The Pembina Hills school division’s new “flagship” Administrative Procedure (AP) on digital citizenship governs how teachers will incorporate new technology into the classroom and how exchanges of information – digital interactions, which includes e-commerce – will be carried out.
Assistant superintendent of education services Mark Thiesen provided an overview of the new AP on Digital Citizenship during the Pembina Hills board meeting on Aug. 20.
“This is a flagship AP. This is a foundational AP (that will become more important) as we get more and more into our e-commerce world,” said secretary-treasurer Tracy Meunier.
Thiesen said it incorporates elements from a technology policy framework published by Alberta Education, as well as some pieces from Inspiring Education and other items.
He said that various peoples’ experiences with technology use in schools have also raised questions about how students bringing their own devices into the classroom should be handled and whether access to social media should be allowed.
“It’s a conversation that has taken place over a year and probably longer,” he said.
Thiesen said last year’s work was really a “marriage” of their Information Technology (IT) and Educational Technology (ET) group, which spent a lot of time last year looking at all the different elements of digital resources and use of learning technology in schools.
IT was focused on digital security and network safety, while ET was concerned more about trying new things that work well with kids. Administration came into that discussion and asked what happens when students use technology the “wrong way,” such as cyber-bullying.
“All these elements were floating out there and we wanted to put some of that info into a document that answers some of those questions,” he said.
The AP connects to many of Pembina Hills’ other policies. For instance, when dealing with issues of cyber-bullying and harassment, the AP references another document by Pembina Hills on behaviour. The same goes for plagiarism and copyright.
“We use the other guidelines that we already have existing in our policy handbook and our AP handbook and align it accordingly,” he said.
The AP is categorized into three sections: respecting and protecting yourself (digital well-being), respecting and protecting others (digital interactions) and respecting and protecting intellectual property (digital preparedness).
This further breaks down into nine themes. Digital well-being, for instance, covers digital security (electronic precautions for self-protection), digital rights and responsibilities (freedom in the digital world) and digital health and wellness (physical well-being in the digital world.
Acknowledging that new things pop up in the digital world all the time, there is also a section called contemporary issues.
“By having an area in this AP called contemporary issues, it gives us opportunity to... tack on to this AP new things that come along,” he said.
He used a theoretical example of holographic technology; if holograms could suddenly be used in the classroom, they could discuss in this AP how they could be incorporated into the classroom without creating a whole new policy.
Thiesen indicated that, if a teacher wanted to use some new technology or digital application in the classroom, they would come to himself or director of technology Alex Morris.
Going by the AP, they would ask the teacher if they were capable of setting up security settings to allow for safe use of this technology and what relevance it had to the curriculum.
If the answer to any of those questions were negative, then the technology wouldn’t be allowed.
“Just like you can’t bring in any old magazine off the street and use it as material for instruction, you can’t bring in any old material off the digital world as well,” he said.
Thiesen said that on Aug. 28, the first professional development day for the division, there was a section of time set aside for staff to work through the AP led by their principals.
He said administration will also do the same thing at their first meeting of the school year.
Thiesen said they will get some feedback on this AP and, with time, the document will evolve and change.
“Like any AP, it can change any time,” he said. “It has to be principle-based, it has to be flexible and it has to be associated with our Education Plan’s priorities.”
