What are the main issues with regards to ethics and cyber safety that are relevant to your organisation?

Whenever the internet is discussed, the one topic that is always raised is cyber safety and ethics used online. In regards to a student environment, some institutions take certain information into account such as:

• blocking inappropriate sites
• students having their own email account (usually set up by the school)
• bullying/harassment (cyber bullying)

These are just some of the issues when studying online. Being able to block inappropriate sites should be compulsory for all K - 12 schools. Having a computer lab supervisor should be able to block unwanted sites from the school's browser and the teachers should be able to 'understand any potential risks that a session may present'.

Having the school set up a student email account is useful for students and teachers. This allows student and teachers to be able to email each other within a secured network as well as the school being able to monitor the students accounts if need be. The school I attended, Cranebrook High School, introduced this system and the students found it to be particularly helpful; especially with the submission of assessments.

Cyber bullying is another issue that teachers must monitor. With instant messaging programs now available online such as ‘e – messenger’, cyber bullying is a new way for student to get harassed. Although this can be done through email and websites too. Gone are the days where bullies would pick on kids on the playground, instead they just do it by electronic means. Statistics show that ‘58 percent of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once.’ This number can easily be reduced if teachers and schools monitored their student’s activities online, blocked unwanted sites and trained their teachers to be a little more tech – savvy.

These are only a few of the issues concerning the student environment (particularly K – 12) however does apply to all educational institutions. To a safer learning environment, teachers must be trained and given the tools to be able to monitor the student’s whereabouts online, what they choose to do and who they contact.

References

• Cyber Safety & Ethics, A Cyber Safe Classroom; viewed 19th August 2008. http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/elearningsupportservices/www/classroom/cybersafety.htm
• Cranebrook High School; Viewed 19th August 2008. http://www.cranebrook-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/index.htm
• Cyber Bullying, Wikipedia, viewed 19th August, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber-bullying

What Are The Barriers of E - Learning?

Barriers of E – learning can affect a student’s study to an extent.
One problem faced by e – learning is the in-ability to have the teacher in the room on the spot as well as other students. Students grow up in traditional classroom environments, and it’s basically the same when attending university. In both situations, the teacher and lecturer are present in the room. However when in an e – learning environment, there is no ‘teacher’ present therefore any questions that are usually answered on the spot has to be emailed. The process of emailing the question and waiting for a response is time consuming thus, the work being worked on has to be put on hold until the question is answered.

The other side is that ‘was a lack of social interaction’ between other students. Students learn off of each other as well as off of the teacher. Having other students presenting ideas spark new ideas and discussions throughout the room.

Another problem faced by students is the technological side of things. A lot of the older age bracket of students is not computer or internet savvy, therefore the structure of the e – course can fail. This is where technical support needs to addressed. If the student dosen’t know why something online is not working, naturally the student will email the teacher. The teacher will then either address the issue and then it will be solved. However if the teacher is not technologically knowledgeable themselves, they will then forward your email to a technician. This is time consuming again which could easily cause the student a loss of marks just because their teacher couldn’t give them an answer straight away.
The problem seems to lie within the training of the teacher for the course. As ‘many instructors lack the knowledge and skills to design and teach distance learning courses, their organisations lack support staff to assist with technical problems’ therefore a contradictory cycle appears where the teacher shouldn’t be teaching the student because the teacher doesn’t really know what they’re doing.

References

• Muilenburg, L.Y., & Berge, Z.L. (2005). Student Barriers to Online Learning: A Factor Analytic Study Distance Education: An International Journal, 26(1): pp. 29-48. http://www.emoderators.com/barriers/stbarr_final_may05.pdf
• Cho, S.K. & Berge, Z.L. (2002). Overcoming Barriers to Distance Training and Education. Education at a Distance [USDLA Journal] (16)1. http://www.emoderators.com/barriers/cho.html

Topic 1: What Are The Benifits Of E - Learning?

There are numerous amounts of benefits when it comes to e - learning. We use the internet everyday to look up music, videos, data, facts and statistics. We use it to create our own webpages, to run buisnesses and to learn. We learn without even knowing it. And this tool is especially useful within the entertainment industry.

Being in the entertainment industry the internet provides many points of access. Having the internet allows me to search for music theatre related websites such as 'Music Theatre International' or 'Stage Agent' Websites such as these allow me to research the shows to understand the shows styles, music genre, characters, settings and performance requirements. This information is very important when entering the industry as you need to be contastantly auditioning for shows and productions in order to get ahead. Using this information wisely in preperation for the audition can mean the make or break in the production you are auditioning for.

If we didn't have the internet, sources become scarce and hard to find, espically in Australia. This is becuase musicals aren't part of the Australian culture whereas if I were situated in America, finding information about musicals without the internet would be much more abundant as musicals are part of their culture; 'Musical theatre may be the most popular form of theatre'. Therefore the availability of musicals in hardcopy format would be easy to find. And so having the ability to learn about show information off the internet is very handy to have.


Another resource the internet provides from the entertainment industry are audition notices. This works on both the producer's side and the performer's side. Without the internet, producer's would have to advertise auditions in the newspaper, by word of mouth and by phoning up agenices (which they still do today). However, thanks to the internet, producer's are able to post it on performer based websites, on online newsletters for performers and are therefore able to access a wider range of performers with other skills.

On the performer's side, looking for auditions in papers are scarce, not all performers have agents which means they won't get a job and word of mouth means you have to know people already in the industry which makes it difficult for newcomers to get in. Having the internet allows performers to search for auditions either locally, interstate or globally. This gives them a chance to make it in the industry whereas they wouldn't have had the chance if the internet didn't exist. Such websites include: 'AT2' 'Casting professionals use it on a daily basis in order to source talent for their productions' and 'Showcast' “Showcast – both the website and books provide an invaluable service. I use it as a fast and efficient communication tool when liaising with producers and directors.” which are both agency based sites that any perforer can join and they have newsletters and an "audition" page where producer's post up the latest auditions.

Having the internet to help us break into the industry through finding audition notices online, rather than word of mouth; and having access to show information such as genre, style and songs is a benifit of e - learning for the performers of this country.

References:

• Music Theatre Inernational, viewed 19th July, 2008, http://www.mtishows.com/default_home.asp
• Stage Agent, viewed 19th July, 2008, http://www.stageagent.com/
• Wikipedia, Cuture of the United States, viewed 19th July, 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_culture#Theater
• AT2, About AT2, viewed 19th July, 2008, http://www.at2.com.au/about.html
• Veronic Taylor, Home & Away, Mullinars, Showcast Testimonials, viewed 19th July, 2008 http://www3.showcast.com.au/showcast/

Assessment 1 Details

For Assessment One of Managing E - Learning, I will be covering three topics in regards to E - learning.
The three topics will be:

1. What are the benefits of e - learning?
   


2. What are the barriers of e - learning?



3. What are the main issues with regards to etheics and cyber safety that are relevant to your organisation?