Ethical Considerations In Educational Technology
This is the era of educational technology, where classrooms are no longer restricted to big writing boards, graphs and charts, but are transmuted into high-tech rooms to enhance the teaching and learning experience. However, this digital change in education is creating disparities in academics. Also, increasing reliance on technology is leading to ethical concerns. These concerns were the subject of discussion during the panel discussion on ‘Ethical Considerations in Educational Technology’ at the 7th Higher Education Summit organised by ICFAI and BW Education at Hyderabad on 7th December.
Data Privacy
Ethical considerations in educational technology are about examining the impact of the technology on students, teachers and the educational ecosystem as a whole. Highlighting it, A Mani, Dean of Agriculture Engineering at Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University, said that institutes these days are administrating digitally so while collecting and storing students' data they should take care of an encrypted process and safeguard students' privacy.
She stressed data privacy is non-negotiable and shared her professional experience wherein a tech platform misused their students' personal information. She said, “The tech company that we roped in to build an automotive curriculum shared our students' data with some third party, a bad experience that taught us to be extra cautious in the future.”
She emphasised that technology in education is all good, but we need to harness this advanced power rightly.
Empowering Educators And Students
Adding to the discussion Venkat Ramana Kuruhuri, Director - Training and Career Guidance, Malla Reddy University, said that in this digital realm of education empowering educators and students is very important.
Kuruhuri underscored the responsibility of every teaching faculty to educate students about the ethical use of tech in education; at the same time, students should teach mentors the new technology.
He said when it's about technology, kids are more advanced than their teachers, so empowering each other would help in maintaining an ethical approach.
Designing Projects
In this era of ChatGPT when solution is possible within a second, Praveen Jugge, Principal at Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology, suggested that teachers should design projects that are based on complex and real issues, making it difficult for students to find solutions on AI chatbots.
Jugge said students these days are not using their classroom learnings, neither are they brainstorming amongst themselves to complete their projects. So, the teachers must be strict with their project designs and questions.
