MALET Issues

As an instructional tool, teachers have the option of showing previously created digital stories to their students to introduce content and capture students' attention when presenting new ideas. Teachers who are able to create self-made digital stories find that they can be particularly helpful not only in engaging students in the content, but also in facilitating discussion about topics presented in a story and helping make abstract or conceptual content more understandable. A multimedia-rich digital story can serve as an anticipatory set or hook to capture the attention of students and increase their interest in exploring new ideas.

In August 2009, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries launched a mobile web site and catalog designed for use on smartphones. Library users can search for books and view library hours, location branches, and other basic information about the University of North Carolina libraries on their iPhone, Android phone, or other smartphone. An outline of the development process is given in eight major steps that are designed to be replicated by other libraries. Lessons learned during development are also shared, along with recommendations of devices to develop for and tools to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] [Abstract from ESC Academic Search Complete database] Link: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.library.esc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=11&sid=32d26eef-5aab-4af2-ad1a-c9624344797d%40sessionmgr115&hid=126&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=57138008&db=a9h Haefele, C. (2011). One Block at a Time: Building a Mobile Site Step by Step. Reference Librarian, 52(1/2), 117-127. doi:10.1080/02763877.2011.528269

The article discusses survey results regarding the involvement that libraries have with digital technologies. Topics discussed in the article include the way in which libraries use mobile technologies to expand their reach to additional clients, mobile services that librarians would like to be able to offer to their clients, such as electronic resources, and difficulties that libraries face in offering digital technology services to their clients. [Abstract from ESC Academic Search Complete database]

I chose to read the "A Situated Practice of Ethics for Participatory Visual and Digital Methods in Public Health Research and Practice: A Focus on Digital Storytelling" article on the ethical issues involved in digital storytelling. This article delves into ethics of digital storytelling. It gives 6 ethical principles for digital storytelling. It outlines conditions for ethical practice and provides a digital storytellers bill of rights. Basically this documents the basic right to well being for the storytellers, because this could be "fuzzy" as described in the above article.

I read about Helene Hegemann in the 1st chapter of "Disconnected : Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap". She was celebrated author of "Axolotl Roadkill" at age 17. It was discovered that she plagiarized portions of her novel. This article is an informal interview and article on the author. It gives a short summary of the novel and more details concerning the plagiarized portions. Helene defends her novel as a "remix" - which is what everybody in the digital age is doing. This brings up ethical issues such as intellectual property, authority; and obviously "originality and authenticity."

Using iPads in the classroom has been helpful reading Hamlet. Shakespeare is difficult to understand, but students can get help accessing No Fear Shakespeare on their iPads.

I have the same problems Khader in trying to integrate Chromebooks as much as possible. I constantly feel that it is a struggle to get their attention and maintain it especially if they are convinced they should be allowed to "multitask" between the assignment and a game, but in the end the resources I am able to integrate in is well worth those struggles.

I agree with the problem of technology in the hands of students can often be distracting. The temptation to play games, search google, and social media is huge. It is so difficult to find a balance in a less than ideal world. My hope is that the earlier we introduce technology in the classroom, the novelty will wear off by the higher grades. Even with controls on wifi and devices, students are so tech savvy, they find ways around it.

This paper discusses ethics and student assessment, as applicable to the growing field of distance education. Since we are all taking online courses I thought this would be a good share.

Great points made in this article about how difficult it is to know who is really completing the work in an online course or exam. So much to consider when the exams really matter in terms of professional advancement. I think of all the exams I had to sit for in Albany for New York State teacher licensing five years ago and there they fingerprint you when you take the exam to ensure that someone else is not taking it for you.

This is a great practical guide. I'm teaching my first online high school course this semester -- it's an experiment my superintendent is indulging -- and it's the kind of useful info I can use.

Since I work with Special Education students a high school, I am always interested in the effectiveness of technology on learning. ABSTRACT Using technology can help students with disabilities to enhance and improve their independence in academic and employment tasks, their participation in classroom discussions, along with helping them to accomplish some difficult academic tasks. This paper discusses the role and benefits of using assistive technology in the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), in academic skills, and in transition services. A summary of the important principles that need to be considered in the integration of technology in educating or training students with disabilities is provided.

More on Howard Gardner and some great presentations and ebooks are also available on this site.

Cyber safety and ethics in schools.

Illustrates the importance of teaching students about rights and responsibilities involved in online communications

Eventhough, this article is from 1998 it still presents ethical issues that are relevant. I wish schools start teaching classes on Internet ethics, copyright and online bullying early on. These question are going to be very critical to education and the future of citizenship. I think about how information is shared on Twitter in the current presidential election cycle and how the general public seem to not be bothered with checking facts. We have to work even harder to teach critical thinking and how to sort opinion for verifiable facts.

Great point about teaching critical thinking and the idea that taking away access to the internet is not an effective way to teach them to recognize the consequences of their actions. Often, I know in my classroom it is much easier to just take away the electronic devices than taking the time to stress the importance of ethical behavior online or offline.

From the abstract: "...as online learning has become increasingly popular, there are concerns about the perceived impersonal nature of the online medium, and how this might particularly affect adolescent learners."

I thought this was a very good article. A couple of my courses we have talked a lot about collaborative learning and how important it is to work together so I found this really interesting. I really liked the tools that was shared in the article and the ones that I have not used or accessed before I did save the links to explore later.

Collaborative learning can be beneficial in so many ways for teachers and learners. My own children (middle school and high school) work on group projects for school while at home using google docs all the time. I have encouraged my own students to use google docs so they can never use the excuse "it's on my computer at home."

Love this article, because it applies to the workforce too. My Digital tools class went over a few of these resources that many do know exist for us to use. I will be using this articles to explore other tools to use!

This article was taken from the Academic Search Premier database accessible in the SUNY Empire library. "The article focuses on a study related to roles and ethics of digital technologies in the healthcare industry." Some of the issues discussed in the article include the use of smartphones, sensors and monitors for medical documentation and in measurement of one's health. Other pertinent issues include keeping the privacy of patient records in the digital age.

This article examines technology trends in higher education and how they impact student habits and preferences in college libraries. A study was conducted among students at the Sam Houston State University in East Texas to investigate their usage of electronic devices and technologies such as text messaging, Twitter, podcasts, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, and social networks. Results indicate that students do wish that basic library services were available through the most popular social networking sites and Internet technologies. Topics include a review of literature consulted, methods used, and the demographics of the student body researched. [Abstract from ESC Academic Search Complete database] Link: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.library.esc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=32d26eef-5aab-4af2-ad1a-c9624344797d%40sessionmgr115&hid=126&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=61993848&db=a9h Cassidy, E. D., Britsch, J., Griffin, G., Manolovitz, T., Shen, L., & Turney, L. (2011). Higher Education and Emerging Technologies: Student Usage, Preferences, and Lessons for Library Services. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 50(4), 380-391.

This article investigates learning and emerging technologies in a disadvantaged community in Britain. The authors recognize one of the major problems in the UK is social exclusion. The method used in the study includes interviews and observations of its subjects. What they learned is that there is a basic distrust of information in disadvantaged communities in the UK. One of the problems is the definition of information. Then recognizing the information needs of this community.

Computer & Internet Lawyer journal article showing some of the complexities in court cases regarding intended audiences and privacy concerns. This case in particular was from a Myspace posting that was reported to police that involved a threat against a school, but was prosecuted using disorderly conduct charges.

INTRODUCTION Copyright law is an increasingly important aspect of managing an academic library. This study investigated the copyright knowledge level of academic library deans and directors and their perceptions of how it affects their abilities to oversee the development and enforcement of copyright-related library policies. The perceived adequacy of the copyright training currently available in library schools was also examined. METHODS A random sample of academic library deans and directors was asked to complete a web-based survey articulating their level of copyright knowledge and perceptions associated with how they are able to apply it toward their work with policies. RESULTS Respondents scored a mean of 77.49% on ten questions of basic copyright law concepts. A majority of deans and directors indicated they believe their knowledge, as well as that of those working under their supervision, is adequate to make informed decisions. However, almost 90% of the respondents were either neutral or disagreed that library school programs are providing adequate training in copyright law to academic librarians

This article deals with the topic of best practices for making copyrighted materials as free as possible while avoiding lawsuits. Very relevant to topic.