Social Media: common form and how it affects people in society

Common Form of Technology and The Ecological Systems Theory

While technology is a very broad subject, a sub area called social media can narrow it.
This subject is a very handy but detrimental tool for development and human growth as some can use social media as a way of employing people, although it is handy for someone to contact distant loved ones.

The most famous social media site is called Facebook. Facebook was originally launched in February 2004 and, as of September 2012, had over 1 Billion users worldwide. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook along with his fellow Harvard roommates; Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mokovitz and Chris Hughes. Originally, Facebook was only for Harvard students but is now worldwide and anybody over the age of 13 can sign up. ("Facebook", 2013)

There are many different views of how social media is used throughout the world and in the area of education, as it can affect many different people at any given time.

A negative way of how social media is used for example is; if you had found a job on seek or trade-me and applied for it, gave your full name, your address and what country you live in, employers can then get on Facebook and read about your "crazy antics" in the weekend and even possibly see your photos of you doing something questionable that may be harmful to the company you have applied for the position for. This then results in not being hired because of your professional appearance and then can result in many rejections from other companies making it harder to gain employment. This related to early childhood settings and the community because, from not getting employment, parents will have no income to provide for their children, so therefore food and education may become an issue. 

On the other hand, there is a positive side of social media. Social media can be a great tool for reconnecting with special people in your life or finding old school friends that you have missed. This is one plus side of social media along with many others.

Both negative and positive social media then, in turn, can affect the Ecological Systems theory of children, families and businesses. The ecological systems theory was a theory created by a Psychologist named Urie Bronfenbrenner. The Ecological Systems Theory is based around an individual and has a circle of factors that influence the individual in day to day life. An example of this will be as I mentioned before about jobs. A parent (the individual), can be affected by work, money, the government, therefore making it influence the individual and their surrounding peers.

Berk (2010) states that this approach is a well-known approach and has "moved to the forefront of the field because it offers the most differentiated and complete account of contextual influences on development" (p. 24). What this is saying is that there are many influences that can affect an individual and what happens in life all have a contributing affect on the individual.

Here is a small video of the ecological systems theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXqcYXTgpB4

References:

        Berk, L. E. (2010). Development through the lifespan (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

       Delicious – Features Update | Delicious Blog. (n.d.). Delicious Blog. Retrieved March 16, 2013, from http://blog.delicious.com/2012/07/delicious-features-update/

       Ecological Systems Theory - YouTube. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved March 16, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXqcYXTgpB4

        Facebook. (2013). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on: March 15, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Facebook&oldid=551160702

        Nielsen, J. N. (n.d.). Metaphysical Ecology Reformulated | Grand Strategy: The View from Oregon. Grand Strategy: The View from Oregon | Grand strategy and geopolitics from the perspective of the Pacific Northwest. Retrieved March 16, 2013, from http://geopolicraticus.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/metaphysical-ecology-reformulated/
          
             Scooter, J. V., Ellis, D., & Railsback, J. (2001). Technology in early childhood education: Finding the balance. Portland, United States: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

       

Ethical Considerations and Policy

Ethical Considerations of Technology in Early Childhood

When you use technology in early childhood it is crucial for all members of the centre, including parents and teachers to have knowledge about ethics, as some parents may not be happy with the information being submitted online. The New Zealand Teachers Council has created a document of ethics that teachers of New Zealand "should" adhere to. The New Zealand Teachers Council (2004) states that:

The overall purposes of the New Zealand Teachers Council Code of Ethics for Registered Teachers are to:

• clarify the ethics of the profession,
• inspire the quality of behaviour which reflects the honour and dignity of the profession,
• encourage and emphasise those positive attributes of professional conduct that characterise strong and effective teaching,
• enable members of the profession to appraise and reflect on their ethical decisions. (para. 1)

It is the teachers role to inform parents of information that is going to be used if it involves their children. A centre normally has a policy in place for this purpose, and for student teachers to be able to observe children.  If a centre does not have a policy in place regarding ethics and informed consent, there needs to be a form signed by the parent to ensure that the information that is being used is kept confidential.

Rebbecca Sweeney from Learning Media Limited gave me this website about how a teacher puts information about what the children are doing for a subject online and the parent is not happy about the content (personal communication, March 8, 2013). Here is the link to this one: http://vimeo.com/49804201

Policy

It is really important that as teachers there needs to be a policy on gaining consent for the sharing of information online and with others. There also needs to be a strict confidentiality agreement put in place for those parents who do not feel comfortable with their information being shared to put their minds at ease. Ethical considerations must be taken when working with children as the internet has a lot of people and websites that are suspectable and damaging to development. As teachers, it is up to us to have a program that keeps children, their confidentiality and information safe. A firewall and anti virus system is a good way to prevent this. Singer and Singer (2001) state that the "notion of monitoring children's usage patterns of media is not new but what is new is the significantly larger amount of information to be monitored" (p. 25), therefore making it more important to adhere to ethics and monitor internet usage more closely.

Another good website that was useful in providing information about the information regarding ethical considerations and how teachers must conduct themselves, was the teachers and social media website that was created by the Teachers Council New Zealand. Here is the link: http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/

These websites provide videos, posters and useful information about how teachers need to be considerate of family/whanau and how student and teacher confidentiality policies must be adhered to strictly.

References:

       Code of Ethics for Registered Teachers in New Zealand. (n.d.). NZ Teachers Council Code of Ethics. Retrieved March 8, 2013, from www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/required/ethics

       Singer, D. G., & Singer, J. L. (2001).Handbook of children and the media. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications

       Teachers & Social Media | Teachers & Social Media . (n.d.). Teachers & Social Media | Teachers & Social Media . Retrieved March 8, 2013, from http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz

       Vimeo. (n.d.). Commitment to Parents/Guardians and Family/ Whānau. Retrieved March 8, 2013, from vimeo.com/49804201

Implications for teachers

Implications for teachers

In having technology in early childhood settings, it requires the constant monitoring of the ethical considerations in information sharing and photos. This means that the policies of the centre must always be revised or updated as it is crucial for parents to be informed of the information being used about their child or family or both.

As early childhood teachers, it is important that we have an appropriate understanding about the Code of Ethics in New Zealand as it is just as important to keep the parents/caregivers informed as well as monitoring saftey and educating children.

 

In September 2005 there was a research report on teachers using eLearning as carried out by Hegarty et al. (2005) and this was the findings of the report:

 

"Overall, participants scored high self-efficacy for eLearning, and the majority had some experience in eTeaching. Most people had attended formal staff development workshops, and all participants used a wide range of strategies for self-directed staff development (informal)"

This shows that early childhood teachers are continually keeping up to date with current technology and centres that are sending staff on professional developments to learning about technology in teaching.

What this blog will discuss, is how ethics can affect individuals such as parents, children and teachers and what needs to be done ethically in regards to using the world wide web and technology in general.




          Hegarty, B., Penman, M., Brown, C., Gower, B., Kelly, O., Coburn, D., Sherson, G., &      Suddaby, G. (2005) Approaches and implications of e-learning adoption on academic staff efficacy and working practice: a comparative study. Retrived from: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/TertiaryEducation/ELearning/Research/PDAndCapabilityOfStaff.aspx