As the role of the teacher and the learner in the 21st
century is changing, so are the understandings and interpretations of the
Ethical Standards and Standard of Practice as provided by the OCT.
Ethical Standards
The Ethical standards are based on four
main tenets – care, respect, trust, and integrity. Each of these ideas needs to
be considered with respect to technology.
The ethical standards ask that we are
positive influences, that we respect students values, that we maintain
professional relationships, and that we are exercising integrity in our
professional commitments and responsibilities. This could not be more important
than when considering our behaviour online. As educators, it is one of our many
jobs to try to model good behaviour, and that includes netiquette, or online
etiquette. We are trying to prepare our students to be able to be participating
members of society, and what better place to start than in an online community?
Digital citizenship discusses the norms of responsible and appropriate use of
technology, and it is incredibly vital that students understand how they should
act when they are online. The idea of respect is no more evident than when
considering digital rights and digital communication. The Canadian Bill of
Rights extends a certain set of rights and freedoms to us, and in a similar
fashion, basic rights must be understood in the digital world - we need to
maintain that even though there are more avenues for communication, every
student still maintains those freedoms. As well, we are now offered a multitude
of ways to keep in constant communication with other people. It is our
responsibility to not only educate our students how to make proper decisions
when communicating digital, but to also demonstrate the same decisions in our
own behaviour. The OCT Professional Advisory suggests that “Practitioners can be vulnerable to unintended misuses
of electronic communication. Social media encourage casual dialogue.” In other
words, we need to ensure that the way we are communicating with others remains
professional, as it would in the classroom, on the phone, or in face to face
situations with parents, students, and other educators. It is very easy for us
to think “I am online, it must be private.” However, as a teacher, we are never
‘off’. As mentioned in the OCT Advisory, “teachers’ off-duty conduct, even when
not directly related to students, is relevant to their suitability to teach.”
This pertains to our digital conduct as well, so we need to be wary of what we
say or do, not only in public, but in public forums such as social media.
Standards
of Practice
The Standards of Practice as released
by the OCT discusses 5 main concepts – commitment to student learning,
professional knowledge, professional practice, leadership, and professional
learning. The concept of professional practice and leadership have been
discussed in the Ethical standards, so I would like to reflect on commitment to
student learning, and professional knowledge/learning
We are asked to be sensitive to factors
that influence student learning. When considering the digital age, we need to
be wary that not everyone has equal opportunities when it comes to technology.
We cannot be excluding students digitally, especially when technology is so
relevant to helping our students grow as productive members of society. It
should be our goal as teachers to help provide access to students so that they
can improve their abilities with various technological concepts. In cases where
students are limited to what they can do at home, we need to exhibit fairness
and provide other resources so that students have equivalent learning
opportunities.
We are also asked to make a commitment
to ongoing professional learning in order to be effective practitioners. This could not be more important than when we
discuss the 21st century learning experience. Gone are the days of
chalkboard – realistically, the Smartboard is already becoming obsolete; giving
way to the Apple TV and Airplay. It is integral that teachers commit to
learning new technologies as they become available, so that we can help
facilitate learning for our students and they can become adept, as many of
these technologies are being used in workplace environments today. We must
dedicate ourselves to becoming facilitators not only of content, but also of
medium in which the content is being delivered, or we are providing our
students a great disservice.
Clearly, as teachers, we have a lot of
responsibility on our plates, but if we are trying to be positive influences as
well as effective educators, these are responsibilities that we need to accept
and improve on regularly.
Well said Chris! We must be dedicated educators. And that dedication means that we are not only responsible for content, but also in the way in which that content is delivered. As well, we need to be aware of the constant changes that are occurring in education and technology.
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