The Review of The Book About The Concept of Honor Code

This chapter is from a book published by SAGE publications which defines what a moral digital citizen actually is. It also elaborates on the terminology that is used in regards to digital citizens which helps gain a better understanding into the world of technology. The chapter then raises awareness to any ethical issues that can arise from being a digital citizen by using examples such as piracy and recommends solutions for teachers as they have a huge impact. However, the chapter looks at both the positive and negative sides of the internet which is a good thing as it allows a better insight. It acknowledges the positives by stating that there is a lot of information and amazing materials out there that can be shared. Therefore it disagrees with me as it believes that technology supports virtuous and civil actions as “digital citizens are self-aware and respect and protect others.”

However, the tone of the chapter can be interpreted as giving the reader a guilt trip if they’re not fulfilling their “duty” as it states “You cannot sit by and let such behavior continue”. The chapter is informative and is sometimes written in first person which is good for a younger audience

This book explains what an “honor code” is, a code that students subconsciously live by. They follow their friends actions such as if they cheat, then they are more than likely to also cheat; which is why academic institutions must enforce positive honor codes as the students can’t create ethical issues on their own. It is up to the teachers to teach them about plagiarism and cheating in a negative way. It does state that technology and the internet makes it easier to cheat due to copy and pasting. Therefore, technology deters children from becoming moral digital citizens as it is destructive because children become lazy and don’t think for themselves, thus it agrees with me. This source is supported by a study which shows the effects of the honor code; that the students believed those around them cheated more and this justified them also cheating. However, this source focuses more on the honor code; which could also be down to peer pressure and the need to be accepted, rather than technology. Therefore, it could be argued that technology doesn’t have much of an impact and people themselves are more destructive.

This is a handbook written by the council of Europe which discusses the risks of technology and the ethical issues that come with it. They believe that education plays a part in both the online and offline lives of children. As technology is a big part of our lives it’s brought into the classrooms so teachers have a duty to assimilate to create moral digital citizens. It puts pressure on teachers. This book has a negative view of technology as it states that it causes further inequalities within society as some children live in poverty. It also explains that it can cause developmental problems because those with access have too much unsupervised access during their early years to the point where they can damage their social and physical wellbeing and affect their educational potential. Thus it agrees with me in terms of how technology is destructive and supports uncivil actions. However, it doesn’t make any suggestions on how to create boundaries so that technology has a limited effect on them, it’s very one sided.

This book states that teachers have a role to fulfil, they have to teach the children to be ethical digital creators and this will increase their morality. It talks about technology in a positive light, as there is more interaction between teachers and students via emails; new technology, means a participatory culture, which means more morality. These changes have expanded opportunities such as gaining new skills that are perfect for the 21st century and will make them responsible users. This book disagrees with my opinion and instead is an advocate for technology. It views technology as a new way of learning and thus is not destructive and is civil. However, this source is based on the American system. This does not necessarily apply to the UK but the general idea of technology being a positive thing for the future and teachers taking part in creating boundaries is something that could be applied to the UK.

This is a report which has some statistics about fake news, news which is easily believed by children such as killer clowns. This is why teachers have to teach the importance of analysis and how to use their analytical skills to differentiate from fake news and the truth; as in a survey, only 2% of children had the critical literacy skills to do this. This report suggests that technology has a negative effect on children as fake news is easily accessible now and many children lack the skills to check the credibility. Therefore children are not becoming moral digital citizens, just digital citizens. This agrees with my opinion. However, it does give suggestions for teachers on how to change that by embedding critical literacy practices in addition to the curriculum. The source gives detailed information on the effects of technology but little advice on what can be done; it views it as something destructive that needs to be changed.

This book explains the effects of privacy being invaded, which is something that technology does due to surveillance through testing. It was an experiment of young children that showed that, those who weren’t monitored had higher intrinsic motivation. Therefore, making privacy an important factor for growth as through surveillance, children are monitored and become digital citizens but the extent to which that is done, can determine how good the children become as citizens and if their actions are virtuous. This extract is good in understanding the positives of surveillance such as personalised learning and is factual. In this book, technology can be both destructive and not, thus remaining unbiased. However, the issue with this text is that there are many more factors such as mental health issues that affect motivation and it cannot be easily pin pointed to one idea such as surveillance.  

In conclusion, this is another extract that talks about the ethical issue of plagiarism and how in turn this unknowingly creates immoral digital citizens. This is because technology has made everything accessible yet children don’t know how to use citation properly. The text gives suggestions on how to help such as teachers taking in drafts beforehand so it can be edited. The text is useful for me as it explains the reasons behind plagiarism and how to overcome them such as class discussions or group projects about plagiarism. However, this text isn’t extremely useful as it only focuses on what teachers can do to help and not technology.