In order to stay on the cutting edge of technology integration, Central needs to take many issues into consideration. The digital divide, copyright, accuracy and validity, and Internet privacy and security are four such issues. The digital divide is an important issue because without access to beneficial technology, the technology serves almost no educational purpose. With more and more student and teacher activity on the Internet, copyright becomes an increasingly pertinent and legally significant issue. The more research that is conducted on the Internet, the more validity and accuracy play an amplified role in that research. Not all information found online is correct and a lot is not valid depending upon what research you do. Privacy and security on the Internet is something to be strongly considered because of the amount of harmful traffic on the Internet. It only increases daily and everyone needs to be aware and looking out for it. The following suggestions can help Central stay on the cutting edge of technology integration.
Access, the Digital Divide, and Special Populations
Introduction
The digital divide threatens the mission of the Central York School District. If we are committed to providing educational opportunities through which ALL students strive to achieve their full potential, we need to act now and act appropriately. The digital divide is the gap between the people who benefit from technology and the people who are not able to do so. We have many students who do not have access to beneficial technology use. Without action, those students will fail to achieve their full potential. I have outlined two options below, with pros and cons to each plan.
Option 1
Netbooks are an affordable option for schools to provide access at home for those students who do not have that access.
Pro – We could provide four times the number of students with access to beneficial technology use at home with Netbooks than with the MacBooks we currently provide students at the high school. Teachers could assign work at home that requires using technology, which would give more opportunities for students to achieve their full potential. While netbooks do not have the memory available to install many programs we use in school, there are alternatives. Many for-cost programs used in school(Microsoft Office) have similar, free options(Google Docs, Open Office online that students can be taught to access and use.
Con – While netbooks are relatively inexpensive, they would take a large chunk of money to purchase enough of them to make a difference. The district’s current technology plan does not call for elementary or middle school students to receive any type of take-home technology. Purchasing netbooks now could possibly require the district to force a referendum to raise the tax rate, which would be extremely unpopular in this current economic climate.
Option 2
Technology workshops specifically designed for parents would help us to educate them on how we are using technology and the importance of the use of technology.
Pro – Being in the field of education, we all know how important lifelong learning is. If we were to offer monthly technology workshops, we could educate many parents in the various technology available and the way in which their children are using it. We could also show the short and long-term benefits of the use of the technology. Featuring beneficial technology that is not available wide-spread would also assist us. In that way, we could build a grassroots movement to support future bolstering of the technology budget.
Con – Trying to involve parents is not always easy. Usually, the parents you want to attract are the parents who are not going to attend. To attract the most parents, you would have to offer incentives such as child care, since the children would be more of a distraction, food, because everyone knows that if you have food, people in York county will come, and possible door prizes that could include digital cameras, flip cameras, and the like.
Copyright
Introduction
According to the Educational Cyberplayground website, copyright is the legal right granted to an author, a composer, a playwright, a publisher, or a distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work (1997). There are many works that are protected, such as literary, musical, and motion picture works. There are also works that are not protected, such as works containing information that is commonly available and contains no originality (The Copyright Society of the USA, 2008). This is not even the beginning of what copyright is or how it applies to our teachers in Central. Our teachers may currently be violating copyright laws without knowing or understanding it. We need to be sure that our staff is aware of these things so that they stay on the safe side of the law.
Option 1
Provide workshops within our required 18 hours of yearly professional development to complement the plethora of workshops already offered.
Pro – All of the faculty members would be able to take the workshop at their convenience if they are interested. As they fill up, more workshops could be offered. In this way, those interested would be educated and those not interested could take workshops in which they are interested.
Con – While having copyright workshops is a great idea, there is a major drawback. The point of offering the workshops is to educate the staff. However, not everyone will choose to take the workshops. Even if everyone would want to take them, there is no feasible way to schedule enough workshops for everyone to take them.
Option 2
Provide in-service for all staff members.
Pro – Providing in-service for all staff members would ensure that everyone becomes educated on copyright issues for educators. Staff members would learn how copyright applies to every aspect of their jobs. They could be educated about fair use and how to apply fair use principles to their lessons.
Con – Providing in-service on copyright is a great idea, but it takes away from other pressing issues within the district. There are precious few opportunities to address the entire staff during the school year. Those opportunities are needed to score writing assessments as a grade level, have staff-development on new programs and initiatives, and learn about new ways to integrate technology in the classroom.
Accuracy and Validity
Introduction
With the increased emphasis on using the Internet to conduct research, it’s more important now than ever to be sure that the websites we use and our students use has accurate and valid information. While books and encyclopedias have (mostly) correct information that has been checked and edited, the same cannot be said of websites on the Internet. Not all sources are reliable or valuable (UCLA, 2009). We need to make our staff and students understand how to identify accurate and valid websites.
Option 1
Use a portion of our curriculum workdays to have someone speak to the staff about how to check websites for accuracy and validity.
Pro – If time from curriculum workdays is used, there would be no additional cost to educate the staff on accuracy and validity. Having grade level/content area teachers together, focus could be on using websites that are appropriate for the specific grade levels/content areas. With that narrow of a focus, teachers could assess how accurate and valid websites they currently use in the classroom are. They would have their colleagues right there to help evaluate the sites.
Con – Time is precious. Using even a portion of time on the curriculum workdays is not the best use of that time. There are so many other things that need to be discussed, such as PSSA tests, new programs, curriculum changes, and so on. Taking time from those types of discussions would be a detrimental.
Option 2
Have teachers submit websites they would like to use to one of the technology coordinators for evaluation before they can be used in the classroom.
Pro – The technology coordinators are very proficient in the jobs. They do a terrific job of scouring the Internet for resources. They would do an excellent job of assessing accuracy and validity. If a teacher finds a site on his or her own, an email with the web address listed could be sent to them asking for the site to be reviewed. Upon review, the tech coordinator could send an email to all of the appropriate staff so that everyone could have access to the site.
Con – While the technology coordinators would do an excellent job reviewing the accuracy and validity of websites, their time would be monopolized by it. They are better used as they are now. Coming into the classroom to assist students and teachers with projects, webinars, and videoconferencing is a much better use of their time than
Internet Privacy and Security
Introduction
Staysafeonline.org says it best when it says that every day, schools and the Internet are becoming increasingly intertwined (2009). Since this is the case, children are becoming more and more vulnerable to things such as cyberbullying, cyberpredators, and stalkers. While we have firewalls in place and we don’t allow our students to surf the Internet unsupervised, this only protects them while they are within the school walls. They are becoming very tech-savvy and applying what they learn at school at home.
Option 1
Implement some type of Internet safety curriculum to fit with our current technology indicators.
Pro – Adding Internet safety curriculum to the tech indicators is the only way to be sure that all students are being taught how to stay safe on the Internet. No additional staff would be needed to implement this idea because the classroom teacher would be doing the instruction, just as they do the rest of the tech curriculum.
Con – Putting one more thing to teach on the plates of already overburdened teachers could have negative effects. While teachers are flexible, they feel the stress of having to cover all of the curriculum, prepare every single student for the PSSA tests each spring, and differentiate instruction with guided reading, our new word-study program, and now guided math that they are being told to try to implement. Adding just a little more to their shoulders could break morale, which would decrease the effectiveness of their instruction.
Option 2
Since many students will be accessing the Internet to do research and librarians (in addition to the classroom teachers) teach research skills, have the librarian instruct the students in Internet safety.
Pro – The librarians already teach the students how to research a topic. If they were to include this in their instruction, all students would learn how to stay safe on the Internet. Being that the librarians do not have the vast curriculum to teach that classroom teachers have to teach, they could include this in their lessons without much issue.
Con – While the librarians do not have an extensive list of indicators to teach, their time with students is much less than the time classroom teachers have. The students have library instruction for 40 minutes only one time per six-day cycle. Including more instruction into their schedules would lead to inferior instruction
References
Bocher, Robert F. (2009, March 20). Privacy Issues Related to Public Libraries and K-12 Schools. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Homepage Web site: http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/privacy.html
http://www2.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/11605_12337.cfm
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/copyrightlaw.html
http://www.csusa.org/caw/caw_2006_teachers_articles_basics.htm
http://reviews.cnet.com/online-software-services/google-docs-spreadsheets/4505-9239_7-32115919.html?tag=lia;rcol
http://download.cnet.com/OpenOffice-org/3000-18483_4-10263109.html?tag=mncol#editorsreview
National Cyber Security Alliance, K-12 Educators. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from Welcome to Stay Safe Online Web site: http://staysafeonline.org/
Sunday, August 2, 2009
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