In this week’s class, what stood out most to me was the conversation about appropriate use of technology in the classroom, rules about taking photos of students and proper online presence for teachers outside school.
For tech use in the classroom, it was a bit of a surprise to me that for a teacher to use an online education program, they must first get consent from the students’ parents before using it to instruct their kids. Also, that the servers used to host the program, needs to be located inside Canada. While this surprised me at first, with later thought it made more sense, as if I were a parent, I’m not sure I’d want my child’s schoolwork and grades be located on a server in the US.
Regarding photos of students, all photos should be taken on a school owned camera/device, not on a personal device, as a teacher could easily upload those photos to the internet without anyone knowing. This wasn’t as much of a surprise to me as elementary students are considered vulnerable individuals by law, and a person that is not a parent or guardian should not be uploading photos of them to the internet without consent and proof of where the photo is going and why.
The last point that stood out to me was about teacher presence on the internet. Teachers must keep a professional life on the internet as they are role models for young and impressionable people and if they do or say inappropriate things on the internet and a student sees it, said student may think such behaviour is okay. Teachers always need to be conscious of what they say, do or post online.