MALET Issues

This is right up my alley as a librarian. This article was delivered at a library conference concerning ethics in digital libraries. The article attempts to answer questions relevant to this module such as: How can a democratic right of access to knowledge be guaranteed? How is the integrity and sustainability of these collections economically, technically and culturally guaranteed? SOme of the answers include: How to recognize and articulate ethical conflicts in the information field. To activate their sense of responsibility with regard to the consequences of individual and collective interactions in the information field.

In this webinar, Janet Sylvia, Web Accessibility Group Leader and Web Accessibility Trainer, and Lily Bond from 3Play Media will go through 10 tips for implementing accessible online media at your institution. Looking at several different scenarios, they will discuss actionable strategies to help you find a solution that will work for you.

Accessible resources give better experiences for all users and reduces risks for your organisation - for example less risk of learners failing and less risk of disabled learners being disadvantaged. Xerte is being used with learners across the spectrum - from entry level and basic skills to undergraduates.

A look at making resources available at no cost or affordable cost so that there will be equity in access.

A look at teacher prep and professional development suggestions and opportunities to help teachers navigate the prevalence of mobile devices and uses in education.

A survey done of math teachers rating various tools for visually impaired students. Interesting read just to show the wide range of adaptive technologies that have been developed to ensure access to material for all learners.

A study into how effective MOOCS have been at realizing the goals of open education resources and the audiences that are actually taking advantage of the courses.

This brought up some good points about the effects of teacher and student perception in technology integration in the k-12 setting and some interesting statistics to consider such as "Even though schools have embraced the digital revolution, reading and mathematics test scores are at about the same level that they were 40 years ago...it is evident that the positive impact of technology does not happen automatically. Its impact is determined by how teachers use the technology in their classroom instruction, not just the acquisition of technology."

"The purpose of this publication is to provide guidance, direction, and resources to help programs meet their moral, ethical, and legal obligations to best ensure all students have access to the educational opportunities provided for them in online and digital learning. "

From the abstract: " This qualitative research study will select four exemplary teachers to discuss ways of improving technology in classrooms. Situations where introducing technology in mathematics classrooms will be discusses to see their relevance and whether they are helpful and fair or not. "

Excellent paper, long(119 pages) but very rich.

EducationWorld is pleased to present this article by Christopher McGilvery, a lecturer at Angelo State University . The article originally appeared in TechEdge, a quarterly magazine published by Naylor LLC for Texas Computer Education Association members. To join or for more information, visit www.tcea.org.

Great ideas. I wonder if they are effective? Will student change behavior because they are told you should not bully?

I really like the idea of treating the lessons as ways to make them "lifelong learners" so that these tools and skills go beyond the scope of the school year or K-12 setting.

Ten guidelines of computer ethics, online resources for teaching ethics and Internet safety, and eight tips for establishing a "culture of proper use" of technology in the classroom!

From the abstract: 'Also, though there have been large investments made to integrate technology into K-12 classrooms to equip students with the skills needed to prepare for college and a career, the practical use of this investment has not been impressive. Lastly, several meta-analyses showed promising results of effectiveness of technology in the classroom. However, several inherent methodological and study design issues dampen the amount of variance that technology accounts for."

We describe a cheating strategy enabled by the features of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and detectable by virtue of the sophisticated data systems that MOOCs provide. The strategy, Copying Answers using Multiple Existences Online (CAMEO), involves a user who gathers solutions to assessment questions using a "harvester" account and then submits correct answers using a separate "master" account. We use "clickstream" learner data to detect CAMEO use among 1.9 million course participants in 115 MOOCs from two universities. Using conservative thresholds, we estimate CAMEO prevalence at 1,237 certificates, accounting for 1.3% of the certificates in the 69 MOOCs with CAMEO users. Among earners of 20 or more certificates, 25% have used the CAMEO strategy. CAMEO users are more likely to be young, male, and international than other MOOC certificate earners. We identify preventive strategies that can decrease CAMEO rates and show evidence of their effectiveness in science courses.

Open source software has made inroads into mainstream computing where it was once the territory of software altruists, and the open source culture of technological collegiality and accountability may benefit education as well as industry. This paper describes the Recourse project, which seeks to transform the computer science undergraduate curriculum through teaching methods based on open source principles, values, ethics, and tools. Recourse differs from similar projects by bringing the open source culture into the curriculum comprehensively, systematically, and institutionally. The current state of the project is described, and initial results from a pilot exercise are presented.(

Enrollment in undergraduate computer science courses is at an all-time high at colleges nationwide. But this trend that's been hailed by the U.S. tech industry has a dark side: a disproportionate number of students taking these courses are caught cheating. Enrollment in undergraduate computer science courses is at an all-time high at colleges nationwide.

The author believes young people are the most avid users of digital media throughout their daily lives, so we can expect that digital media will be central to their civic lives. Also civic organizations are so deeply enmeshed in the online world that basic participation now requires a certain amountof digital literacy. Civic life is rapidly digitizing, so a crucial component of teaching students the skills to engage as competent civic actors is teaching them how to engage in virtual spaces persuasively, critically, collectively, and before invisible audiences.

This is a short literary review of Jason Ohler's 2008 book (title above). For the purpose of organization, Ohler classifies digital storytelling into three sections: Part I-Storytelling, Education, and the New Media, Part II-The Art and Practice of Storytelling, and Part III- Going Digital. According to Ohler, Digital storytelling is important to society, it shares an interrelationship with technology and it has a place in education, tied to literacy. Regardless of the technology advances made in the future, people will use it to fulfill the inherent need to tell their story. (For proof, just look at the progressive advancement of Snapchat. What began as an app allowing users to send cellphone picts to friends using custom contacts lists image display times of ≤10 sec has evolved to allow creation of Sanpchat Stories allowing users to chronicle daily activities via video clips, images & captions available for friends to view over 24 hr.) Ohler identifies fundamentals of a digital story as: Genre, resonance, active/passive viewing, point of view, emotional engagement, tone, spoken narrative, soundtrack, creativity, media grammar, and more. In addition, the reader is able to see how each element connects to literacy development, inquiry, and the backwards design.

American youth are interested in civic engagement as well as in playing with media. A research team commissioned by MTV interviewed more than twelve hundred young people, conducted expert interviews and ethnographies, and took a national poll of a representative sample ages 12-24, between December 2005 and April 2006. The research found, 70% believing in the importance of helping the community, 68% already doing something to support a cause on a monthly basis and 82% describing themselves at least somewhat involved. From this data, it does seem that the majority of young people are convinced that civic engagement (i.e., supporting a social cause of some kind) is something they should be involved. However, there is a strong disparity between interest and involvement, an "activation gap" and there is significant room for growth.