Even though I was previously aware of some ethical issues with digital technologies, the relationship or “path” from “model internet user/service provider” to “troll/big tech capitalism” was never part of my understanding. After reading Buchanan’s (2019) article, especially the section on personal data, I am starting to draw connections between internet utopia and today’s reality, and how it came to be. It seems there are too many opportunities for personal gains or profits and too many sign posts where individuals and businesses are charged with ethical decisions. Education seems to be the answer for the future generation but from Redmond’s et. al. (2018) article, it seems there is much more work to be done with providing pre-service teachers with the necessary know-how and tools to make an impact. I wonder though, by the time pre-service teachers feel ready or confident enough to tackle this task in their school positions, will their knowledge and techniques be superseded by emerging technologies and platforms rendering them obsolete in this area? And even if they possess the relevant and up-to-date know-how, they are, after all human, and can professionally misuse technology such as social media (Warnick et. al., 2016). Is is appropriate and realistic to expect the kind of perfection from a human necessary to be a “model” educator?
References
Buchanan, R. (2019). Digital Ethical Dilemmas in Teaching. In M. A. Peters (ed.), Encyclopedia of Teacher Education. https://www.academia.edu/40012109/Digital_Ethical_Dilemmas_in_Teaching
Common Sense Media. (2021). What is Cyberbullying? https://www.commonsensemedia.org/cyberbullying/what-is-cyberbullying
Dudley, A. (2020). Effects of Cyberbullying On An Individual. https://www.cyberwise.org/post/effects-of-cyberbullying-on-an-individual
Redmond, P., Lock, J. V., & Smart, V. (2018). Pre-service teachers’ perspectives of cyberbullying. Computers & Education, 119, 1-13. https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0360131517302610?via%3Dihub
Warnick, B. R., Bitters, T. A., Falk, T. M., & Kim, S. H. (2016). Social media use and teacher ethics. Educational Policy, 30(5), 771-795. https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/full/10.1177/0895904814552895
Zook C. (2019).