CODE77 Rubrics for Administrators 2010 Part 10 of 10

I warned you these were coming.

Self-evaluation Rubrics for Basic Administrative Technology Use (2002) 2010

 You're born with intelligence, but not with ethics. -  Massad Ayoob

X.  Ethical Use, Student Safety and Policy Making (TSSA Standards VI.A, VI.B, VI.C, VI.D) NETS-A, 2009 (5a, 5b, 5c)

Level One:  I am not aware of do feel I need to be concerned with any ethical, safety, or policy issues surrounding computer use.

Level Two:  I clearly understand copyright and fair use issues as they apply to information technology resources. I understand the school board policy on the use of copyrighted materials. I demonstrate ethical usage of all software and let my staff 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 am aware of the issues as technology relates to student safety and security and the physical health and environmental risks associated with technology use. I have a personal philosophy I can articulate regarding the use of technology in education.

Level Three: I am aware of other controversial value-laden 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. I encourage all staff members in all classes to address the issues of safe and responsible use of technology and the Internet.



Why school leaders need to understand and practice technology ethics and safety and implement programs that help others understand and practice them:

Stories about the inappropriate use of technology in schools and by students abound that can cause any school administrator nightmares:

• a custodian is caught downloading pornographic materials on school computers
• a student is abducted by a stranger she has met in an Internet chatroom on MySpace
• a group of students hack into a school server and cause damage
• a student uses the printer in the computer lab to print reams of encyclopedia pages
• a district is fined for software copyright violations
• parents complain to the school board when their children are suspected of plagiarizing materials from the Internet
• a teacher receives spam for fraudulent investment schemes through his school email
• students use the Internet to locate information about making bombs
• controversy arises when a pictures of a student drinking are posted to a Facebook page and the student is suspended from a sports team

And the list goes on. It’s enough to make one wonder if technology is worth the problems it generates.

Of all the understandings that school leaders need about technology, its safe and appropriate use is easily the most important for them to have. Good leaders lead by example so they must exemplify safe and ethical technology use. And administrators are responsible for enforcing ethical computer use through good policy writing, good staff development activities, and enforcement of school rules related to technology use.

Computer ethics, better labeled "information technology ethics," deal with the proper use of a wide range of telecommunication and data storage devices. Ethics is the branch of philosophy that deals with moral judgments, issues of right and wrong, and determining what behaviors are humane and inhumane. Most Western codes of ethical behavior describe actions as "ethical" that do one or more of the following:

• promote the general health of society
• maintain or increase individual rights and freedoms
• protect individuals from harm
• treat all human beings as having an inherent value and accord those beings respect
• uphold religious, social, cultural, and government laws and mores

A simple way of saying this is that an "ethical action" is one that does not have a damaging impact on oneself, on other individuals, or on society.

Safe use is when one knows how to protect oneself from the unethical actions of others. Safe and ethical use are two sides of the same coin.

While families and the church are assigned the primary responsibility for a child's ethical education, schools also have traditionally had the societal charge to teach and reinforce some moral values, especially those directly related to citizenship and school behaviors. Most of the ethical issues that surround technology deal with societal and school behaviors and are an appropriate and necessary part of the school curriculum.

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.

The rise of sites that allow an easy means of anyone uploading information to the Internet have created new concerns. Students need to learn to protect themselves from online predators and from cyberbullies. But students also need to learn to protect themselves from their own inadvisable actions. Too often students share information that may at some later date prove to be embarrassing or even detrimental to college or vocational success.

Practicing safe and ethical behaviors needs to be an integral part of technology use in schools. And school leaders need the personal understanding of the issues involved in order to make that a reality.

CODE77 Rubrics for Administrators 2010 Part 9 of 10

I warned you these were coming.

Self-evaluation Rubrics for Basic Administrative Technology Use (2002) 2010

If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

IX. Envisioning, Planning, and Leading (TSSA Standards I.A, I.B, I.C, I.D, V.D) NETS-A, 2009 (1a, 1b. 1c)

Level One:  I let others in my district or school create technology plans. We purchase equipment, software, and technical support on an “as needed” basis.

Level Two: I use software to facilitate brainstorming activities, to plan and conduct meetings, and to create decision-making models. I take an active leadership role in building and district technology planning efforts helping make decisions about hardware selection and acquisition, staff development in technology, and integration of technology into the curriculum. Our school and district have a model long-range plan and short-term goals for technology use that are regularly assessed and updated. I have a personal philosophy I can articulate regarding the use of technology in education.

Level Three:  I have a leadership role in my professional organization that stresses the effective use of technology in education. I write and speak for my fellow practitioners on technology issues. I work to inspire others to use technology in support best practices in education.

Why school leaders need to be able to plan for and evaluate technology use in schools:

Schools have been spending a good deal of money on technology over the last decade. IT spending in education is expected to top $56 billion by 2012.* Computers, networks, printers, scanners, file servers, internet access, wireless routers, netbooks, and distance learning equipment CD-ROM drives and even interactive television facilities are common in most schools - perhaps not in the numbers many students, teachers or parents would like - but certainly in quantities which should suggest this investment should be having a major impact on education.

It is has been difficult for educators to describe and measure technology’s impact because schools do not use these tools in a single way for a single purpose. And rarely is technology use the only variable in attempts to improve student learning. Understanding the impact technology is having on education means understanding that there are four major uses of technology in schools, and that we need to plan for and evaluate each use. School leaders may not need to know all the technical details of a technology, but they do need to know enough about its uses to make good technology decisions and help others make them.

Use One:  To improve administrative effectiveness through efficient communication, planning and record keeping. Like any large organization, schools use technology to improve daily operations. Administrative software packages keep student records, figure payroll, generate state reports, and schedule classes. Telephones, voice mail, e-mail, intranets, hosted applications and other websites use the power of networking to collect, distribute and update information. Web pages, desktop published documents, and video productions inform our communities.

Use Two:  To provide access to current, accurate and extensive information resources for all learners in the district and community in a reliable, convenient, and cost effective manner. Technology connects all members of an organization to the resources they need. Whether it is a superintendent downloading the latest rule from the state department of education, a curriculum coordinator looking for federal grant information, a teacher participating in a mailing list discussion about a classroom management issue, or a student looking for a magazine article for a research paper, all learners in schools can use electronic information sources. Increasingly these resources are other human beings. Technology allows everyone - staff and students - to create and utilize personal learning networks of peers, mentors and experts.

Use Three: To provide teachers the tools and resources needed to assure students will meet local and state learning objectives and have the means to assess and record student progress. Teachers nearly always first use technology to enhance their professional productivity. This includes using specially designed teacher tools like computerized grade books, worksheet generators, and curriculum templates; generating more effective worksheets, study guides and tests using a word processor; and delivering more compelling lectures using a presentation program and interactive white boards. Professional productivity enhancement is where most educators start using technology to good effect. But technology use by teachers needs to evolve beyond enhancing traditional methods of instruction. Rather than the computer simply being a tool that allows a common task to be done more efficiently, evolved technology skills modify how instruction is delivered, how student performance is measured, and how teachers view themselves as professionals

Use Four:  To allow students to learn and demonstrate the mastered use of technology to access, process, organize, communicate and evaluate information in order to answer questions and solve problems. The most powerful use of technology in schools by students is as an information-processing and productivity tool. The use by students at all grade levels of real-world productivity software like word processors, databases, spreadsheets, presentation programs, multimedia authoring tools, e-mail, video production equipment, digital reference materials, electronic indexes, and network search engines to complete complex, authentic projects is the proper instructional use of technology. Here students will be asked to complete tasks similar to those they will be asked to do in jobs which require using information to solve problems - the kinds of jobs which are both better paying and give greater job satisfaction. The product of such instruction, however,  is not a neatly quantifiable score on an objective, nationally normed, quickly scored test.

Long-range goals and annual objectives need to be articulated, assigned, scheduled, evaluated and reported for each of these major areas of technology use. Assessment of technology use needs to be done less to satisfy a state department, legislature, or academic body, but to inform the students themselves, their parents, and the community the impact technology is having on their schools.

Leaders in schools must take an active role in creating a shared vision of how technology supports student learning. As Seneca long ago observed, "When a person does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind."

 *Compass Intelligence, September 2008.

It's tough keeping the future from getting old

A mini-vacation with the LWW followed FETC this past week. We spent the MLK weekend soaking up a little Florida sun in the Orlando area. A little cool, but 60s-70s were a major improvement over the sub-zero temps we've had in Minnesota all month.

I really like the Orlando area and especially Disney World. But I discovered some time ago, that I like the parks better in small doses with visits at about five year intervals. So I knew going back to Epcot after having just been there in 2007 was not a real good idea. But the LWW had not been there since 2001 so we decided to add it our travel plans.*

My first visit to DisneyWorld was in 1984 with my 11-year-old daughter. Epcot (or at that time, EPCOT) had been open for less than 2 years, but I loved it. EPCOT felt educational. The people movers on the attractions were better than at the Magic Kingdom. The rides actually lasted more than 30 seconds. The whole second act of the World Showcase and its ersatz countries was meant for lazy afternoon strolling. But best of all, this place was a giant Tomorrowland of special effects, 3-D movies and computer simulations. It DID feel like the future.

Sadly, Epcot seemed a little shabby and embarrassingly dated this visit.

• Wonders of Life is closed and looks abandoned.
• Honey I Shrunk the Audience's 3D is sad compared to Avatar. Good thing it has a cute story.
• The interactive exhibits all look like stuff kids already do on home computers.
• Bil Nye and Ellen DeGeneres need to retire from the Universe of Energy and stop shilling for the oil companies. And splashing a little paint on the animotronic dinosaurs does not keep them from looking like very old fashioned dinosaurs. (Can a dinosaur become a dinosaur?)
• The movies at France, Mexico and China all seem a little tired. (France looks like it was filmed in the 60s!)
• Lots o' mainframe and beige box computers in the exhibits. Sad, really. (I did see the kids playing some sort of scavanger hunt using cell phones that looked pretty cool.)
• The "American Adventure" seemed straight out of Fox News - all mushy whitebread full-ahead, no mistake about it patriotic swelling music with golden eagle wings. And Woody Harrelson did a better imitation of Hal Holbrook doing an imitation of Mark Twain. This needs more than just a picture of heroic 9-11 fire-fighters and Bill Clinton's mug tacked to the end of the movie to keep it updated.**

I don't envy Disney trying to keep this giant, expensive enterprise feeling current, let alone futuristic given how fast the future is coming at us. This conglomerate also has to satisfy the sort of middle of the road, middle class, semi-conservative audience that come to this American Mecca in droves.*** (I am not sure the mildly conservative middle class will handle the real future very well at all.)

I've remarked before how one Internet year equals 10 human years. How the faster change seems to occur, the wider the gap between those in the front and those in the back of the race. I certainly feel this in my own work - it needs constant updating, tweaking and replacing. Or it looks shabby real fast. That my Internet workshop attendees need differentiated instructional techniques as much as their own students do.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle and the Tower of Terror, based as they are on archetypal images and fears, have and will serve Disney well with little change for decades. Is this the secret to good professional writing too? Stop writing about the latest gee-whiz gizmos and do-dads and look of the eternal verities of good practice?

It would probably be less work in the long run - and better for education.

* We also went to:

• Circque de Soleil which far surpassed my expectations. Just blew me away.
• GatorLand was terrific especially since we were given the senior's discount ($10!). Very nice little zoo, despite the intentionally bad grammar on the signage - "It doan pay ta bee to cute, do it?"
• Kennedy Space Center "Mission control, the geezers are on the bus. I repeat, the geezers are on the bus." One small step for man; one giant hobble for the visitors." Wish NASA hadn't decided to compete with Disney with rides and IMAX, etc.

**There is an interesting timeline of openings, closings and updates on the Wikipedia entry for Epcot.

*** Most tourists to Orlando come on the same day I am there to deliberately stand in front of me in line. Why do they call it tourist season if we can't hunt them, as the t-shirt says...