Peer's Digital Citizenship, Ethics, and Netiquette

In investigating my peer’s views on technologies dealing with digital citizenship, ethics, and netiquette, I learned a bit from Kathy Spearman’s post located at http://mskitydon52.blogspot.com/#!/2012/12/week-7-netiquette.html:

"www.albion.com/netiquette/ offers core rules and descriptions of what is considered proper Internet etiquette. It also challenges the student to answer quiz questions in hypothetical situations

 www.studygs.net/netiquette.htm

Both of these websites can be used as instruction tools for students to help them learn the proper methods of communicating on the world wide web."

Also of interest is Revonne Lester’s blog about digital citizenship located at http://educationstation2012.blogspot.com/#!/2012/12/digital-world.html:

"http://vtisp.org/resources/vocabulary/digital-citizenship/ is also a great site. This site is a site dedicated to digital citizenship. It has each of the nine themes listed. When you choose a theme to click n to learn more, it gives you the definition f the theme, a prompt, and an exercise to do to further educate yourself on the learning. This site can be used by teachers or by teachers who are teaching teachers."

Both of these technologies can be incorporated into the learning environment I create but depending on the amount of experience of each group of learners.  The netiquette site can be incorporated as a refresher for my more experienced computer users or for an entire lesson for my beginners.  The same is the case with digital citizenship; it can either be something to touch on or an entire focus depending on the experience level of the learners.

Digital Citizenship, Ethics, and Netiquette

One technology that deals with digital ethics in regards to adult education is the program ExamGuard (http://www.examguard.com/TestingEngine.asp).  ExamGuard is ideal in an online environment and can be utilized for distance learning or a computer lab self-paced environment.  It handles digital ethics with respect to the idea of cheating while taking an online exam.  ExamGuard blocks out the ability to simultaneously search the internet and insures that it is the only window available for the duration of the exam.  Because many online or lab based courses work on the honor system, it is difficult to give administer an old-fashioned test since the learner can just look up the answers in another window but ExamGuard allows an ethical way to test without the instructor being present or available.

A great technology or resource for the idea of Digital Etiquette is a movie and subsequent activities on Brain Pop (http://www.brainpop.com/technology/computersandinternet/digitaletiquette/).  The brief movie goes over the brief do’s and don’ts of communicating digitally such as not using all capital letters and not naming other people without their knowledge or permission.  Although this technology is not geared specifically toward adult education, it is a great prerequisite for any type of adult learning.  I plan on incorporating this into my practice by showing it on the first day of any computer lab course I teach that involves the internet.

Open and Distance Education

The idea of open education is a common occurrence that until this week I kind of took for granted.  How many times do we not know an answer to something and take to the internet to discover it?  I feel this is the epitome of open education.  MIT has taken it a step further by physically publishing their courses and content for the world to see and learn at their own leisure.  Bonk (2009) wrote that approximately 50% of the visitors to the open education provided by MIT were self-learners simply looking for an answer or an attempt to broaden their horizons.  I selected the MIT open education idea because this is something I can pass on to the learners at the Center and post in the computer lab (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm). The idea of open education is not without drawbacks; there is no formal organization and there are no degrees or certificates awarded for the hours spent reviewing this open information just to learn pieces of a subject.

Pre-internet distance education consisted of mail-in assignments and tests were given by proxy usually at a library or some other public arena (Bonk, 2009).  The advantage to the pre-internet phase is that all expectations were laid out directly and the learner could work at their own pace without interference from peers or even the instructor.  The disadvantage is that collaboration was not possible and there was little to no feedback as far as progress was concerned.  Post-internet distance education more simulates a classroom with interaction from all sides and allows for maximum use of resources throughout the process.  A disadvantage to the post-internet distance education is that there is more work than a physical classroom based course in order to prove participation and learning.

Distance learning does not affect me as an adult educator – at least not in a formal way.  We cannot offer distance learning courses to our members because our community members cannot be expected to have updated or really any technology available to them at home since it is a very disadvantaged community.  Informal distance learning in an open education format is urged with our members both in and out of the classroom environment.  In fact since our previous discussion, I am looking into information I can provide to our learners about the MIT offerings since our computer lab is available for use to learners and other community members.

Bonk, C. J. (2009). The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.