It takes an entire village to raise a child is appropriate to invoke in this situation. All of the adults involved in a child's life are going to influence the ethical compass that the student views the world through. This compass will also be influenced heavily by the student's peer group/friends. Finding a way to engage the students in a discussion about digital ethics is important and challenging. The challenge for the adults is to engage the students at their level and get them to take the conversation seriously. With the middle school students I deal with they are pushing the boundaries of adult authority. It is a critical time to engage them in the conversations about digital ethics as they are gaining more access to technology and are trying to fit in socially. This need to fit in will lead some of them to make poor decisions regarding technology use.
The authors indicate that simply giving the students appropriate use policies is not enough. I would agree that they need more than just a set of guidelines. They also need to have clear boundaries as they will test the boundaries and often see what they can get away with. If we can have a couple activities in our classrooms that are followed up by the parents and others involved in their life than we might have a meaningful impact.
I think we all need to have a discussion about what is perceived as appropriate use of technology in the classroom. We also need to realize that what is appropriate is influenced by how comfortable we are with the technology being used. The use of PDA's and cell phones in classrooms are not allowed at this time but there may be appropriate uses for the students in the future. How can we work with the students so they don't have to "unplug" to be engaged in the lesson and make their education meaningful?
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