Integrating Educational Technology - Report Example

Educational Technology Inserts His/her Educational Technology This paper discusses about the legal, ethical and cultural issues involved when integrating educational technology in to K-12 schools. The importance of educational technology along with the importance of digital citizenship is discussed in the essay below. The importance of online safety while implementing educational technology is a highly vital area of concern for the teachers and administration of the school as well as the parents. Monitoring and supervision is required by adults so that online safety for students can be easily possible to maintain. Integrating Educational Technology Integrating educational technology in to K through 12 schools will allow students to develop the ability of using technology for gathering up to date information. Educational technology will allow students to become information seekers, and furthermore will learn the ability to analyze and evaluate the different types of information. Educational technology in K-12 schools allows students to become problem solvers and also learn to make different types of decisions. Students at their school level therefore tend to learn how to use technological tools productively (Parsons et al 2010). Educational technology can allow students to become strong communicators in the world of global village, along with becoming successful publishers and producers. By learning how to use technology, students can become responsible and learned citizens of the country (Sutherland et al 2006). By integrating educational technology in the K-12 schools, students become capable of earning a good and successful living, they become capable to deal with the complex information that is prevailing in the business world with the use of technological tools. Digital Citizenship The concept of digital citizenship is prevailing around the societies at a massive level. Digital citizenship basically focuses on the proper use of technology according to the norms set for technology use and also the students must use technology in a responsible way. Digital citizenship ensures the legal use of technology and information by the users. A positive attitude is built for using technology that enriches learning for the students. The positive impact will enhance the learning process of the individual in the right direction. Users become capable to be involved in a lifelong learning phase and also develop the leadership abilities for having a digital citizenship. All the legal, ethical and cultural issues should be of concern while in the phase of educating students about the use and importance of technology in education (Ribble 2008). Legal Issues Teachers should teach the students the legal practices that are involved with using technology so that students become aware of the legal limits to the use of technology. Internet will be widely used by teachers and students when the educational technology resources are implemented at schools. The legal issues in this case would be to respect the copyright issues of all websites while taking any content from anywhere or while downloading any material for any purpose of study. It should be strictly adhered to by all that the copyright laws must not be violated when going through any website. Students need to be aware of the electronic transactions that take place online. While integrating educational technology, the schools need to ensure that proper qualified teachers explain the use of electronic knowledge and protection to students (Ribble 2008). There are legal rights and restrictions present that are imposed on the use of technology. The school needs to be aware of the legal rights so that no one violates any rules and regulations that govern the use of technology. Some websites are blocked and are not allowed by users to access. Students should be made aware of such websites and they should be educated that they should not try to access websites that are blocked (Ribble 2008). Ethical issues The teachers need to instill in the students the ethical practices of using technology. The educational technology resources need to be instilled in students in a healthy and safe way. Teachers also need to ensure that all students are able to use the technological resources equally rather than showing favoritism towards some students (Monahan 2005). Exchange of information online is an important aspect and all users should know when they should exchange information and what modes of information they should be used for exchanging information. All technology users need to be aware of the standard of conduct of using such technology. When teachers and administration is well aware of the standard use of technology they can trigger down this information in a better way to the students. All students this way will know the ethical issues involved in using technology for the purpose of education. While conducting research for school work, students may have to be taught the importance of acknowledging work of writers and organization websites. While integrating educational technology, one of the most important issues to consider is that the rights of other digital users must not be offended. Other’s rights need to be defended to protect one’s own rights (Ribble 2008). Teachers should instill in the students that as soon as they see some unsuitable pictures on the internet, they should immediately close the website and inform their lecturers. Internet browsing is a vast field and while browsing some unsuitable pictures may be seen which is not to be seen by children of a young age (Ribble 2008). Cultural Issues Educational technology for students will involve the ability to use technological resources by students and also the young learners will develop the ability to learn new things despite of being from various backgrounds, possessing various abilities and also having different characteristics. Students from diverse backgrounds may have trouble adapting to the technological ways of learning and their parents may not be appreciative of this technology because they may not be aware of the benefits of integrating technology in education. The schools may need to conduct parent sessions where they brief the parents about the educational technology advantages so that all their apprehensions can be removed. The other cultural issues involved are the ability to affirm diversity with the use of technological resources for students. The cultural issues involved in implementing educational technology if K-12 schools are that is the entire society willing to take part in the electronic studying methods for students. The teachers and admin need to be aware of how to use the digital technology so that they can make the students capable of using such technology in an efficient and effective way (Mehra and Mital 2007). All users need to be prepared for the physical and psychological affects that may be imposed with the use of technology in education. The teachers and administration need to ensure that the impact of educational technology is positive on the students (Mehra and Mital 2007). Through internet, it is possible to learn about different types of activities and also learn the process of conducting those activities. Some harmful activities may tend to affect the students physically as well as psychologically so therefore proper monitoring needs to be carried out at schools. Online Safety for Educational Technology Implementation The school administration and staff needs to constantly monitor the use of technology by their students so that the students don’t get involved in illegal and unethical websites that may cause them harm and upset their mental level abilities. Students need to be monitored carefully while they use the internet. Internet safety issues are on the rise for many schools that have integrated educational technology features in their schools. Everything is this world has both advantages and disadvantages. The use of technology therefore has both advantages and disadvantages. In this world of high tech age, it is important for everyone to grasp the knowledge of technology and learn how to implement it at work in a successful manner. For this, it is important for students to start using technology from a young age. The disadvantages of technology in schools need to be prevented to reap the maximum benefits from educational technology. Online risk is present when the young generation uses the internet technology. The high school students may have the sense and competency to use the internet in a safe way but the primary level students may log in to unsuitable websites that may cause them to divert on the wrong path. The schools planning to integrate educational technology need to implement constructive strategies that may prevent the young students to be safe from online risk (Education World: Nancy Williard: Cyber Savvy: A Web 2.0 Approach to Internet Safety 2011). The administrative departments of the school along with the teachers need to cooperate to an optimum level with the staff that has an expertise in educational technology for teaching the students the use of technology for education purposes in a safe and protected way (Education World: Nancy Williard: Cyber Savvy: A Web 2.0 Approach to Internet Safety 2011). The use of internet at schools must be only for the purpose of education such as researching on a class work matter, need to have more information for completing any assignment, need to gain the latest happenings on any certain subject matter. The use of the internet for students must be for a positive perspective so that it helps to enhance their educational capabilities. Many educational internet based activities may tend to increase the knowledge base for students which are very important for them in the educational phase. The research skills of the students can also improve immensely with such activities (Education World: Nancy Williard: Cyber Savvy: A Web 2.0 Approach to Internet Safety 2011) Conclusion The essay discusses about the issues and importance of integrating educational technology in K-12 schools. In my opinion, the K-12 schools should go for integrating educational technology in schools so that it helps to enrich the learning abilities of the students. The appropriate implementation of educational technology under supervision and guidance can have a positive impact on the learning processes of the students (Preece 2006). It is the age of a digital world. The concept of digital citizenship is important for students to attain as it focuses on using technology by students in a safe and protected way at school and at home. Many issues such as legal, ethical and cultural may arise once the educational technology has been integrated at schools. It is important for the school administration to deal with all issues in a proper manner so that the parents are satisfied that the use of technology may not cause any harm to their children and their children are able to gain maximum useful knowledge from the internet use. References Education World: Nancy Williard: Cyber Savvy: A Web 2.0 Approach to Internet Safety 2011. Available at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/willard/willard008.shtml. Accessed on 18th June 2011. Mehra, Payal and Mital, Payal (2007). Integrating technology into the teaching-learning transaction: Pedagogical and technological perceptions of management faculty. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 2007, Vol. 3, Issue 1, pp. 105-115. Monahan, Torin (2005). Globalization, Technological Change, and Public Education. New York: Routledge Parsons, June Jamrich, and Oja, Dan (2010). New Perspectives on Computer Concepts. Cengage Learning. Preece, J., (2006). Beyond the Learning Society: The Learning World?, University of Glasgow, UK, vol. 25, issue 3, pp. 307-320. Ribble, Mike (2008). Passport to Digital Citizenship. Learning and Leading with Technology. Available at: http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/December_January_2008_2009_Passport_to_Digital_Citizenship.sflb.ashx. Accessed on 18th June 2011. Sutherland, Peter and Crowther, Jim (2006). Lifelong learning: concepts and contexts. Routledge. 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