AITSL Standards
Standard 4.5:
A very important part of utilising technology in the modern world is internet safety. This is only made more a priority in schools, when dealing with the duty of care of 30 students online in one class. As such, the AITSL (2011) standards detail the importance of promoting safety, responsible use and ethical use of ICT tools in schools.
Safe use of ICT:
To help guide safe use of ICT in schools, the Students Online in Public Schools Policy and Procedures document has been provided by the Department of Education in Western Australia (Department of Education, 2019). This is shown to the link on the right.
These documents help to guide planning, to ensure all teaching resources and activities are conducted in a safe manner. such an example is with the guidance regarding students personal details. All passwords are required to be stored in a safe and protected online environment (Department of Education, 2019).
This itself helps to avoid problematic issues, such as cyberbullying or identify theft (eSaftey Commissioner, n.d). By following the over-arching guidance procedures, students can remain safe when accessing online materials in a school environment.
Responsible use of ICT:
Responsible use of ICT in a school environment lends itself to keeping students on task and suitable engaged in learning, when using ICT in the classroom. An example can be seen through the lens of the SAMR model, which shows how ICT can be used as different tools of engagement, in different teaching activities (Puentedura, 2013).
The initial task was asking students to find the 'Structure and Function' of a chosen organ of the circulatory system, using the internet. This led to many students just using the search engine Google. In this scenario, ICT is in the substitution stage on the SAMR model. It is noted that The students were not very well engaged in this task.
During the next lesson, students were directed to a list of videos on SEQTA (from approved sources such as ClickView, Twig and Science by Doing). The students were to create a 60 second presentation, using these videos as tools, on their chosen organ. This change led to much more engaged and invested students, primarily through modifying the task using ICT, moving it up the SAMR model (Puentedura, 2013).
SAMR model (Puentedura, 2013)
Ethical Use of ICT:
Ethical use of ICT tools can was also explicitly taught in this school. The schools specific ICT policy had the students learning how to appropriately reference materials, whilst being made aware of copyright. This was taught to all students in year 7, however it was incorporated in the Year 8 Science Assessment for Body Systems (SCSA, 2014). An example of an incomplete reference list is shown below.
By making students aware of the ethical considerations that go into copyright and fair use, students are able to improve their assignment research and science inquiry skills (SCSA, 2014) into the future.
Page 1 of Research Worksheet
Page 2 of Research Worksheet. Includes Scaffolded referencing worksheet.
References:
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) . (2011). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/national-policy-framework/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers.pdf
Department of Education. (2019). Students Online in Public Schools Policy. Department of Education. http://det.wa.edu.au/policies/detcms/cms-service/download/asset/?asset_id=26686602
eSaftey Commissioner. (n.d.). Being Safe Online. https://www.esafety.gov.au/kids/I-want-help-with/being-safe-online
Puentedura, R. R. (2013, May 29). SAMR: Moving from enhancement to transformation [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/000095.html
School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA). (2014). Western Australian Curriculum. https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/teaching/curriculum-browser.