Power of Three – How much class time should I devote to digital citizenship and ethics during my high school technology classes?

Here are my thoughts and process so far… I am interested in investigating how much time I should devote to ethical discussions on technology, sometimes called digital citizenship during classes. My teaching focus is mostly on creative or “building tools” like digital image, audio and video production but our discussions could and would most likely include coding and other technologies too. I might consider…how do we ensure that students use tools because they should and help others rather than because they can be done? It is clear from the expectations for my courses that these ethical discussions need to occur but how do I balance (and organize) my time teaching technology skills with discussions using the technology responsibly to help themselves and others?

Research question and inquiry

Step 1- Now that you have gotten to know your students/faculty “as learners” Identify and describe THEIR three most URGENT needs at this time. These NEEDS could be skills, mindsets, resources, etc. 

The most important need for my students so far this year would be to explore how to use new and emerging technologies safely, ethically and with purpose. That purpose in an educational setting should include the opportunity to help both themselves and others learn, understand and interact with the world positively. In our school, we have offered a new course in Grade 10 (open to Grade 9’s and 10’s) as an introduction to Grade 11 and 12 Communication Technology so I am in the process of curriculum building and revising in all three courses so that students “level up” their skills. However, there is equally the potential for students themselves to hurt and harm others (i.e. photo manipulation and more) with a combination of leveraging the anonymity and quick sharing on the web. This potential for both ethical and non-ethical use of technology has led me to wonder about the balance of class time that should be devoted to the fair and ethical use of this technology along with learning skills. I am convinced that ethical responsibility and fair use of technology as outlined by organizations like ISTE or Media Smarts or Common Sense Media and others is critical but wonder if the balance of time spent on this depends on the needs of the particular students from year to year or should be standardized. Should these discussions occur in other classes (i.e. social justice, Science or Social Sciences courses) or are technology classes a good place for these discussions embedded in lessons as students learn the tools?

Step 2 Set up a time to talk with three of your students/teachers. Ask them the questions that you have prepared. Try to keep the conversation natural, encourage storytelling and elaboration. Let your students/teacher know that there are no right or wrong answers to your questions, but rather you are hoping to learn more about their experience. 

I created a poll using Microsoft Forms to collect some wider opinions and data. I forwarded this poll to three different classes (Grade 10, 11 and 12) and explained that I was interested in their opinion. In particular, I was interested to find out how much time they think should be devoted to the ethical use of technology in classes.

This result indicates that 69% of the students polled believe that the discussion of the ethical use of technology is important with 0% indicating that it is extremely unimportant.

In this question, 80% of the students polled indicated that we should discuss ethical issues and topics at least 1/month with 0% indicating that we should NEVER discuss the ethical use of technology.

The results of this question indicate that 80% that ethical questions surrounding technology are going to be more important or as important as today.

Step 3 – What three insights did you take away from this process? Has your urgency changed?

Next steps for this investigation, might be to have follow up interviews with students from each age group, explore what resources could we use to explore technology issues, consider what technology issues are relevant to students in 2019 and beyond. Follow up interviews and further discussions would seem be the next step. Would love to hear your feedback and suggestions on approaches, ideas, technology debates, topics to consider. @lbettencourt @ljensen @ashaikh @apetrolito @adamcaplan @cshin @cfong @mhoskins