only a single license. Programs should not be copied from websites, no matter what it may be. In order to copy something and use it, the person must gain permission from the owner of the material.
 * 3) The 3-safety consideration raised in this case study are highlighted in teal. There are a number of opportunities for injury included within these situations. In the first consideration the students should not be arguing over seats, they should not be arguing with one another at all. In the second situation, the students should not be rushing to get places; they should be walking to their destination. In the third situation not only could someone have gotten hurt but they student could have broken a piece of equipment; the teacher could possibly be faulted with equipment being broken by not pay8ing attention to his/her class. All of these situations are examples of poor classroom management and they all could have been avoided had the teacher attended to the classroom when they were taking places.
 * 4) The security and privacy issues raised in the case study are highlighted in purple. The fist issue highlighted is an issue of privacy. The students should never have access and should never see information pertaining to another students grades, that’s private and personal information that only the teacher and the student themselves should know. The situation with the group of students is one of security; the students should not be able to correct this situation. The lack of classroom management again comes into play. The final situation about the new student entering the classroom is one of security as well. If the proper paper work has not yet been completed that student should not be allowed to enter the classroom, and join in regular classroom activities.
 * 5) Technology in the classroom has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. This case study is a good example of both. One advantage is that students are able to access a great amount of information quicker than they would be able to if they had to go to the library an find the same informational s well as more information. Technology, for this reason, is apt to be used more in the classroom setting. A disadvantage for using technology is the access to inappropriate websites. It is vital to monitor what is being viewed and have proper blockers set into place. The Internet can also have incorrect information, it is important to teach students the difference between valid websites and non valid.


 * Reflection:

 I never put much thought into using pictures from the Internet as being illegal or something I shouldn't do. Maybe it's more the fact that almost everyone does it at some point that for me it was just a norm, thinking well it's on the internet why shouldn't I be able to use it. I know that thought process is very naive and the wrong answer. This standard allowed me to relearn copyright laws as well as locate them in a case study. This is very useful information that I’m sure I will have to put into practice one day. I don't want to be the teacher that gets in trouble for having illegal downloads or illegal pictures in her classroom. ** I realize that rules are set into place, within copyrighting, in order to protect the product as well as make money. It is unethical of me to think that I should be able to use a product without paying for it. As for the teacher in the case study, her lesson and classroom management were a mess. She didn't have a backup lesson planned in case something was to happen. The students were looking at inappropriate websites. She was using an illegal download of a program and she was not teaching her student's how to properly cite information used from the Internet. I would hope that when I become a teacher I am able to guide my students and make the as knowledgeable as can be about these topics. Knowing firsthand how little I knew up until this point, I think it is important we as educators begin these discussions earlier.