Week 28 Influence of Law and Ethics in Practice
As we head towards BYOD in our school we have after much
debate chosen to incorporate the cloud based software Microsoft 365 into the
day to day lives of our staff and students so that after three years it is now
the norm for all students and staff to log in at the beginning of the day and
log out at the end of the day.
This brings with it the dilemma of students being able to
communicate with their teachers 24/7 if they so wish. In order, to keep this relationship
professional as per ‘The Code of Professional Responsibility’ outlined in ‘Our
Code, Our Standards I never sign an email to a student with my first name; I
always use the address I require as a teacher. When I am commenting on their
work within One Note I prefix it with my initials and the date. Any comments
have a formality about them with no text language used, and I attempt to always
spell check carefully.
I keep these boundaries/systems in order to remain
professional and keep the ‘line in the sand’ distance from my students, as I have
been involved in a school where a staff member/student relationship because too
friendly and this was an immediate stand down for the staff member and the
‘don’t come Monday rule’ was applied, and this was pre Social Media.
As a Dean I have experienced having to deal with students
who have participated in online bullying and then crying foul when the rest of
their social group took exception to the consequences of the behaviour. To deal
with this I spoke with parents of the students involved, reiterated in
assemblies the school’s expectations and pointed them towards our ICT Contract
which is very specific about student use of on-line opportunities; even though
this bullying occurred outside of school.
If parents were dissatisfied with the actions I had taken they were
encouraged to report the bullying to the police.
Staff at our school have also taken a more active role in
working with students on what demonstrating digital citizenship requires, as
online use has become more prevalent in our school.
In 2018 I am following the mantra of kindness in my Deaning
role, with the expectation that whether students are talking face to face with
others, or online they think about the receiver of their conversation, and they
put others before themselves.
References:
Cinelearning. (2016, August 17). Teacher Ethics
Video - Social Media Dilemma. [Video file]
Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards.
Retrieved
from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf
LS1ClassPrsnttns.
Ethical Dilemmas: Situations with Students
What protocols do you put in place to let the students know that you are not available 24/7? I understand that the Code of Professional responsibility is important but studetns will go to great lengths to contact staff especially nowadays with contact made so much easier through digital devices etc. I like your last point about "think about the receiver of their conversation, and they put others before themselves." A good read- thank you.
ReplyDelete