Ethics Blog

 Because most teenagers, children, and adults in the United States are online, it is crucial to be informationally literate as well as have media literacy. Teachers should be able to help students determine the priority of information. This can allow for higher level thinking in students. A teacher should keep in mind which search engines one should use, the fact that Google has become students' primary research point, Google's tools (such as Blogger, slides, drive...), teaching student show to use visual search tools, making sure that they are ensuring safe online experiences for students by bookmarking or blocking certain cites, teaching students how to evaluate online information, the accuracy of Wikipedia and how to use it well, how to properly identify if a source is reputable or not, and what plagiarism and cheating is. 

In order to use digital content in my classroom in a way that complies with copyright laws and regulations, I will take a number of different precautions. I will bookmark the websites that I use so that I protect my students from seeing anything harmful to them. I will allow students to use Wikipedia only if they also fact check it with other websites. I will make sure that my students know why rules are in place and how the rules help them. 

I will teach my students how to make sure the websites that they are using are reputable sources. I will give my students web research guidelines such as limiting searches, checking author credentials, determining the purpose of a site, cross-referencing, evaluating before downloading, crediting web authors with proper citations, keeping a log of sites visited, sharing useful ideas and information, and listing all websites used. It is very easy in this day in age to be misusing sources or plagiarizing information. I will make sure that my students understand exactly what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. I will teach my students how to use limited content from each source and cite their sources. I will set very strict cheating punishments as well as make assignments and tests very difficult to cheat on. In order to observe students' use of information and possible cheating, I will do screening to make sure that they are not plagiarizing or cheating on tests. Another conversation that I will have is how to avoid cyberbullying and how create awareness of it. I will definitely have my students participate in Teen Tech Week to teach them ethical technology use.