Rubric 11: Ethical Use Understanding
Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 10:44AM This a continuation of the 2008/09 revision of the CODE77 rubrics - Basic level. An introduction is here.
Rubric 11: Ethical Use Understanding
X. Ethical use (1995)
Level 1 I am not aware of any ethical issues surrounding computer use.
Level 2 I know that some copyright restrictions apply to computer software.
Level 3 I clearly understand the difference between freeware, shareware, and commercial software and the fees involved in the use of each. I know the programs for which the district or my building holds a site license. I understand the school board policy on the use of copyrighted materials. I demonstrate ethical usage of all software and let my students know my personal stand on legal and moral issues involving technology. I know and enforce the school’s technology policies and guidelines, including its Internet Acceptable Use Policy. I have a personal philosophy I can articulate regarding the use of technology in education.
Level 4 I am aware of other controversial aspects of technology use including data privacy, equitable access, and free speech issues. I can speak to a variety of technology issues at my professional association meetings, to parent groups, and to the general community.
XI. Ethical use understanding (NETS VI. A, D, F.) (2002)
Level 1 I am not aware of any ethical issues surrounding computer use.
Level 2 I know that some copyright restrictions apply to computer software.
Level 3 I clearly understand the difference between freeware, shareware, and commercial software and the fees involved in the use of each. I know the programs for which the district or my building holds a site license. I understand the school board policy on the use of copyrighted materials. I demonstrate ethical usage of all software and let my students know my personal stand on legal, moral, and safety issues involving technology. I know and enforce the school’s technology policies and guidelines, including its Internet Acceptable Use Policy. I have a personal philosophy I can articulate regarding the use of technology in education.
Level 4 I am aware of other controversial aspects of technology use including data privacy, equitable access, and free speech issues. I can speak to a variety of technology issues at my professional association meetings, to parent groups, and to the general community.
XI. Safe and ethical use understanding (NETS ???) (2009)
Level 1 I am not aware of any ethical or safety issues surrounding computer use.
Level 2 I know that some copyright restrictions apply to computer software and I can advise students on some safety issues surrounding Interent use.
Level 3 I clearly understand the difference between freeware, shareware, open source, and commercial software and the fees and responsibilities involved in the use of each. I know the programs for which the district or my building holds a site license. I understand the school board policy on the use of copyrighted materials. I demonstrate ethical use usage of intellectual property all software and let my students know my personal stand on legal, moral, and safety issues involving technology. I know and enforce the school’s technology policies and guidelines, including its Internet Acceptable Use Policy. In each lesson I teach that involves technology, I address issues of safe and ethical behaviors online. I have a personal philosophy I can articulate regarding the use of technology in education.
Level 4 I am aware of other controversial aspects of technology use including data privacy, equitable access, and free speech issues. I understand and teach copyleft practices such as Creative Commons and ask that students license their own creative works. I can speak to a variety of technology issues at my professional association meetings, to parent groups, and to the general community.
Reader Comments (5)
These are not examples of ethical use. These are examples of legal use. The ethical considerations are very different from the legal considerations.
I can't even bear to think about teaching computing ethics in the context of technology education rather than in the context of teaching ethics in generall.
Hi Stephen,
I recognize your concern. As a professional ethicist you are absolutely correct. As a practical ethicist, however, the distinctions are less distinct. We of the great unwashed, rightly or wrongly, equate legal with ethical with moral with good citizenship, etc.
All the best,
Doug
Hi Tom,
When I first started writing about tech ethics in mid-90s, I asked the question “Why do technology ethics then deserve special attention?” These were my conclusions then...
There are a variety of reasons. Using technology to communicate and operate in a “virtual world,” one that only exists within computers and computer networks, is a new phenomenon that is not always well understood by many adults who received their primary education prior to its existence. Both fear and romance usually accompany new technologies. Our mass media has produced movies like War Games, The Net, and Mission Impossible that capitalize on the unfamiliarity many adults have of communications technologies. Movies, as well as book and television programs, often make questionably ethical actions such as breaking into secure computer systems seem heroic or at least sympathetic.
Our new technological capabilities also may require new ethical considerations.
* The ability to send unsolicited commercial messages to millions of Internet email users (spamming) was not possible before there was email or the Internet. Does the fact that the financial burden of unsolicited advertisements now falls on the recipient rather than the sender create the need for new rules?
* Digital photography has made the manipulation of images undetectable, an impossible feat with chemical photography. What obligations do communicators have to present an undoctored photograph, even if its message may not be as powerful as one that has been digitally “enhanced?”
* Prior to the Internet, minors faced physical barriers of access to sexually explicit materials. What safeguards do schools, libraries, and parents need to take to keep children from freely accessing inappropriate materials? Which will better serve our children in the long run - software filtering devices or instruction and practice in making good judgements?
* Intellectual property in digital format can now be duplicated with incredible ease. Do we need clearer definitions of property? Can an item that is taken without authorization, but leaves the original in place, still be considered stolen?
One of the most significant reasons that computer ethics deserve special attention is because of our rather human ability to view one’s actions in the intangible, virtual world of information technologies as being less serious than one’s actions in the real world. Most of us, adults or children, would never contemplate walking into a computer store and shoplifting a computer program. Yet software piracy (the illegal duplication of computer programs) costs the computer business billions of dollars each year. Most of us would never pick a lock, but guessing passwords to gain access to unauthorized information is a common activity.
Information technology misuse by many people, especially the young, is viewed as a low-risk, game-like challenge. Electronic fingerprints, footsteps, and other evidence of digital impropriety have historically been less detectable than physical evidence. There is a physical risk when breaking into a real office that does not exist when hacking into a computer database from one’s living room or den. Illegally copying a book is costly and time consuming; illegally copying a computer program can be done in seconds at very small expense. The viewed pornography on a website seems to disappear as soon as the browser window is closed.
Not long ago, ethical technology questions were only of interest to a very few specialists. But as the use of information technologies spreads throughout society and its importance to our national economies and individual careers grows, everyone will need to make good ethical decisions when using computers. Studies show that persons involved in computer crimes acquire both their interest and skills at an early age.
What I would argue, is that safe and ethical use always be taught within the context of the tech skill itself, not separated as distinct set of lessons.
All the best,
Doug
> We of the great unwashed, rightly or wrongly, equate legal with ethical with moral with good citizenship, etc.
Actually, legalism is the exception, rather than the rule. The 'great unwashed' have long distinguished between what is moral and what is legal.
This varies from small acts of morally permissible but legally wrong behavioiurs, such as driving 10 mph over the speed limit, to widespread acts of civil disobediences, such as smoking drugs or evading the draft.
Laws and practices concerning file sharing and copyright are themselves instances of this divide, with large segments of the population ignoring what are claimed to be the legal rights of copyright holders. Sharing, though it may have been made illegal, remains morally permissible, indeed, even morally laudable.
There is no "great unwashed" touting the virtue of the legal as the equivalent of the moral. This task has instead been taken up by a distinct minority, a set of rule-minded educators and administrators. And the publishers and politicians that egg them on.
Hi Stephen,
I would like to think you are right on this, but I am more pessimistic, I guess. I see lots of people, adult and children stuck on Kohlberg’s “conventional” stage.
But I believe you have a good deal more expertise here and bow to the master!
Oh, would you please keep some of that cold air up with you where it belongs?
All the best,
Doug