Ethics, Safety and Security When Using E-learning Tools

In the digital age we live in there is a need for learners to develop an effective digital citizenship. This awareness includes understanding important ethical, safety, legal and security guidelines to ensure that they have a productive experience when using e-learning tools. Learning about Learning created this fantastic table that outlines the important legal, ethical and safety guidelines.

Legal	Ethical	Safe
Copyright infringement/ appropriate attribution	Plagiarism/fraud	Privacy issues, especially children’s personal information online
Discrimination: Disability, racial, religious	“Netiquette”	Security of information: passwords; financial details
Hacking, breach of terms and conditions	Cultural sensitivity, blasphemy, obscenity	Stranger danger – online predators
Theft: piracy of software and digital audio/video files	Intimidation, harassment, stalking, blackmail	Cyber-bullying
Defamation: libellous content	Image manipulation	Exposure to inappropriate content
Sedition	Respect	Health and Safety due to overuse: ergonomics, visual strain, etc.

 
So how do we educate learners on these important essential practices?
 
The Queensland Government has developed a number of websites targeting learners development of these important practices. Ethics, issues and ICT outlines the expectations of students' understanding of ICT in society and provides explicit details on student learnings in relation to these areas by age. Teachers are required to teach learners how to be safe and responsible online through discussion and practical observation and participation in ICT. It states that by the end of Year 7 students are expected to
 
Use ethical, safe and responsible practices when working with ICT they:

• conform to intellectual property and copyright laws by acknowledging the ownership of digital information and developing an awareness of legislation surrounding digital theft and plagiarism
• use responsible and respectful ICT practices reflecting accepted values including sharing materials responsibly, and respecting self and others
• understand the difference between ethical and unethical use of specific communication tools
• practice appropriate codes of conduct for ICT communications and consistently follow netiquette
• understand appropriate levels of personal information disclosure for specific online environments, including managing online identity by using anonymous nick-names, avatars and private passwords appropriately
• communicate with others online with a password protected identity
• comply with school expectations and protocols when using ICT

Reflect on how ICT are used in the community and identify ways they can impact people 

• articulate the importance of citing references and acknowledging the owners of digital sources

 source: http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/enabling-learners/ict-expectations/year6-7/index.html

Furthermore the Queensland Government (2012b) has created a cybersafety page that gives parents, learners and school staff important information relating to cybersafety and how they can help keep children safe online. Duerager and Livingstone (2012) found that children whose parents provided mediation were at a reduced risk of online threats. However they also found that if the parent provided restrictive mediation as opposed to active mediation it reduced the children's online skills.
 
The key to cybersafety is to give learners the tools they need to keep themselves safe whilst ensuring they are actively mediated.
 
“Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe – this isn’t just about a top-down approach. Children will be children – pushing boundaries and taking risks. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim.”

Dr. Tanya Byron, Safer children in a digital world: the report of the Byron Review. 

 
Here is a link to the official guide to copying and copyright laws for Australian schools and TAFE.

Here is a great tool for sharing images, audio, music, etc. in a way that does not breach copyright laws

Here is a link that examines the risk management of web publishing.



This link lists seven great websites teachers can use to teach learners about internet safety. Whilst I was working in a primary school I observed a teacher using Hector's World to educate their learners about internet safety. The whole class were engaged and afterwards were able to answer comprehension questions about the episode they watched.  

 

 References

1. Wright, M. (2011, 11 April). Legal, ethical and safe ICT practices [web log post]. Retrieved 10 April, 2013 from
   http://mrwrights.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/teaching-internet-safety-in-classroom.html
2. Queensland Government (2012a). Student ICT expectations for years 6 to 7. Retrieved from
   http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/enabling-learners/ict-expectations/year6-7/index.html
3. Queensland Government (2012b). Cybersafety and schools. Retrieved on 10 April 2013 from
   http://education.qld.gov.au/studentservices/behaviour/qsaav/cybersafety.html
4. Duerager, A., & Livingstone, S. (2012). How can parents support children's internet safety. Retrieved on 10 April 2013 from
   http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20III/Reports/ParentalMediation.pdf
5. Byron, T. (2008). Safer children in a digital world. Retrieved 10 April 2013 from
   https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Executive-summary_Byron.pdf
6. Educational Freeware (2011). Top 7 websites to teach kids about internet safety. Retrieved 10 April 2013 from http://www.educational-freeware.com/news/internet-safety.aspx