The question that was posed was "How comfortable would you be in giving your own device to someone else?"
Many teachers at the session were worried about their privacy, the condition of their own devices when someone would use them or how someone else could send information out on their behalf. More than that, they did not like the idea of someone else touching their device because of the information stored on it.
My reflection is that this is a problem. As teachers, if we are scared of our information being "sent out," or inappropriately used, then what are we teaching our students. Instead of being fearful, we need to be the ones to promote digital safety by helping students understand the importance of passwords.
How can I share this understanding and knowledge with my students? How can I help them understand the importance of protecting their device and their own personal identity? How do I bring this practice into every one of my subject areas such as mathematics and computer science?
An idea that was brought up in our BYOD session was to help teach this to students each time we use a piece of technology and I think this is a great place to start. Looking at the math classroom, we use graphing calculators, Chrome Books, personal devices, tablets, netbooks, SMARTBoards, and so much other technology to help us understand how math works, but do I ever take the time and teach the students how to properly use this technology?
Honestly, I have not. When we use ChromeBooks, I have never once discussed the important of logging off completely and shutting down the device. I just assumed that they would. I never spoke to them about the importance of clearing the memory in the Graphing Calculator before and after they use it so their knowledge and hard work cannot be incorrectly "shared" with another student. I have assumed that these key ideas had already been taught to the students in my high school classes, but that was a wrong assumption.
Even if they had been taught, who says they understood why at the younger age? Who says that EVERY student had the opportunity to understand it's importance? Why did I not take advantage of this opportunity in my classroom?
Reflecting back, I know that I could have great learning moments with classes about personal safety using devices, academic integrity (so important for University and College students!) and deeper research using the Internet. But I assumed that they already had this opportunity.
So here is my goal. The next time we use a device, of any sort, in my classroom, we are going to have a quick discussion about the safety of our information and why it is so important that we identify areas where our information could be taken or misused.
How do you help your students properly protect themselves and their devices in your classroom?
No comments:
Post a Comment