Day of Unplugging Review

Starting my Day of Unplugging my rules seemed quite reasonable to stick by, especially since I only had to do it for at least one day. No social or video media, or use tech that wasn’t necessary. I chose a non-school day to do my unplugging as the typical school day requires a sufficient amount of technology for different classes and assignments. The start of my day had me searching for something to do. Sad to say I was sort of lost without using some form of technology. I eventually found things to do, and hung out with some friends. The urge to use tech was very tempting, but time away from it helped me reflect and do things I wouldn’t have normally done having used it.

Remember reading, or how about board games, well these are a few of the things I ended up doing being away from tech. I can’t even say it was all that bad either. In fact, you would be surprised how much more satisfying it is to have a conversation face to face to with friends rather through texting. I made it a whole day without cheating or having to make any modifications to the rules I had set.

In the future I see myself setting aside tech a little more often as it makes you appreciate the things you wouldn’t on the usual day. I believe the busyness of our typical days makes tech an asset, but it also gives us a crutch that we too often use and rely on. Having this Day of Unplugging really can open a person’s eyes to see the full scale of how tech has become a part of almost everyone’s lives. 

Day of Unplugging

Going into the Day of Unplugging I was interested to see a breakdown of exactly what my usual day looked like in regards to my interactions with technology. How much time did I really spend looking at a screen or waste checking different social media throughout my day? Well, I found out by creating the table you can see here.

https://goo.gl/U0YxXN

On the usual school day most assignments in some way or another require technology to complete. The rubrics, PowerPoints, books, and homework in almost every class have some connection to technology. I’m sure I have had to use more tech in the past on other school days than on the day I chose to record my data, nonetheless it looks to be a good representation. A total of about 7.4 hours were spent using some form of technology that day. A little over 2 hours of this was done doing something I considered professional rather than personal.

Right away I noticed I spent a lot more time using technology on the weekend. Just over 13 hours of my weekend had some connection to tech. Almost none of it involving something “professional”. This is where I saw the full scale of how much tech I actually use, so I set out create my Day of Unplugging Rules for myself.

- No Social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, ...)

- No Video media (Netflix, TV, ...)

- Overall no necessary use of tech.

+ Recall some of the things you did that you wouldn’t have normally done having used technology.

+ How does the absence of technology feel when it comes to the flow of your usual day?

+ Having experienced a day without tech, what will you try to do differently in the future, if anything at all?

Evaluating my data and my rationales behind my uses made me realize that tech for me sometimes acts as a relief, or get away from my typical busy school days. I realized some of my uses of tech overlapped as I sometimes multitask as well, and I acknowledge that I could probably optimize my uses of technology to be more effective.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying often involves using the Internet or some other form of technology to send texts, posts, or images intended to hurt another person. There is currently no national law that prohibits cyberbullying, but several states have anti-cyberbullying laws. Generally, any verbal, textual, or graphic communication of any kind could be considered cyberbullying if it was done to embarrass another person, or humiliate them. These types of communication get particularly serious when they cause fear of physical harm, threats, explicitness, or involve sexting.

Some rules of thumb to remember for cyberbullying are:

• Keep copies of all the messages you have received for record.
• Never try to seek revenge or cyberbully back.
•  Report your incidents to an administrator at your school or of the websites you are getting cyberbullied on. (Websites such as YouTube and Facebook have safety protocols for cyberbullying or cyber crime.)
• If it causes mental of physical harm to another, it is technically considered bullying.

-      To see specific laws and get more information about cyberbullying, see some of the links below.

Staying Informed – Cyberbullying Laws & Legislation

http://www.ncpc.org/topics/cyberbullying/cyberbullying-tip-sheets/NCPC%20Tip%20Sheet%20-%20Staying%20Informed.pdf

Cyberbullying Law in Ohio

http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/cyberbullying-laws-ohio.htm

Copyright Issues in Education

Fair use is a term used to say you’re using something that is protected under copyright, but in a way you have permission to. In other words, you are using copyrighted material in a way that defends you from being accused of copyright infringement.

There sometimes can be a very thin line between what is okay to use and what is not. You can sometimes find yourself at fault for doing something that seems completely fine, but this is not entirely your fault because fair use is not a science, and there are no universally accepted guidelines set forth about it. Although this may be the case, it is still important to keep yourself informed of the rules, especially if you’re someone going into the education field.

Some instances of copyright violations I have experienced throughout my school years and haven’t even realized it are some of the following:

+ Viewing a video used for the purpose of entertainment instead of educational.
+ Receiving worksheets copied from a workbook which are not supposed to be copied and distributed.
+ Viewing a recorded broadcast from a cable channel that had been used for educational purposes, but retained on tape for several years, instead of only the approximate 10-60 days it is permitted.

Most of the things I brought up above probably seem not be that big of a deal, but in all reality each one violated what is considered fair use. In fact, you may have experienced at least one of the events I listed above at your own schools. The issue with copyright laws in education is there are some many resources at the tip of our fingers these days that we think we can use everything, but sometimes we can’t. This is why copyright and fair use is such an important topic to know about.

When using material make sure it is one of the following:

- Original / Created by You
- Under Public Domain
- Covered in the Guidelines for Fair Use
- Permission Has Been Granted to Use It

If you are still interested in finding out more about copyright laws and what is considered fair use feel free to visit some of the links below.

http://sites.umuc.edu/library/libhow/copyright.cfm

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech121.shtml

AUPs—Acceptable Use Policies

The document linked below is an AUP agreement where you can find information about the 1 to 1 iPad program used at Alliance High School.

This document clearly states how the school expects the students to use the equipment they are provided and in what condition they expect them to stay in. For example in this instance, the identification labels are not to be removed or modified, as well as no damage is to be done to render the iPad inoperable. Parents are also provided a list of responsibilities. The main ones are in regards to supervising their child’s use of the iPad at home, and making sure that they bring it to school every day.

Some interesting topics I found in this agreement were that the students are not allowed to create any social media account with their provided school email. Also with the use of technology cyber bullying is prohibited and cheating and plagiarism will be enforced. They even provide a clear definition of what they consider cyber bullying to be.

"Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others."

For a lengthy agreement most of us never really read all the way through, everything really does seemed to be covered in it.



http://alliance-ahs.ss5.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_3132432/File/iPadAgreement2016-17.pdf