Program Learning Outcome 5

Exemplify ethical practices of technology usage.


Ethical Practices of Technology Usage

Teaching today’s students about how to be a good digital citizen is probably one of the most important skills that they will need for the future.  Teaching them now how to better use the Internet and help them create a positive representation of themselves on the Internet is right up there on the importance scale with knowing their times tables and how to write a good paragraph.  Students need to understand that the Internet can be an amazing tool but can also be a dangerous place.  Students need to be taught how to deal with problems on the Internet like going to a page where you should not be or being cyber bullied.
 The assignment that has been chosen is from EDU655: Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology.  For this assignment we were asked to create a lesson that was based on a needs assessment that was given to the students to better understand what they already know about the water situation in Kuwait.  This assignment represents the project that the students would be working through after having learned about one of the following topics in class:  water cycle, water pollution or the water crisis.  Prior to this lesson the students were divided into groups based on their reading levels and they became familiar with one of the three topics.  At this point the students are now preparing for a field trip to a desalinization plant to see how Kuwait cleans water that is then distributed around the country for daily use.
This assignment has been based on the constructivist theory by having the students use a real-world situation to study one of our science units (Dabbagh, 2006).  The class will be studying the water situation in the country of Kuwait because that is where they are currently living.  After having learned about the water cycle and pollution they will be able to apply their knowledge to the water situation in Kuwait.
During this week while looking for an assignment to redesign, it was a bit challenging because I felt that none of the assignments that were created during this program really focused on ethically using technology.  I found it challenging to show my understanding of using technology ethically and therefore I chose an assignment that I felt showed ethical use of technology through how the Power Point Presentation was put together.  The Power Point could be used in two different ways:  to show students how to properly create a presentation and for the use of the information that it provides.  This Power Point will be used later on to reference how to properly cite information within a presentation with a focus on not plagiarizing and making sure to give credit to where the students have found their information when creating their final presentation.
In the process of redesigning this project, all that really needed to be added to it was a slide reminding students of what we have already discussed.  The thirteenth slide was added to remind students about how to take notes and that noting where they got their information is just as important as the information they had found.  Otherwise this presentation would be ready to upload to a Moodle site so that students can review it later on to remind them of the videos that we watched and other places they could find resources.   All of the videos contain citations based on where the students could find the video if they would want to re-watch it and all the facts also give students great starting places to find more information related to the topic of water issues in Kuwait.
            Teaching students how to use a computer is just the first step in what they need to know.  If they can better understand how to use a computer along with the Internet and are creating a positive digital footprint, then we are only helping our students for the future.  We cannot possibly know what the future will hold for today’s fourth graders.  All we can guess is that they will need technology.  They will need to be ready with as many strategies as possible in their technology toolbox to excel in the future.



References


Dabbagh, N. (2006). Instructional design knowledge base. Retrieved from http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/models_theories.htm

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