Activity 5: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

Activity 5: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

At my school, every child has to sign a consent form before they have access to the internet which involves agreeing to the our schools internet rules and also parent permission for online publishing.

The children sign the form which says they will abide by certain rules when accessing the internet.

• I will only respond to others work in a positive manner
• I will tell teachers or parents if I see anything I think is inappropriate
• I will be responsible for my own actions and understand that the school website is monitored and tracked by teachers
• I will use the site for educational purposes only
• I will keep my password secure and ask to change my password if needed
• I will not put any personal information online

Our school is a GAFE (Google Apps for Education) school. Every student from Year 3 to Year 6 have their own google accounts where they are able to access a range of apps such as google docs, sheets and slides. The students use their accounts every day and over a range of platforms. Whether it is at home or at school. We use Hapara alongside the google admin console to check in on what people are doing. Hapara is set up so that we can see highlights from what the students are doing between 8:30 and 3:30, so only during school hours.

My hypothetical dilemma is what happens if someone has left their account logged in to a home computer that they are using and someone else goes on websites they shouldn't? What happens if you see you see someone access inappropriate content while the student is at school?

Scenario:  Using Hapara you see someone accessing inappropriate content during school time and the student isn't on the Chromebook however they are logged in at home.

This is can be a very awkward situation. Education Council (n.d.) states that there is a "Commitment to Parents/Guardians and Family/Whanau" and one of the underpinning aspects of this is to "respect their privacy". The ethical dilemma would be...do you mention that you have seen inappropriate content or do you talk to the children about the importance of signing out of accounts when you are not around it?

Personally, the first thing that I would do would be to report this to my team leader. I would make sure that we discuss what the possible solution is and see if the nature of the inappropriateness was worth reporting to the parents to see if they can investigate further. After discussing with my team leader I would follow this approach.

I would talk to the students in my classroom about the importance of logging out and making sure that no one is using their accounts when they are not around (without giving any specific information). Not only is this a part of internet safety, it is also important to mention that the students also wouldn't want others posting things on their behalf especially if they are inappropriate. The students sign the internet consent form and part of that is that they keep their password secure and that they are responsible for their own actions. By neglecting to logout the students are leaving themselves open to all sorts of drama.

By approaching it this way I would respecting the privacy of the people involved and hopefully by approaching it in this manner the students would learn the importance of logging out.

Reference:

Education Council. (nd). Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-ethics-certificated-teachers-0

Activity 4 : Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

Activity 4 : Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy- The importance 

It is so important to have a culturally responsive pedagogy. The typical New Zealand classroom is no longer one specific culture. There are a wide range of cultures that are present. In my classroom alone I have NZ European, Chinese, Tamil, Indian, Tongan and Melanesian. My school has a wide variety of cultures and it is important to recognise every one. By providing learning experiences which relate to how students perceive the world through their own cultures you are able to create a sense of motivation and of engagement that connects with the students on a different level. Russell Bishop in Edtalks (2012) discusses the educational disparities in New Zealand. He states that "economically, socially and politically it is vital as a society we understand the need to address these education disparities"  and he asks the question- how can Maori achieve at the highest territory level but not get through secondary school? 

To address this there needs to be teachers who are willing to create a learning context where the students can bring them selves, their own cultural understandings (the way they make sense of the world),  bring themselves to the learning conversations, bring their own experiences where their knowledge is official and legitimate (Edtalks, 2012). This not only works for Maori students but every student. For example choosing an article in a reading work shop that caters for the culture of those students while activate their prior knowledge and will help them to feel empowered because they may even know more about the context than the article or it is something new that they are learning about in their own culture. Having a culturally responsive pedagogy is a key aspect of being a "good educator", knowing what engages and motivate students to want to learn more!

School wide activities are things that my school does well in terms of having a culturally responsive pedagogy. In the senior school team (Matauranga Team), this term we are doing a Matariki Celebration which will involve the schools Kapa Haka Groups and the Indian Dance group performing for a night where parents and children can come watch without the pressure of fundraising for the school. We are also doing a Maori Focus week where each teacher becomes an expert at teaching a certain aspect of the Maori Culture i.e. I am going to do Maori Games and I will provide the history and background of where the games game from and play the games with the children who want to come to the class. This engages the students as they want to learn something new and exciting.

Learning activities are something that we could work on. There is a range of expertise at our school and it is important to tap into those experts. To get more knowledge on areas where I can engage my students through a culturally responsive pedagogy. Especially having a diverse classroom such as mine with a wide range of cultures. It is hard to target any one particular. Having a resource bank would be a good way to start addressing the needs of a culturally responsive pedagogy. Where teachers could access information and learning experiences which have been successful in the past for other teachers. It is important to network, and make things easier on each teacher. 

As teachers, it is key to address the cultural needs of the classroom. To increase engagement and motivation. The trick is finding those learning experiences which hook students in.

Reference:

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994