Technological Literacy & Ethical Issues with Technology

Technological Literacy

Standard 1 - Technological Literacy

Technological literacy is always changing and it is becoming more difficult to become literate on all types of technology and platforms.  Technological Literacy is defined by the International Technology Education Association's (ITEA) as the ability to use, manage, evaluate, and understand technology.  It is almost impossible to confidently say that one is an expert at all types of technology and the ability to use all of them effectively.  Technology is racing forward quickly with more and more individuals and companies creating new and improved platforms and gadgets on a daily basis.  It really is mind numbing to wrap your head around all of the improvements that have happened over just the last decade.
  

Probably the best aspect of becoming technologically literate is that software and technology is becoming more and more resilient and a lot of times are so user friendly that an individual can learn a lot by simple trial and error.  I know for me it is still a challenge to teach this to may parents who seem to think that pushing the wrong button on the remote might break the tv or somehow interrupt their cable service.  Children are easier at learning new technology because they click before thinking and continue clicking or trying new functions until they reach their desired outcome.  I think the biggest challenge is not trying to incorporate our children learning technology but how to keep teachers and the vast majority of the population that is outside of school literate on the latest technology.  Once a person who is not competent in using technology learns that there is little, they can mess up by simply playing with a new system and realizing that there are likely safeguards put into place to ensure catastrophic failures will not occur.  There are always a plethora of user videos and reviews on all technology showing a new user the functions either in a YouTube video or similar style format.  Another good aspect of technology is that you don’t need to learn how an operating system worked 5 or 10 years ago to start learning it today.  Chances are that the developers have troubleshot through many of the difficulties and made it more user friendly if it is either a piece of technology or program that has withstood the test of time. 

Ethical Issues & Technology

Standard 5 - Ethics and Technology

I think that talking about ethical issues and technology is similar to how one might teach a child about common manners or even in some parallels to say no to drugs.  There are many ethical issues when dealing with technology and they vary from not using all caps when emailing your colleagues to not plagiarizing and correctly citing your sources.  It is never to early for students to learn all of the particulars and dangers that using technology can create.  Everyone has seen teachers begging others to retweet an image or phrase so that their class can see the impact the internet has and the speed at which information good or bad can spread throughout the world.  As a future educator it is of paramount importance to teach students all this from an early age even if they don’t quite comprehend all of the formalities and details.  We teach children that bullying is bad before they fully understand what it is and how to identify those actions.  We also teach children that drugs are bad and to just say no.  We should be doing exactly the same with letting children know that it is dangerous to text and drive and that posting someone’s video or picture on the internet without their consent can be damaging or hurtful.  The better able to identify these actions and the more it is role played for them what to say and how to say it will help immensely when confronted with these always difficult to deal with situations.  Technology will become more or more complex but the simple rules of how to treat other people will never change.      



Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.



Bleazby, Jennifer. “How Compatible Are Communities of Inquiry and the Internet? Some Concerns about the Community of Inquiry Approach to E-Learning.” E-Learning and Digital Media, vol. 9, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1–12.