Week 29 - Legal and Ethical Contexts in my Digital Practice

Week 29 -  Legal and Ethical Contexts in my Digital Practice

Social Networking Sites... You either "love "it or dear I say "hate" it!  

Image 1: Social Media Today

"The concepts behind “social networking” aren’t anything new – ever since there have been humans, we have been looking for ways to connect, network, and promote with one another – but they’ve taken on an entirely new meaning (and momentum) in the digital age. Where we used to have handshakes, word-of-mouth referrals, and stamped letters, today’s relationships are often begun and developed on LinkedIn, Google +, and Facebook" (SocialMediaToday)

In 2015, SocialMediaToday published the worlds most important apps used worldwide...I have list the first top 10


1. Twitter                                                 11. Pinterest
2. Facebook                                            12. Twoo
3. LinkedIn                                              13.MyMFB
4. Xing                                                     14.YouTube
5.Renren                                                  15. Instagram    
6. Google+                                               16 Vine
                                                                  17 WhatsApp
7. Disqus                                                  18 vk.com
8. LinkedIn Pulse                                    19 Meetup
9.Snapchat                                               20. Secret
10. Tumblr                                                21. Medium          
                                                                    
I personally have only used Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin (but only registered...as I found it wants too many personal details), Pinterest, and You tube.  Personal details...now thats another thought to ponder on!

I myself have only just created my own account for Facebook and that was only to be part of the Primary Teacher Group.  Fabulous sharing!  I wont accept parents as friends but do have 'certain' family members and 'close' friends.  When I initially joined Facebook I gave me a limit of 10 friends excluding groups that were of interest for example, Google plus, Google Classroom, Dojo and of course, 'The Mindlab Community."  Ive past my quota as I didn't realise I had more friends than I initially thought.

An actual situation I have knowledge of pertains to our school facebook.  A parent in my class offered transport to take her son to a sport event, supported her son during the day along with his peers.  She enjoyed the day out and we appreciated her support. Great!

Before the students and parents left to return back to school, the teacher let the students know that they can bring the uniforms back tomorrow and for them 'not' to wash them as they get washed by our 'wonderful' caretaker who takes them to the laundry mat.  

Fabulous! everything sorted...Well partly everything!  The next day I asked 'student' where his uniform was and he said, 'his mum cant wash it today and she will do it as soon as she can."  As you would have done too...I let him know he can bring it back 'unwashed' as we do it at school.  So 'student' goes home that afternoon, asks for his uniform so he can return it but, wait for it..'student' forgets to tell 'mum' that she doesn't have to wash it!

There goes the communication breakdown 'in action'.  Well poor 'mum' (who I may add, was about 3 months pregnant) through frustration decided to post a 'disgruntled' message on our school facebook.  

At first I was disappointed as I believed that we had good communication, and I do give my cellphone to parents to use whenever they need to make contact with me regarding school matters.

I found out about the issue through the principal as she is the admin for the school facebook account.  

How was it resolved...I resolved this issue by seeing 'mum' face to face, 'kanohi ki te kanohi' as I said above I had formed a good relationship with her as a parent of a student in my class.  I visited her at home after school and explained the situation that 'the uniform' could have been brought back 'unwashed' and so forth.  Mum apologised and realised her son did not tell her about returning uniform 'unwashed' and said she didnt mention any names. However, we come from a small community where everyone practically knows each other or are 'related' and her facebook has a picture of her and her son on...so you can put two and two together.

Actually, I dont recall her deleting the post!  Oh well, All well, ends well!

About the Code of Ethics

THE CODE OF ETHICS FOR CERTIFICATED TEACHERS EXISTS TO:

• promote the ethics of the profession
• inspire the quality of behaviour that reflects the honour and dignity of the profession
• encourage and emphasise those positive attributes of professional conduct that
• characterise strong and effective teaching
• enable members of the profession to appraise and reflect on their ethical decisions.

References:

Educational Council.  (n.d.).  About the code of ethics for certified teachers.  Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/about-code-of-ethics

Socia Media Today. The Worlds 21st most important Social Media Sites in 2015.  Retrieved from

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/2015-04-13/worlds-21-most-important-social-media-sites-and-apps-2015