Scenario 5: Other related issues

Task:

  • Read the following scenario, the guiding questions and the provided website resources carefully. The guiding questions are designed to help you marshal materials and ideas that will inform your overall final products.
  • Using the resources provided, clearly answer the guiding questions (providing examples when appropriate).
  • Write up your responses in a Microsoft Word document (you should include the scenario and questions).
  • In completing each question you should clearly have identified important concerns and issues related to ethics and technology in the classroom, as well as identified key strategies and procedures that you can utilize to prevent such issues within your own classrooms.

Scenario:

"You cannot go wrong using the Internet" was a comment made by one beginning teacher when discussing the potential of such technologies for the classroom. However, as technology becomes more and more part of our life, teachers should think about who is using the technology and how it is used. Other issues of concern include diversity, equity, disabilities, ergonomics, etc. The following resources highlight important issues that teachers should develop an awareness of as they begin to utilize current and emerging technologies in the classroom.

Questions:

Using the following resources, identify the top ten key issues and ideas relating to such things as preparation of the classroom, access to computers at home, specific use of resources to support the teaching of diversity, etc., that you were not aware of before and that are important for beginning teachers.

As a beginning teacher, how can you best accommodate these issues as you plan for and begin to teach using technology?

  1. The more time you spend at a computer the higher the risk for physical injury due to poor posture and work station set-up.
  2. Carpal tunnel syndrome is one chronic condition among many that can result form poor use-computer interfaces.
  3. The back, wrists, and eyes have the highest risk for computer-related injuries.
  4. Women still hold few of the top jobs in the computer industry.
  5. Persons with visual disabilities can use brail keyboards or software to increase screen readability.
  6. Advances in Voice recognition software can help those who are physically disabled.
  7. Web designers must take persons with disabilities into consideration when creating sites, or create alternate sites that can be interpreted by speech software and Braille machines.
  8. Minorities tend to be underrepresented among technology users.
  9. Children remain the most vulnerable targets for malicious programming and activities on the internet.
  10. The Federal Trade Commission is taking steps to increase the protection of young internet users, and most school systems have implemented internet safety curricula.

These issues are at the heart of living with technology. Technology users must maintain their physical health by taking proper ergonomic precautions, and by having a good understanding of the major problem areas leading to technology-related physical ailments. Both sexes, and all races should have equal access to the power that is inherent in the internet, lest it become a tool for maintaining the hegemony of on dominant group. Physically disabled persons also have the right to equal access to information, and many emerging technologies are working hard to reduce the gap between what is available for non-disabled internet surfers and what is available for disabled internet surfers. The internet continues to be a hotbed for malicious acts, and our children need to be educated about and protected from these dangers. As teachers we must take these into consideration when we discuss the internet with our students, and integrate these concepts into our internet lessons. Highlighting these problem areas early on gives a jump start on reducing the gaps in equality among the different interned users.