Promoting safe, responsible and ethical use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) begins
with you as a teacher. It is your responsibility to become a digital citizen in
order to convey a positive message to your students. Teachers need to:
- acknowledge issues of cyber safety, copyright laws and Creative Commons Licences in their teaching
- all while meeting the demands of the Australian Curriculum
- and following the guidelines as stated by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leader ship.
Throughout this blog you will come across various links to
assist you in your learning and aid in developing your own ICT awareness.
Let’s start with what
is required of us as teachers:
The
Australian Curriculum explains that in ICT it is essential that all
students are able to recognise intellectual property. By Investigating,
Creating, communicating and managing and operating ICT students will understand
what intellectual property for digital information is. They will learn how
applying appropriate practices can be used to recognise the intellectual
property of themselves and others. Students will also apply digital information
security practices through which they will demonstrate appropriate practices
for the physical and logical storage and security of digital information. The
application of personal security protocols will be followed by students when
they use ICT to safely create, communicate or share information. These students
will be able to identify the impact that ICT has within society as students
will be able to recognise the benefits and consequences of the use of ICT.
 |
“Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) capability” by The Australian Curriculum is
licensed under CC
BY-NC-SA 3.0 AU
|
As graduate teachers we need to recognise that we are
required to demonstrate an understanding of relevant issues in ICT and know
what strategies are available to support safe, responsible and ethical use of
ICT in learning and teaching as stated by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School
Leadership. Teachers must be familiar with ICT as we need to be able
to take appropriate actions to protect children from the negative consequences
of social ICT as described in Cyber
Safety such as cyber bullying. As educators it is also necessary that we
are aware of copy right laws and plagiarism. The Australian Copyright Council
enables a balance between protection and access for creators. Through teaching students the
ethical use of ICT in the classroom we also need to be familiar with Creative Commons. Creative Commons is an
organisation that provides copyright owners with free licences. Teachers can
gain further insight from Mayer and Bettle’s short film:
To assist us with
all the important information about managing ICT, Cybersmart has
developed a professional development program for teachers. The program called
Outreach has been developed to teach students, parents and teachers about
online safety. Cybersmart
has also developed lesson plans to help train students from the early years
about acknowledging themselves as digital citizens.
Wait... What is
Digital Citizenship?
Digital Citizenship:
are the norms of appropriate, responsible behaviour with regard to technology
use as described by Mike Ribble, Author of Digital Citizenship: Using
Technology Appropriately. To help explain digital citizenship to students Common Sense Media has ample
activities and ideas to assist in education students.
Confidence:
It is essential that we are confident in
understanding why we have chosen to use ICT in our lesson. It begins with
portraying our own positive and professional digital footprint. George Couros describes
social media as being a way for educators to not only build their credibility
as leaders, but to create a strong connection with their own character.
EXAMPLE OF THE USE OF ICT AS A CROSS CURRICULUM APPROACH:
An inquiry based unit of work on natural disasters will span
across several subjects and provides a cross curriculum approach.
- Initially the teacher will prepare students to become aware of cyber safety through the use of Bidd:e assigned as homework. This provides students with important information about safety issues that may arise during the unit of work which can be covered in group discussions in class.
- Brainstorming initial ideas about natural disasters can be completed on a Smartboard using an application available on Ipads called Popplet.
- During practical science experiments such as using water in bottles to create miniature tornados students may use an application known as Moment Diary to initially record their findings. Students could later share their findings as a class and the teacher records the information on Evernote.
- As a summative assignment students would design a blog using Glogster. The teacher is able to monitor the content and students will demonstrate what they have learnt demonstrating awareness of Creative Commons. Other licensed resources that students may find useful include CCMixter, DMusic, SoundClick, Magnatune and OpSound.
- Students would also need to identify what they can and cannot do with the item regarding the licensing agreement as described below:
 |
“Creative
Commons: A Quick Overview” by Smartcopying
is licensed under CC BY
4.0
|
References
Australian
Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2014). Australian professional
standards for teachers. Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list
Budd:e.
(2014). Budd:e cybersecurity education primary teacher resources. Retrieved
from https://budd-e.staysmartonline.gov.au/teachers/primary/teaching.html
Cybersmart.
(2014). Internet and mobile safety advice and activities: Cybersmart. Retrieved
from http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/
Smartcopying.
(2014). Creative commons a quick overview. Retrieved from http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/information-sheets/schools/creative-commons-a-quick-overview
Suzor, N.
(2006, October 19). Creative commons
explained by Mayer & Bettle [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3aZoe5VK-c#t=300
The Australian Curriculum v7.1
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability - Applying social and
ethical protocols and practices when using ICT. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/information-and-communication-technology-capability/organising-elements/applying-social-and-ethical-protocols-and-practices-when-using-ict
Zhang, X.
(2012, January 11). Be a digital
citizen [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdEXijFXfD8
 |
