Ethical Practices of Technology Usage

Ethical Practices of Technology Usage

Ethical issues are always a concern when implementing new instructional technology.  The examples given in The Ethics of Instructional Technology: Issues and Coping Strategies Experienced by Professional Technologists in Design and Training Situations in Higher Education are “digital copyright infringement, violation of private online information, and other inappropriate use of instructional technology (Lin, 2007, p. 412)”.  Other challenges are interfering with other’s work, using technology to harm others (cyber bullying), spamming and hacking, and privacy, and confidentiality. 

In the Constructivist theory of instructional design, “learners build personal interpretation of the world based on experiences and interactions”.  To do this, the teacher should provide a context for learning that supports both autonomy and relatedness while keeping in mind ethical issues that could pose an issue. 

Original Assignment: EDU649: Technologies for Teaching & Learning

The assignment that will be redesigned is Instructional Methods and Media.  The assignment was to create knowledge of how to use media, but also how to present the chosen media to reach all learning styles in the classroom.  “Media are essential to good teaching and, to get the most from them, they must be selected properly and used effectively.” (Newby, Stepich, Lehman, Russell, & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2011)  Instructional method is a procedure to help learners achieve objectives or understand the content or the message of instruction.  Media and methods help each other to make the message clearer to the students.  They both go hand in hand, but the method is the foundation of the presentation while media is just an extra.  If you concentrate your lesson on media, the objective may not become clear to the learner. 

Evaluating and using the correct media can help meet the needs of various types of learners by promoting interactivity, individualization, and consistency.  It also can help establish the Constructivist theory of Instructional Design by interpreting the world based on experiences and interactions, but ethical issues could become a problem. 

Redesigned Assignment

When using media in the classroom, students should have a chance to view the media as may times as the feel they need.  This is because not all information can be taken in all at once, but having multiple views of the chosen media can bring more take-a-way information for the student.  The media needs to be accessible to all students so that each student will have the power and resources to be successful.  Not all students may not have computers or internet connection so giving them choices to access these tools will help those student such as; the local library or open classroom throughout the week. 

If two media formats were shown to be equally effective for presenting your content, some factors such as material availability may cause you to choose one over the other.  Some media and materials may be hard to come by, have high start up costs which can cause an issue.  If planning to use a certain material, but the day of the lesson it is not available could cause the lesson to be unsuccessful.  Choosing material that are already available will make less confusion and frustration of both students and the teacher.  Another factor would be which media will motivate the students more.  Even though two media choices weighed out to be equally effective for presenting the content, what would the student’s appreciate more.  This factor could change if the teacher as more than one class of different students.  All students are different and may learn better from different types of media.  Ethical aspects would be any disabilities in the classroom; hard of hearing, eyesight, or any other reason that may cause the student to struggle. 

Using technology and media is a great learning tool and can help students broaden their learning styles and take-a-way concepts in the lesson being taught.  Knowing the students, learning styles, and any disabilities will enable the teacher to make a more solid and enjoyable lesson.