Ethical Digital Citizenship: Protecting Passwords and Being ‘Nice’ Isn’t Enough

Purpose & objective

Good digital citizenship is increasingly complex. Come to learn about recent concerns regarding how we help educators and students make ethical use of technology in general and artificial intelligence specifically.

As a result of attending the workshop, participants will:

1. Become familiar with the five lenses typically used when considering ethical issues and review questions they can use when making decisions regarding the ethics of use of technology and/or artificial intelligence for educators and students.
2. Explore the application of ethical thinking to the use of technologies such as academic integrity, digital communication, social networks, and confidentiality in K-12 education.
3. Investigate the application of ethical thinking to the use of artificial intelligence in K-12 education.

An online agenda is provided for use during and after the conference. Participants have full on-going access to all resources and tools referenced.

Outline

1. Overview
A. Content: Overview of workshop purpose and objectives, introductions of presenters, access to online agenda and resources.
B. Timeline: 10 minutes
C. Process: Presenter introductions and brief overview of the workshop including access to online resources and support information to be used during the session.

2. Ethics 101: A Brief Overview
A. Content: Topics addressed in this segment of the workshop are:
The five ethical lenses typically used to consider moral issues
Questions one typically asks when making an ethical decision
The purpose is to provide a framework educators can employ personally or with students when thinking ethically.
B. Timeline: 15 minutes
C. Process: This segment of the session offers a short explanation of questions typically asked when making an ethical decision and a brief overview of five lenses often used when approaching a question from an ethical point of view: utilitarianism; individuals’ rights; the fairness/justice approach; the common good; and, the virtue approach.

3. Ethics and Non-AI Technologies
A. Content: Topics addressed in this segment of the workshop are:
What are commonly used non-AI technologies?
Why is ethical use of these technologies of concern to educators?
How can the four questions be applied to these technologies?
The purpose is to provide opportunities for educators to think ethically about common types of non-AI technologies typically available to them and to their students.
B. Timeline: 15 minutes
C. Process: After providing an overview of four commonly used non-AI technologies, participants are given an opportunity to apply use of the four questions in considering a related scenario.

4. Ethics and Artificial Intelligence
A. Content: Topics addressed in this segment of the workshop are:
Why do K-12 educators need to consider ethical concerns related to Artificial Intelligence?
How is Artificial Intelligence being used by educators and students?
What decisions must educators be prepared to make regarding use of Artificially Intelligent agents on campus?
After providing a description of one commonly used AI technology used for security, participants are given an opportunity to apply one of the five ethical frameworks in considering a related scenario.
B. Timeline: 15 minutes
C. Process: After providing a brief overview of how AI is already being used by educators and students and some of the concerns related to this use, participants will practice using one of the five lenses to consider a related scenario.

5. Wrap-up
A. Content: Time for participants to identify ways to apply this information in the workplace.
B. Timeline: 5 minutes
C. Process: Participants identify 2-3 personal action steps they will use to apply today's information back at their own sites.

Supporting research

This session is based on the premise that in today’s world, the definition of good digital citizenship includes making ethical use of technology in general and artificial intelligence specifically. Here are a few samples of related research and other information:

Ethics 101: A Brief Overview

*A Framework for Ethical Decision Making by Lawrence Husick, Foreign Policy Research Institute (2017). Based on materials developed for high school students preparing to participate in “Ethics Bowl” competitions.
*Five Approaches to Ethical Decision Making by People Centric Consulting Group (2016) A listing of the five lenses typically used to approach ethical questions and a brief description of each.
*Thinking Ethically by Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre,Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (2015) An explanation of five different approaches to dealing with ethical issues and questions to ask in this process.

Technology Ethics

*Internet Ethics by Irina Raicu, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (N.D.). The role ethical use plays in the use of technologies such as online privacy, cybersecurity, social media, data ethics, the digital divide, and internet access.
*Technology and Engineering Practice: Ethical Lenses to Look Through by Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (2020) An example of how to approach considering ethical questions about technology use using five different lenses.
* What is Technology Ethics? by Brian Patrick Green, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (2017). A brief discussion of technology ethics as the application of ethical thinking to the practical concerns of technology

Ethics and Artificial Intelligence

*Artificial Intelligence and Ethics: Sixteen Challenges and Opportunities by Brian Patrick Green, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (2020). A discussion of how AI is impacting society and the need for ethical development and deployment of this technology.
*Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics by Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2020). This article offers an explanation of ethical issues, outlines existing positions and arguments, analyzes how these may play out with current technologies and finally, what policy consequences may result.