Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues in the Use of Technology

Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues in the Use of Technology

As I first examined the five performance indicators, I quickly concluded that this particular one might be the most difficult to define; not because it lacks presence in the program or what I have done over the last few years, but because it is best illustrated through demonstrated practice and observation instead of a hard copy of some artifact. As I dug deeper into what I had done in this area of technology, it occurred to me that the social aspect of my own learning had definitely changed since taking CI 501, my first foundational class in the program. Back then I used to see learning as an individual thing, and the more I could learn, the better I would be, and the farther ahead of others I could get. The concept of “sharing” my learning and a “social network” of learning did not even exist in my vocabulary. Of course I had heard of working in groups or partners for a project, but the concept of learning together and sharing that knowledge for the sake of improving the whole was foreign.

As I began to make entries into my CI 501 Blog, I created an entry about the global village being a subtle blending of culture. I also mention myself (a teacher) as a type of media for delivering information. It occurred to me that my role in the educational process was not specifically to become more knowledgeable (even though that is a side-effect), but instead I needed to help others learn how to become more knowledgeable and better encoders and decoders of the wealth of global information. Technology was a vehicle for that process.

The human issue could not be removed from instructional technology, because much like traditional instructional design models, we have to begin by setting goals based on the learners. Thus the human element is still in the forefront of the process. What seemed to change were some of the planning stage decisions (media, strategies, activities, assessments) and the “when” or “where” revision and evaluation emerged. If the technology was seen as useful in education and promoted productivity, then it took a more prominent role and became more widely accepted. If the technology failed in making a good first impression, then the person introducing the technology was also seen as failing, as technology and the change agent introducing it are many times tied together. Both got one chance to make a first impression.

My role in this introduction of technology included being a moral agent. I created a blog entry that addressed the question: “In a world where people are becoming more technological in their quest for information, what moral role do educators play when using and teaching about technology?” Sometimes building character and keeping society from falling apart was tied to the technology being taught. I learned that my job as a moral agent was to frame and stage the technology based on the audience and present the technology as a way of improving educational achievement through assistance in the process, not replacement. This would promote human flourishing and provide a positive direction for the learner through the use of technology.

The power of people within the world of technology was reinforced during my ethnographic research of the Amish community in my home school district as well as the lessons learned form my creation of a public service announcement for CI 501. When much of the eliminated information from media literacy is “lost” information, and decoder interpretation influences the messages sent by visual literacy, my role as “media” for my students became inherently more valuable. My direction as a guide in technology determined the direction of others who are on their own educational journey.