Ethics & Educational Technology

Ethics & Educational Technology

Leadership of educational technology faces challenges in today's computing world. Many school districts are faced with pressure to have 1:1 devices for students with integrated technology into academic lessons. Corporations and individuals who design and sell educational technology tools such as learning management systems, assessments, and educational apps have to be conscience of the rolls they will play in child development and their integration into society. Many of the challenges are focused around moral and ethical obligations. This essay will take a brief look into challenges that an instructional technology coach for a school district would face.

Based on the information from “Professional Code of Ethics and Codes of Conduct" extract from the book "Ethics and Technology" by Herman T. Tavani, there are three types of moral obligations that computing professionals face: do harm or good, enable others to do harm or good, and influence others to do harm or good. These three scenarios are the basis of any decision a computing professional makes. As an instructional technology coach when looking to implement something for a district we have to take these moral obligations into consideration. Students grow up with technology in their hands and we need to consider how they will use what we give them access to.

Ethics also play an important role in decision making. Having a guiding principle to understand societal norms when it comes to technology is helpful. But how does that look for a school district? According to Tavani (2015) codes of ethics have five functions: inspiration, education, guidance, accountability, and enforcement. To try and persuade students to act in an ethical manner they give the student access to a device. They then have each student and parent / guardian sign a consent form stating that students will follow the code of ethics. They receive a copy of the code of ethics to review before signing. It clearly outlines the accountability and enforcement should any of the code be broken. It also highlights the technology the students will have access to both at home and school. All of these measures are in place to serve multiple purposes. It ensures that schools have some legal merit should anything happen to the device or if any ethics are broken. It also ensures that everyone has equal access to technology.

The challenge with ethics is that even with a code of ethics if the district doesn’t give a hierarchy of offences and discipline then it is up to the individual principal to make those decisions. It creates inconsistencies among consequences and can lead to ethical and legal issues based on discrimination. This notion is supported by Ben Fairweather (2004), who “believes that code of conduct for computer professionals have been influenced by a conception of computer and information ethics that is limited to four traditional areas of concern: privacy, accuracy, property, and accessibility. This can provide loopholes for unethical behaviors (Tevani, 2016)” It is important that a district technology coach looks beyond these four traditional areas when creating the code of ethics for students and guardians to sign.

Due to the overwhelming speed at which technology updates, school districts will always face a challenge. To meet the needs of students and staff that creates an environment of learning with technology integration means that district instructional technology coaches are going to have be clear and concise in the decisions they make. They will need to review the three moral obligations and make sure that their code of ethics clearly outlines a hierarchy of offenses and consequences. This will ensure that all students have access to technology and that is being used appropriately for educational purposes.

References

Tavani, Herman T. (2015) Professional Code of Ethics and Codes of Conduct extract from the book Ethics and Technology