Ethical Statement
Within the development of a learning system, there are
many ethical situations that may arise for the program creator. Consideration
in content usage, student privacy and security are all areas that should be addressed
in the development of a given learning system.
I would like to share the following information regarding the ethical
considerations I have made when developing my course.
In terms of the content that I present in my learning
system, it is expected that the work is original unless otherwise stated. The development of this module has come from
two places, my experiences within theatrical stage production and information
that I have collected in a book titled Theatrical Design and Production by J
Michael Gillette. The purpose of this is
vetting the information that I will present in the module as by a credible
source. Whenever information is used
from this source, I will be sure to cite it appropriately and give credit to
the author. In terms of any other
information that is collected and used for this course, such as the achieving of
websites and use of images that are not my own, I believe that as a closed, non-profit,
educational resource, the program falls under the usage of Fair Use Copyright
Laws. I know that this is not a blanket
protection for educational use, but the fact that I am operating in good faith,
meaning that my sole intention is to teach principles in set design and not so
much rely on any images for anything else but that, has been proven in the past
to be transformative use in the eyes of courts and protect users of such
information. For example, the following
theoretical situation explains this idea.
Scenario 6: You are a
self–publisher or author or micro-publisher preparing a book on the evolution
of lighting styles in fashion photography. You scan some photos from a fashion
magazine and use them to comment and explain concepts like “soft lighting,”
“hard lighting, ” and “catalog lighting.” Copyright holder sues you. You claim
Fair Use.
Result: You should win. The use is
incidental to the book, doesn’t harm the rights–holder, and is for the purpose
of education and commentary (Friedlander,2010).
The learning system that will be created will be done
within the learning management system Edmodo, a service which has clear
statements regarding privacy and security concerns. Within that, I will create the highest
privacy settings so that the content is only available for those in which it is
intended for. Any information that is
shared by myself or students is not to be seen by others except those enrolled
in the course.
As a content creator, I would be honored if someone
were to use something I created for an educational resource. Additionally, I would like to be credited for
the work I have done and because of that reason I am more than obliged to offer
the same sort of acknowledgement for materials that I use that others have
created.
In regard to the users of my learning system, they
fall under Edmodo’s Children’s Personal Information Treatment. Because my program is meant for students
between the ages of 14-18, the majority of users are considered minors. Being as such, their participation must be
preceded by parental consent. After
which, the only information that is required is their name, a user name, and
email address. They are not required to
provide a profile picture but may do so if they wish. At no time in their current privacy statement,
does Edmodo rent or sell any of the information that is collected from students
and stores only information that is knowingly provided by users. The only information that I will collect will
be the grades and assessments of students in order to make any future courses
that I design more effective.
In terms of security concerns one would have with any
online site, Edmodo seems to take the necessary steps to protect its users against
intrusion from malicious software and other ill-intentioned individuals, but
warns that because of the nature of the internet and many different variables,
they cannot guarantee safety to their users.
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/02/what-every-writer-ought-to-know-about-fair-use-and-copyright/
Friedlander, Joel. "What Every
Writer Ought to Know about Fair Use and Copyright." The Book Designer RSS. The Book
Designer, 8 Feb. 2010. Web. 30 June 2014.
Edmodo Privacy Policy Page
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