What does the rational technical perspective have to do with morality in educational technology?

I think that because of our different behaviors and backgrounds, we morally and emotionally respond to different situations in different ways, and that influence how we feel, think, and do.  We also make our selections on how we feel, think and do according to varying inclinations and motivations. We are influenced by our inborn physical characteristics, our spiritual capacities and our acquired development through our education, preparation, and experience.  Nevertheless this is not the world in which we live because the fast technology advances have changed our environments.  People that get education, at the same time they get the tools to affects our environment. If that power that is gotten by the tools of education is not hardened by morality, the changes that are formed are not likely to be constructive. Such a power, it should be entrusted to those people who are both morally rational and knowledgeable.

What does Moral Philosophy have to do with IT?

I have three readings for this week for the topic of Moral Philosophy:

1.  1.  ¨What is Moral Philosophy?¨ by Louis Pojman.

Pojman describes 5 purposes of morality
1. To keep society from falling apart.
2. To ameliorate human suffering.
3. To promote human flourishing.
4. To resolve conflicts of interest in just and orderly ways.
5. To assign praise and blame, reward, and punishment and guilt.

I agree with these main purposes because I feel that we need to have moral values in our society to avoid unsuccessful situations. I think that society and culture creates our morality background even though not all our morality is regulated by the law. Sometimes we have laws to govern morality but on the other hand there are laws that stand aside from our morality. For example if we find that someone had an accident with a motorcycle, there is no law to tell us to help this person, but in many cases our morality tells us to go and help the injured person, we do this because we have some kind of morality.  From my point of view, I think that everyone in our society should have some sort of responsibility to create a better environment.  From the point of view of education, it is the responsibility of the parents along with the teacher to teach the children to differentiate from the wrong or right.  Everyone sees morality from a different point of view and many times the subject could be very multifaceted.

Based on this article humanity is not very good at resolving struggles in just or logical ways. The main idea of nonviolent resolution many times goes against the heart of "fight or flight". The theory of orderly conflict resolution with justice to all parties involved seems like a logical one, but actually it fails sadly in the real world. There will be no real justice in conflict resolution if we all have racial, social and fiscal differences in the world. 

2.  2.  ¨Searching for Moral Guidance about Educational Technology¨ by Randall Nichols.

In this article, Nichols talks about instructional technology and morality; there are many moral issues and on a regular basis we don’t even think about them.  For example, the author references to R. Rorty when he defines ¨solidarity¨.   Rorty sees solidarity is our ability to find traditional differences such as race, religion, etc. as irrelevant when we are comparing them with pain and humiliation. To make this effective, we need to look beyond how people are different and look for their similarities. Most people are in the look for differences among others, but we should focus in what we are similar. This is an example of morality that we mostly take for granted without thinking about the implications that we could carry on.

According to him, technology and morality is a cultural issue.  He talks about the morality and immorality influenced by technology.  But at the same time he thinks that technology is a good thing. 

3.  3.  ¨Augmented Reality:  A Class of Display on the Reality-Virtuality Continuum¨ by Paul Migram, Haruo Takemura, Akira Utsumi, and Fumio Kishino.

This article talks about augmented reality which is a blend of reality and virtual world.  Virtual technology mixes with real world, so at this point virtual is an extreme and reality is the other extreme.  Augmented reality mixes both of these worlds and created a blended one.

Instructional Technology Professional Organizations

There are four main organizations, and I got all this information from their websites.

ISLS (International Society of the Learning Sciences)

http://www.isls.org/index.html

This organization focus on “a professional society dedicated to the interdisciplinary empirical investigation of learning as it exists in real-world settings and how learning may be facilitated both with and without technology.”

The mission of ISLS is based on “how learning and collaboration is enabled by knowledge, tools and networks, and multiple contexts of experience and layers of social structures.”

This organization serves: “The society is widely interdisciplinary and includes members from six continents, providing opportunities for collegial interaction across national boundaries in this field. ISLS brings together individuals who self-identify with disciplines including anthropology; artificial intelligence; cognitive science; computer science; educational sciences; information sciences; linguistics (particularly sociolinguistics and computational linguistics); neurosciences; organizational science and systems science; philosophy; psychology (particularly educational, developmental, and social); sociology and other fields.”

They have two main conferences: 

-  ICLS

-  CSCL

They have two journals:

-  Journal of the Learning Sciences

-  International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning

AACE (Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education)

http://www.aace.org/

 

AACE main focus is “AACE serves the profession with international conferences, high quality publications, leading-edge Digital Library, Career Center, and other opportunities for professional growth.”

Its mission is:  “The Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), founded in 1981, is an international, not-for-profit, educational organization with the mission of advancing Information Technology in Education and E-Learning research, development, learning, and its practical application."

They serves “Its members, conference participants, and journal readers include researchers, developers, professors, trainers, administrators, directors, evaluators, graduate students, policy decision-makers, trainers, adult educators, practitioners, and other specialists in education, industry, and government with an interest in advancing knowledge and learning with Information Technology in Education and E-Learning."

They have large conferences:

-  Edmedia

-  E-Learn

-  Global Learn

-  Global TIME

-  Global SITE

Their publications are:

-  International Journal on E-Learning

-  Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching

-  Journal of Interactive Learning Research

-  Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia

-  Journal of Technology and Teacher Education

AECT (Association for educational communications and technology)

http://aect.site-ym.com/ 

The Association for educational communications and technology focus is “providing an international exchange and dissemination of ideas for its members and for target audience; it is the national and international spokesperson for the improvement of instruction; and, it is the most recognized association of information concerning a wide range of instructional and educational technology.”

Their mission is: "The goal of AECT is to facilitate humane learning through the systematic development, utilization, and management of learning resources, which include people, processes, and media in educational settings.” 

 

This organization serves “thousands of educators and others whose activities are directed toward improving instruction through technology.” 

The AECT has one conference:

-  ICEM

They have four journals:

-  Educational Technology Research and Development

-  TechTrends

-  International Journal of Designs for Learning

-  Journal of Applied Instructional Design

ISTE (International society for technology in education)

https://www.iste.org/

 

The focus of “ISTE is globally recognized as the premier partner in advancing educational excellence through innovative learning, teaching, and leadership. We are a diverse worldwide community of educational leaders actively creating a world in which all learners can achieve their creative and intellectual potential.”

The mission is “ISTE advances excellence in learning and teaching through innovative and effective uses of technology.” 

This organization serves:  “ISTE membership is a powerful and meaningful way for educators to connect with peers, to gather in a variety of forums to share the challenges and excitement of teaching, and to be part of a community that leads the transformation of education.”

 

ISTE has two conferences:

-  ISTE 2012- San Antonio June 23-26

-  ISTE leadership Conference

They have four journals:

-  Learning and Leading with Technology

-  Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education

-  Journal for Computing Teachers

-  Journal of Research on Technology Education

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving learning and teaching by advancing the effective use of technology in PK–12 and teacher education.

ISTE has more than 100,000 members in education leaders and emerging leaders from all around the world and it also updates its members about didactic topics of national and international constraint.

The members of ISTE come from all kind of sources, including:  18,500 members from more than 80 countries worldwide, 80 affiliate organizations, 6 affiliate regions worldwide, 60 global corporations.

The International Society for Technology in Education is a membership is a influential and significant method for educationalists to unite with peers, to get together in a forum to share their experiences, to gather in a variety of forums to share the tasks, challenges and enjoyment of instruction, and here they are part of a great community to help change education.

The ISTE has been an organization responsible for the guidelines in education technology standards. They have diagrams based on these standards in teachers’ own work, such as the one below.

The ISTE website is an excellent source of materials, learning experiences, and more, but you need to become a member to have access to a lot of resources ($92 for standard educators membership, $59 for retired educators). Among other things, membership offers:

• Webinars from many of today’s top Ed Tech professionals
• A Career Center (find or post jobs)
• Access to Special Interest Groups
• Discounted Publications – Books, Periodicals, and more.
• Discounted attendance at their Annual Conference (the 2010 conference is June 27-30 in Denver).

The ISTE has yearly conferences, this is a way to be face-to-face and learn, exchange and communicate in the education technology field.  The next conference will take place in San Antonio, Texas on June 23-26, 2013.

At this time, the International Society for Technology in Education is leading a petition drive that it hopes will convince Congress to devote some sort of support toward educational technology professional development across all teachers.  The petition, which has public endorsement from U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and U.S. Representatives Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), and George Miller (D-Calif.), aims to help PD programs that have struggled to survive since the Enhancing Education Through Technology federal program, or EETT, was defunded in April of 2011.  In the meantime, professional development remains a high profile issue within the ed-tech community.