Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in the Classroom

As teachers we are faced with many issues in the classroom. When we use many of the educational softwares we must be careful not to violate copyright laws when it comes to intellectual property. Often times teachers feel it is their right to use any information that is available to them to further their students' knowledge. However, we must remember that people still own things such as computer software and it is stealing if we just allow students to just load them on to their home computers. As teachers we must remember to give credit and always site sources of information, as well as respecting the laws that involve intellectual property.

Distance Education

Distance education can be extremely beneficial to many students. One of the ways it could be beneficial is students who move around a lot. Often students have parents whose jobs require them to frequently relocate such as active duty military. When students move they often miss learning about certain subjects and relearn others. By giving these students the opportunity that parents move often a chance to have a consistent classroom you know they are not missing anything and do not have to worry about them being behind when entering a new school.
However with everything that has its benefits there also disadvantages. One of distance education is the lack of interaction with other people. Students may only be comfortable with interacting with other people in a virtual way. So it may benefit there education, but socially it may harm them when they are forced to be out in the real world, and do not have the safety net of a computer.
Since distant education can be beneficial to some students if it appropriate for them. Students need to show an ability to stay on task on their own if they are to use distance education. It also may be appropriate for students with medical conditions.
To be able to teach in a virtual school it would be important to have the knowledge of how to use all the resources available. Since the whole thing is on the computer being able to provide the students with feedback would be beneficial instead of just posting grades.

Emergent Technologies

The technologies I explored were smart boards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_board , Skype http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype , and wikis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki .
A smart board is an interactive whiteboard that allows for teachers to use it as white board, but also as a computer. The smart board is nice because it allows for a more interesting way to do many activities. Using a smart board in the classroom could greatly impact the learning environment if used correctly. A way it could do this would be teaching students how to use a program like power point in a fun and interactive way with the smart board. A smart board would be a good way for a student to come up and show the class they understood what was being discussed because most students would find it very exciting to able to use the board.
Skype is a technology that allows telephone calls to be made over the internet. Skype would be a useful tool to enhance collaborating with classrooms room around the country. It would be extremely beneficial because the students would be able to see who they are working with it would make planning the time for the interaction than waiting for an email. This would also be a great way of having students demonstrate what they learned because they would be explaining to another person who is working on a similar subject matter.
Wikis are a way to share information. The reasons wikis are so exciting in the classroom is they are collaborative. Rather than the teacher having to go in update the information every day the students are able to go on share information. It not only saves the teacher time by giving students the opportunity to update it, but gives the students a chance to articulate what they have learned in an informative and professional way for other people.