Critical Assessment – Ethics in and through Technology
Identify a current application for digital technology that you feel has social, moral, and ethical implications
for teachers and/or students. Technology is broadly defined to include anything from a piece of hardware
(laptop, gaming console, tablet) to software, apps, social media platforms, etc.
*Write a one paper framed to argue its point toward a particular audience. You must first decide who you
are considering to be the audience of the paper.
After you write the one page paper, write an additional short policy brief that could be given to the school
board, administration, or the legislature with practical recommendations.
CRITICAL ASSESSMENT – ETHICS IN AND THROUGH TECHNOLOGY 2
Critical Assessment – Ethics in and through Technology
Technology plays a very vital role in the lives of students and the society who have
multiple technological devices and use them frequently. Though technology could have negative
effects on the students but overall it helps the students to make their schooling much easier. This
can be greatly supported by several studies conducted.
A research that emphases on information technology adoption and use within the
education sector has been conducted. They analyzed the impact on learning efficacy of
technology-mediated learning environments such as characterized by the adoption of tablet
based technologies as a radical complement to old-fashioned teaching/learning methods. The
study also analyzes the effect or outcome of “Support Activities” on students’ grades. The
“Support Activities” are well-defined as the set of concepts similar to “Classmates’
Encouragement”, “Technical Support Availability” and “Teachers’ Encouragement”. It is
known that grades are used as a measure of learning efficacy. In this study, a sample of 370
students partook, being attendants of experimental classes by using tablets as a regular working
device to obtain to digital resources. The conventional theory reference was established on the
theoretical fundamentals of Technology Acceptance Model, by matching the perceived effect
of those concepts between grade ranges. The experimental sample was correlated to classes
where the same instructors practice traditional learning resources. This is to give a practical
understanding of support factors that influence tablet-mediated learning effectiveness. So, the
findings showed the dissimilarities between humanistic and scientific subjects. The study
confirms that technology alone could not reform and revolutionalize learning and teaching;
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nevertheless, it contributes to a better-quality experience if there are a deployed support
initiatives (Caporarello, Magni, & Pennarola, 2016).
On the other hand, another study was done which seeks to discover the degree to which
technology interrupts and occupies the time of a university student and to determine the extent to
which these disturbances contribute to superficial stress. The study is a 71-item survey to
evaluate perceived stress, disruptions, technology use and social support was overseen to 299
undergraduate learners. The results indicated that 25% of participants have issues and problems
with distractions from technology, and more disturbances from technology are associated with
advanced levels of perceived stress. Experiencing disruptions from technology is a notable
problem among college students and needs to be tackled by student affairs professionals
(Gemmill, & Peterson, 2006).
Policy brief
Students of today are now very fond of using modern devices that somehow aid in their
studies and the environment they live in.
The people live in a very fast-changing ‘runaway world’ where the economic, social,
cultural and political fundamentals of society are being redefined on an incessant basis (Giddens
2000).
The utilization of technologies to improve educational outcomes and support social
inclusion in education has two main forms.
The number one is the usage of technologies to endorse social inclusion in terms of
educational outcomes and prospects. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
have long been supported as a predominantly opposite means of permitting citizens to play active
parts in improving educational prospects and crucially proposing ways in which the
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underprivileged individuals could participate in education (Schofield Clark, 2003). The
decentralized, intrinsically equitable, and democratic systems of education could be expected by
many critics, with individuals – particularly young people – technologically re-placed at its core
instead of the periphery. And the number two could be the usage of education to guarantee social
insertion in terms of technological outcomes and opportunities. So, in this sense, educational
organizations such as colleges, schools, museums, and libraries are used to deliver access to
ICTs which training in technology skills and proficiency are seen to offer the students with the
info literacy mandated to make the most of the ICTs.
Perhaps the most dominant have been guidelines and policies pursuing to use education
to make sure social inclusion in terms of technological outcomes and opportunities. This kind of
policy campaign have been typically built around the augmented resourcing of municipal
institutions and public like libraries, community centers, schools, subsidizing of IT equipment
acquisitions by those students who belong to the low incomes families and the development of
formal computer education and support programs.
Recommendations
Here are some recommendations which the school board may consider for the betterment of their
students:
Use technology to enhance the knowledge and skills of all students including those who
cannot afford to buy their own device or gadgets
Since technology could help close achievement gaps and improve learning, the students
should be encouraged to use technology but in moderation in order not to disrupt their
focus on their studies
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Technology should be efficiently and effectively used in school and the social aspects of
the students.
Efficiently use the advantage of technology especially to those students who are at risk of
dropping out and failing courses. Use technology to search and build rather than to “drill
and kill,” and the correct blend of technology and teachers.
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References
Caporarello L., Magni M., Pennarola F. (2016). When Teachers Support Students in
Technology Mediated Learning. In: Rossignoli C., Gatti M., Agrifoglio R. (eds)
Organizational Innovation and Change. Lecture Notes in Information Systems and
Organisation, vol 13. Springer, Cham
Gemmill, E., & Peterson, M. (2006). Technology Use Among College Students: Implications for
Student Affairs Professionals. NASPA Journal, 43(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.2202/0027-
6014.1640
Giddens, A.(2000). Runaway world: how globalisation is shaping our lives. London: Routledge,
2000.
Schofield Clark, L. (2003). Challenges of social good in the world of Grand Theft Auto and
Barbie. New Media & Society, v. 5, n. 1.
