Safe+and+Legal+Practices

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) provide numerous educational benefits for students to explore. With the use of ICTs students can extend their knowledge, deepen their understanding and construct meaning (Education Queensland, 2008, p.10). In order for this to be effective, safe, ethical, legal and appropriate practices must be implemented at all times. Students need to be aware of these practices in order to participate as courteous and moral 21st century learners of a continually expanding world of technology. Wikis present the potential for online bullying and harassment to occur. Ground rules and acceptable behaviours for ICT use were clearly elaborated prior to the commencement of the unit. Continual monitoring by the teacher would significantly decrease the likelihood of this happening.

The wiki used to scaffold student learning will be set on private to create a secure environment for the students to gain and extend knowledge. Before uploading the students’ intellectual property consent would need to be approved by their parent/s or guardian/s (Department of Education and Training, 2000). These practices are addressed throughout the unit by explaining to students the importance of acknowledging ownership of intellectual quality and how to ensure the environment in which the learning takes place is safe. Appropriate referencing of images and audio is modelled to students throughout the unit and incorporated aptly in the wiki. Students are also encouraged to source images whereby permission for reproduction and reuse is granted, such as creative commons.

The summative assessment task requires the students to document their learning and illustrate stages completed throughout the unit. In order to achieve this, students will be required to take photographs of their playground designs and use them in their presentation. Students will be informed that although it is their own work, it is essential to reference the images. Students will successfully achieve this by stating in their presentation that the images used were personal.