Law, regulations and Policy

 Reflective entry 6 

Critique and address issues of law, regulations and/or policy that have been relevant to the digital and collaborative learning innovation you applied in your practice 

The NZ emerging trends report by Google for Education quotes Dr Tim Bell saying “Rather than just saying screentime is bad or AI is terrible because it's going to replace humans, as a society we need to say there’s a good balance. Technology isn’t good or bad in itself. I think that’s where education is going to be really important.

Nicholas Marouchak, (2019)  makes a great analogy of policy, law and regulation. "Think of policy as the seed we plant, an idea that we have envisioned to improve our surroundings. The seed is planted and out of that seed grows the trunk of the tree, a law with a firm foundation. Finally, from the law, we get branches of regulations that reach out into the community and assist with the growth of leaves or community improvements.  Watering that tree and helping it grow and thrive can be considered an essential part of our civic duties." 

Success for All outlines the Ministry of Education’s commitment to achieving this goal. demonstrating inclusive practices in education. It is meant to give effect to what parents, whänau and communities want from the education system for their children and young people with special education needs. This is not always the case, My students with special needs are often not catered for. The lack of expertise and knowledge around special ed has hindered my student's ability to access the curriculum.

Policy is “a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by an organization or individual” (Lexico, 2021a). Law is “the system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties” (Lexico, 2021b) 

Education is changing. Digital technologies are everywhere and they are impacting what, where, how and why students learn, and who they learn from. Digital information is different from its physical counterpart in many ways. It can be rapidly duplicated, easily distributed and is able to be stored in multiple locations. These factors mean that it can be hard to control and completely eliminate. Having an appreciation of these unique characteristics is key to developing an effective prevention and incident response plan. However, the effect is most keenly felt when a school needs to respond to an incident involving the misuse of digital technology. School staff may feel that they do not have sufficient control over the digital technology involved to achieve a successful outcome. The reality is, however, having greater control does not necessarily equate to a better outcome. Schools are advised to recognise and understand the nature of the changes and challenges that digital technology has brought and develop systems and processes to manage these. The overall objective for schools is to create a learning environment involving the safe and responsible use of digital technology. This is largely achieved by fostering a positive culture of digital technology use where challenges are understood to exist. This approach should reduce negative outcomes by firstly reducing the incidents of misconduct involving digital technology and minimising harm to students by effectively responding to incidents when they occur.  

In general, a school’s responsibility to maintain a safe educational environment justifies a measure of authority over off-premises and student after-hours conduct. A school’s focus should be on whether the misconduct has an adverse impact on the educational function of the school rather than when or where that misconduct took place.

It is recommended that schools actively engage with students, parents, family and whānau about the incident response plan, and seek their involvement in supporting the school’s digital policies and procedures. With the use of assistive technology for my students, responsible use of the device has to be explicitly taught. Many of my students with special needs are oblivious to the pop-ups that may occur and they need to be taught not to open the pop-ups. Offen the guided access feature is used to ensure safety online. It prevents students from entering sites they shouldn’t and keeps them safe. Visual supports are designed for individual students to aide in accessing what is required and this avoids random searches.

It is recommended that schools actively engage with their communities to help to create the idea that being safe and responsible online is a shared concern. They need to develop an understanding of how young people use the internet and the online challenges they experience. Schools need to develop a positive culture of internet use where challenges are understood to exist and where mistakes are part of the learning process. A starting point for developing a shared solution is to discuss how the school and its community envisage digital technology being used in the classroom and beyond. 

References

Eliot, L. (2019, March 1). Global Moral Ethics Variations and AI: The Case of AI Self-Driving Cars. AI Trends.

Google for Education (n.d). Future of the Classroom: Emerging Trends in K-12 Education NZ Edition. 

Lexico. (2021b). Law. In Oxford English online dictionary. 

Lexico. (2021c). Regulation. In Oxford English online dictionary. 

Ministry of Education. (2014). Digital Technology: Safe and responsible use in schools. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education. 

UpJourney. (2019, December 8). What Is the Difference Between Law, Policy, and Regulation?