Activity 9: Fitness Assessment

Scenario Reflections

Scenario 3: Anonymous Blogging

Ms. Gifford learned about a new blog that does not require the arduous process of setting up individual accounts for each student. This seemed like an easy way to jump into blogging as a class. Ms. Gifford talked about acceptable use with her students but did not inform the principal or parents of her instructional goals or objectives for using a class blog. Because students did not have accounts, they were able to post comments on the blog anonymously. Although, this protected student privacy, it snowballed into a barrage of inappropriate and harassing comments. Ms. Gifford quickly shut the blog down and went back to the drawing board.

Ethical Issues: It is necessary that students understand they need to be responsible when posting ANYTHING online. Anything they post, school or social related, needs to be appropriate and able to be said in front of anyone - mom, dad, grandma, principal, teacher, and peers. If this cannot be done, they then will lose privilege and complete the assignments on paper and not have interaction with their peers. 

Safety/Well-being of Others: The largest problem is the lack of respect from the students to their peers - clearly a bullying issue. This would need to be addressed immediately by the teacher. The class couldn't continue until the students' well being was being addressed and planned for appropriately. 

Going Forward: Looking ahead, the teacher should choose a format for student interaction that requires a login and password. It should also post names for all posts so that students will be held accountable for the things they write. Lastly, the teacher should inform the students and administrators of the objectives, reasons, and benefits for using the blog and collect signed appropriate use of technology forms for the district.  
Personal Story: Last year, I had a student post a response about information he found researching, and made a poor choice on words that he used to describe the person. As an administrator of the account, I deleted the sentence and addressed it with him the following day. We discussed better choices for words that he could have used and from that point forward, there were no problems.

Scenario 6: Course Management Overload

Ms. Carlson is excited to use Edmodo, a course management system similar to Moodle with her students.  Although Edmodo isn’t officially supported by the tech department like Moodle is, she is excited to use it because she finds it much more intuitive to use and she likes the interface better than Moodle.  Ms. Carlson is vigilant about the privacy settings, has informed her principal and parents of her instructional goals and objectives. Her students jump on board and post to the discussion at record numbers. Ms. Carlson is pleased to see such motivated dialogue on a novel that had previously felt like pulling teeth.  Two weeks into the unit, she receives a parent complaint. The complaint is as follows: 

     Dear Ms. Carlson, Mr. Miller, Mr. Hamilton and Ms. McIntyre, 

     Although my son is a motivated and active participant in all of your classes, I am concerned that the school does not seem to have a unified course management system. He is using Moodle in Math, Edmodo in English, Schoology in Science, and Kidblog in Social Studies. Furthermore, all of these sites require different logins and passwords. As a parent, I am having a difficult time keeping this all straight and am requesting that the school discuss this issue and figure out a more streamlined approach. 

     Thank you for your consideration,  

     A supportive but confused parent

Ethical Issues: I don't really see any ethical issues in this scenario. I would check-in with the district to see that although Edmodo is not "officially" supported by the tech department, is it still able to be used? 

Safety/Well-being of Others: I think that the largest problem is with the parent in this scenario, although the safety and well-being of students is not being affected. The parent seems uncomfortable with the navigation to different websites.  
Going Forward: Therefore going forward, I think training of parents is something to be addressed by both the district and the teacher. Posting tutorials, either made by the teacher or company, could be posted to their website to be accessed by all parents and students when necessary. Students, both elementary and secondary, have the capabilities and are successful at navigating and accessing different websites - this has become part of their everyday use in technology. Although, it would still be beneficial to have a place where parents and students could go for assistance. Another idea would be to provide training at a PIN night on how to access the different websites and distribute a HELPFUL TIPS/LINKS sheet that parents could keep. I would also upload this to my website in case it is misplaced or they would like to access it there instead.