The instructor knows, understands, and facilitates legal, ethical, and safe technology use.
- The instructor knows and follows guidelines for fair use, copyright, and acceptable use;
- The content, grading, and feedback comply with FERPA guidelines;
- The instructor discusses and incorporates Netiquette within the course.
Reflection
After going through the @ONE classes, I gained a stronger understanding of Fair Use guidelines and copyright laws. With face-to-face classes, the only time I thought about copyright was when I sent something to the Printing Department. However, I now understand that the issues involving Fair Use, copyright, and teaching is more in-depth—especially when providing content for online courses.
For myself, I follow Fair Use guidelines and copyright law when I provide content for my courses. Content usually consist of my original ideas and references to the course textbook. I also summarize other sources and provide links to the original source content. I let students know when I did not create something myself—as they should when they write essays.
Because my composition courses involve many student essays, my main concern for student ethical behavior is plagiarism. I include a Plagiarism policy in my Syllabus that defines plagiarism and includes additional information that students often don’t know: that if anyone makes edits to their paper, it’s considered an act of plagiarism. Students can certainly receive feedback and help, but students must make the edits to their own papers.
As an online English instructor who uses Social Media, I am also faced with additional ethical situations: netiquette and privacy. I summarize Netiquette in the Policies section of my Syllabus, but I also provide more in-depth information in the first week’s Learning Unit. I am comfortable “correcting” students who do not follow the policy during the semester because the course is ultimately about communication, and students need to understand the consequences of their social writing. Student also learn about the Social Media Guidelines in the first week’s Learning Unit, which involves privacy matters.
Artifacts
The following examples illustrate how I have applied this standard.
Plagiarism Policy
I make my Plagiarism Policy clear to students by providing the information in the Syllabus and in the Getting Started learning unit.
- See the Course Ground Rules section of my Syllabus
Netiquette Page and Fair Use Model
I added a Netiquette page to my online courses and also include key points in the Syllabus. The following Netiquette artifact also shows how I model Fair Use for my students. I cite the sources of content and video that I use in my courses. The first screenshot shows how I provide a “lead-in” for the source, introducing it to the students.
The following screenshot shows how I cite the source at the end, providing detailed information about the original source.
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- Visit the Getting Started Unit “Netiquette” page
Social Media Guidelines and FERPA
To follow FERPA guidelines, I provide my grades and comments within the secure LMS to ensure student privacy. When we use other tools, such as Facebook and Padlet, I set everything to “Private” and give guidelines to students.
- See the Social Media Guidelines document