Data Privacy

After reading our lecture 8 items and watching The Curly Fry Conundrum, discuss the term "self regulation"

Self-regulation is when someone monitors what he or she puts online. We have all done this and continue to do this. When I was first on the social media (myspace) I did not do this, and I can still find embarrassing post from back than. People need to watch what they put online even if their account is set to private or they delete it soon after. The tech companies have rights to your data can do what they want with it. They can sell it and often times have access to more than the user thinks.

2) Currently, there is a huge battle between 1st amendment privacy, information sharing, and data mining online. In your opinion, should we do away with online privacy and self regulating? Or should the government step in and start regulating online content?

I work in an elementary school in the tech department so I learned about this topic. In Californian the state passed laws to insure that children’s date is protected. Tech is a part of learning now so school districts now must monitor and insure that the programs that they use will not sell their students data. This law is called California's Student Online Personal Information Protection Act ("SOPIPA"). So if students use programs that have log in (User name and passwords) we have to check and make sure they are up to California law. With every program that we pilot we will have the school lawyers look over the agreement to insure that it is up to standers. You would be amazed with how many online platforms will sell data. Even huge tech companies like Google were not there in till recently. This law is only in California but other states will follow. Tech companies are so large and global that they were not concerned about the California users.

One way we can get around this is we will hide student data by using an alias instead of a name. Instead of Johndoe@gmal.com we will use 10563@gmail.com.

It is the government’s duty to protect minor’s data and I hope that laws like this will spread statewide. Adults should be concerned as well, because there data is also important.

Tech in Schools

This week’s topic is seriously right down my ally. I work in the tech department for Montecito Union School District. My career is built around technology in schools, so I am biased but have a wealth of knowledge on this subject. There are plenty of pros and cons.

Pros: The technology is there and the management behind the tech is build and functioning. iPads for example can be great teaching tools. However up until recently( past two years ) they were very hard to manage. Tech department had to touch every iPad to install apps. Imagine being a teacher who finds a great app but has to wait 6 months to use it.  

-Districts can now buy apps as a district, and the apps don’t leave if the teacher does

-Management works well and Apps can be pushed out and installed with little hassle.

-Children naturally love technology and are willing to use it.

-Apple management allows the iPads to be locked down so the iPad does not become a toy.

-App developers have built and tested apps over several years.

-Reduces the amount of books needed and printer materials needed.

Cons:

      -Privacy issues and now it becomes the school responsibility to teach Internet safety.

      -Internet bullying while at school or on school accounts

      -Teaching staff members how to use and teach with technology.

      -Developing a financial plan to incorporate a one to one project.

      -Often times requires a larger tech department.

      -Many districts need to hire a TOSA ( Teacher on Special Assignment) to help the teachers incorporate tech into the classroom.

      -Many devices are out of date with in 4 years.

Montecito Union School is on the wealthier end so it does not have many of the problems when it comes to Digital Divide. The devices are bought under school budget and are also kept at school. This is the most ideal because it keeps the device safe and families are not required to buy anything. Most districts cannot afford to provide a $500 device to every students so I have heard of several plans.

One plan is a payment plan where the family pays a small amount per year or per month, and after a set amount of time the device becomes theirs. This plan works however by the time the device is played off it is considered old. Most districts know that they cannot control technology use at home so they have incorporated plans to handle the issue.

School districts must incorporate a training program to keep their teachers up to data on how to use everything. My school district has a TOSA assigned to keep the teachers trained on technology. Every year she will get most time to train staff. The older teachers are having the hardest time with the switch, however it is really up to their level of effort.

Student on the other hand pick it up very quickly, they grew up around it and speak the language. The biggest hurdle is teaching the proper use and to teach them the dangers of the Internet.