When I started to read about online ethics and the definition of ethics
provided by Merriam-Webster, it truly struck a chord for me as an instructor of
4th graders implementing technology in the classroom. Over the past
few years, our academy has been implementing technology use campus-wide with
the long-term goal of one-to-one iPads for 4th -12th
graders. Well, this is the year!
During these years, we have strived to create a save
technology community for our students by creating guidelines and informing them
of the best practices when online for educational purposes. In order to
complete this mission, we created a technology committee that created posters
and videos that shared our technology mission statement. We have also included
rules and guidelines for internet and iPad use within our student handbooks. Additionally,
educating our faculty and staff on what is expected from our students has been
a focus on professional development afternoons.
If students know what is expected of them, their behaviors
are better. This results in quality work and time spent in classrooms. Poor choices
are made less often as students are not testing their boundaries because they
already know what they are. Posters were created for each classroom so that
they can be referred to when necessary and students to do not have any reason
to not be held responsible.
According to UCF instructors, it is important provide
information about academic integrity. They emphasize this focus in their Student Conduct video. The
instructors use adjectives like being “clear” and “vigilant” about their
expectations of students. They understand the importance of providing clear
expectations about cheating, plagiarism and other tech-related policies in the
classroom. The syllabus is a great place to provide the information for
students to refer back to. Some instructors teach the information and then test
on it. This way, they have covered the material and ensure the fact that all
students have heard the information as well.
How universities establish and model their expectations is
something we can learn from. After I provide the information found on our
classroom poster (versus a syllabus), I can quiz my students on the
information. This way, it ensures they have all viewed the expectations of our
class. Lastly, all expectations will be included in our student handbook as
part of our school conduct.
As for plagiarism, it is difficult for students in 4th
grade to entirely wrap their minds around that concept. However, this is the
perfect age to start introducing the topic especially since their time spent
researching online has greatly increased. Robert Harris states in his article
about Anti-Plagiarism
Strategies for Research Papers “students simply do not know what plagiarism
is” (2013). This is why it is important to start introducing citing and
plagiarism to them while they are young. Last year, my teaching partner and I
started having one of our upper school AP English teachers visit us to discuss
this topic and its importance. Then, our students were required to start citing
their reading anthology on their weekly reading assessment. This was a great
first step for them to get acclimated to the process.
References:
UCF (2011) Academic integrity. Retrieved from http://engage.ucf.edu/v/p/RXaKtxM
Harris, R. (2013, December 27). Evaluating internet research sources. Retrieved from http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
