Personal Framework Paper

Steven Compere Media and Technology in the Classroom

Personal Framework Assignment There are many ethical issues in the world of education. I am going to focus on the ethical issues within technology and technology usage. There are four major topic areas. The first area is social issues. The second area is educational issues. The third area is cultural/equity issues. The fourth issue is legal/ethical issues. The first area is social issues. An important social issue is quality of life concerns. Some critics say that ubiquitous technology is a threat to personal privacy (Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, Aaron H. pg. 13). The people may be unaware of their personal safety when they are using technology. A lot of people do not know what types of information that they should and should not put on the internet. There are 3 other risks that pretty much are along the same lines. Those are fears about technology use, fears about technology misuses, and risks of social networking. I say those are all pretty much the same thing due to the fact that it puts a person at risk. It mainly deals with using technology for the wrong reasons. Students need to be instructed on the proper uses for technology in the classroom and their homes. As instructors we need to make sure that our students know the social risks of technology. But at the same time social interaction promotes learning. According to the social cognitive theorist Albert Bandura students learn vicariously through models such as teachers and fellow classmates (Roblyer 42). The second area is educational issues. Those issues are lack of funding, teacher and student accountability for quality and progress, debate over best practices with technologies, and reliance on distance education. Explaining this area seems to be rather simple in my honest opinion. Obviously we want to be able to provide all the funding to get the newest technology but I understand that that is not possible unless you are in a Compere 1

Personal Framework Paper

Steven Compere Media and Technology in the Classroom

super wealthy community. As teachers we need to try our best to teach our students how to use technology in the classroom. We need to make the best with what we have. I think that our main goal is that students are making adequate yearly progress. All content areas and states have skill standard that students must meet to pass courses and to get degrees and certifications (Roblyer 17). We need to hold teachers and students accountable for learning. According to child development theorist Jean Piaget children go through different stages of cognitive development. Students also go through learning stages with technology. The third area is cultural and equity issues. These issues are the digital divide, racial and gender equity, student with special needs. This area talks about how some areas may not be able to have the most up to date technology due to their socioeconomic groups. It also talks about how technology is dominated by certain genders and ethnic groups. According to Roblyer, Technology use remains dominated by males and certain ethnic groups. As teachers we need to try to break trend. We need to attempt to balance it out. Every student should have a fair opportunity to get a solid technological education. This also pertains to students with special needs. We need to utilize every technology that we possibly can afford to help special needs students be able to participate as much and students without special needs. The fourth area is legal and ethical issues. This is also pretty straightforward as well. We need to teach student what is right and wrong. We should be informing students of the dangers of hacking and malicious acts with technology. As instructors we also need to inform students of another danger called cybercheating (Roblyer 19). This is called online cheating. This ranges from sharing answers online as well as copying Compere 2

Personal Framework Paper

Steven Compere Media and Technology in the Classroom

someone elses work online. That is called plagiarism. Students need to know the risks and dangers of plagiarism and cybercheating. Students need to know that they can get kicked out of school. Students also need to know the risks of illegally downloading and software piracy. As an instructor I need to teach students that they can end up paying large fines and potentially even go to jail of committing these penalties. My role as a teacher is to teach students the proper ways to use technology. I also need to be able to show the students the benefits and dangers of using technology.

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Personal Framework Paper

Steven Compere Media and Technology in the Classroom Citations

Roblyer, M., & Doering, A. H. (2013). Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching (Sixth Edition ed.). Boston: Pearson.

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