Evidence: Paper: Digital Boundaries & Social Media
Learning Outcomes:
Understand functional contexts & constraints, employment considerations, privacy tensions, BC legal, school policies/procedures, professional ethics
Scaffold digital citizenship from K-12 to professional level of educators
Responsibility, accountability and civility in online environment
Evidence:
Sometimes it is so easy to lecture, PowerPoint or use chalk on a blackboard in the classroom. One problem is it can be boring, the same thing over and over again. There is a fantastic world available through the internet with all sorts of resources, learning apps and communities. Students are going to the internet on their own for learning, so why not bring the world in to the classroom. The problem? If, as an educator, you are asking students to go on-line, you have the responsibility of informing them of the risks that exist as well as how their digital footprint can be affected (or even that they have a digital footprint).
Educators also have legal (and ethical) consideration when their students go on-line. Unfortunately many educators are not aware of their legal responsibilities. OLTD 506 really opened my eyes to the legal requirements of B.C. and Canada, as well as the the responsibilities around informing students of the risks and about their digital footprint and how that can be potentially affected.
Recently I have become aware of a few facts about privacy in British Columbia. I knew B.C. had strict laws and that FIPPA (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) was important. As I teach adults, not children, I thought that I didn’t have to worry more than being careful about what I shared online. According to Hengstler’s (2014) on the FIPPA compliance continuum I was firmly in ignorance, aware of the concept, unaware of the details or how it applied to me.
(Hengstler, 2014, pg. 2)
My first step to deepening my understanding of BC’s privacy laws was to go to the document itself. I discovered that a public entity must store personal information collected in Canada unless consent is given and the information must be kept safe from unauthorized use (FIPPA, 1996). Fortunately, the university where I teach has been working hard to ensure compliance as employers have a “responsibility to inform educators of their FIPPA responsibilities” (Hengstler, 2014, pg. 4).
While I understood that those who work with children must be concerned about privacy as any digital information could present a risk (Hengstler, 2013); I work with adults. There is the belief that only those adults who have something to hide need privacy, a belief which is deeply flawed (Solove, 2007) as everyone needs to know how to protect themselves on-line (Cooper, Southwell & Portal, 2011). Individual privacy is usually threatened in slow, small steps as data is ‘mined’ from a number of sites and aggregated (Solove, 2007).
The Vancouver Island University (VIU) Privacy Guide (Cooper, Southwell & Portal, 2011) shows that I am not doing enough to ensure my students’ privacy. As some on-line assignments require students to give personal information, I should have them complete a student user agreement and a student consent agreement (Cooper, Southwell & Portal, 2011). Fortunately the VIU Privacy guide has some samples. Regulations and laws are constantly evolving as technology and risks evolve (Hengstler, 2013). It is important the educators and their employers are kept up-to-date on current best practice.
References:
Cooper, S., Southwell, J., & Portal, P. (2011). Privacy Guide for Faculty Using 3rd Party Web Technology (Social Media) in Public Post-Secondary Courses. Vancouver Island University & BC Campus Publication. Retrieved from https://www.viu.ca/foipop/documents/Privacy_Guide_SocialMedia_Cloud_PostSecondary_Classes_2011.pdf
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, RSBC 1996, c.165, online: BC Laws: Current Consolidated Law < http://www.bclaws.ca/Recon/document/ID/freeside/96165_00>.
Hengstler, J. (2013, May 17). A K-12 primer for British Columbia teachers posting students’ work online. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://jhengstler.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/a-k-12-primer-for-british-columbia-teachers-posting-students-work-online/
Hengstler, J. (2014). The Compliance Continuum: FIPPA & BC Educators. Retrieved from https://www.dropbox.com/s/ridcqq14a7k9543/Compliance_Continuum_5_06_14-1.pdf
Solove, D. (2007). “I’ve got nothing to hide” and other misunderstandings of privacy. San Diego Law Review, 44, 745-772
