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Policy Guidelines for Technology Use in the Classroom
When schools form relationships with businesses that provide online educational materials and activities, commercial activities such as targeted marketing, online profiling, and online market-research surveys may be introduced more subtly into the classroom. To help educators forge ethical partnerships with providers of online educational materials and activities, Willard (2001) proposes a sample district policy:
Selling or providing access through the district's Internet system to a captive student audience for the purpose of commercial market research or commercial advertising is exploitation and a violation of public trust. Neither the district, a school, nor a district educator may enter into an agreement with or utilize the services of a third party Internet service that would:
- Require or encourage the establishment of individual student accounts on the third party Internet service, either using actual student names or user names (pseudonyms), if the third party Internet service intends to collect, analyze, and/or use information about students for the purpose of directing advertising or commercial sponsorship information to students.
- Allow the collection, analysis, and/or sale of individual or anonymous student use data for the purpose of commercial advertising and marketing research activities.
- Require that students view banner advertisements for consumer items while engaged in learning activities through the third party system, unless there is an educational reason that would warrant allowing the viewing of such advertisements.
- Require that students participate in Internet learning activities that have been created by companies primarily for commercial purposes.
- Place commercial advertising or links to commercial sites on the district, school, or class web site, except in limited circumstances that would not require that students view the advertisements on links in the context of learning activities.
Recommended Principles for a School Policy on Commercialism on the Internet
- Providing access to a captive audience in the school's technology learning environment, whether accessed in school or from home, for commercial purposes, including specifically online profiling and/or advertising, is "exploitation and a violation of public trust and a violation of the right of students to a free and public education" [NASBE 2000].
- Students should not be permitted to provide personally identifiable information, such as name, address, or other contact information, on the Internet unless the provision of information is by a student over the age of 13 and is for an approved, legitimate educational purpose.
- The collection of anonymous data from students using a web site for the purposes of evaluation and improvement of the educational quality of a web site is considered appropriate and acceptable.
- In any case where a school/teacher desires to use the services of a web site, the school/teacher must make a written request for approval. The request for approval should address the following issues:
- What is the educational purpose of the use of the site?
- How does the use of this site meet an identified educational need?
- What information will be collected directly or indirectly from the student as they use the site? What is the purpose of the collection of information?
- Does the site have any banner ads? If so, what is the relationship of the collection of data to the presence of banner advertising?
- Does anyone else, other than the site, have the ability to collect information directly or indirectly from the student? If so, who and for what purpose?
- Will students' personal information be disseminated to any other party? If so, under what conditions and for what purposes?
- What security provisions have been established to ensure the confidentiality of student's personal information?
- What provisions have been made for the students and/or their parents to review and delete personal information from the company's files?
- Schools should carefully guide the research activities of students to limit student exposure to banner advertising. Students should receive instruction on research strategies that will enable them to find high-quality, educational resources to support their learning.
If teachers are selecting sites for student research, the sites should first be analyzed for the quality, appropriateness, and suitability of the educational materials present on the site. The site should also be reviewed for the presence of banner ads. The following are questions and guidelines for an evaluation of the appropriateness of the advertising on a site:
- How intrusive and distracting are the banner ads visually?
- Are the ads placed in locations where the students should be concentrating on the content of what they are studying?
- Are the ads for youth consumer items or are they public service announcements, educational products or services?
- If students click on the banner ads, is what is presented to them considered appropriate in the educational environment?
- Is advertising the vehicle to support the delivery of high quality educational resource or has the educational resource been established for the purpose of advertising, brand promotion, or corporate promotion?
All involvement with corporations for the provision of technology resources should be evaluated in terms of the following criteria:
- What is the educational quality of the proposed technology resource?
- How will the proposed technology resource assist the school in achieving a stated educational objective?
- How will the school provide for the additional resources or activities, including professional development, necessary to ensure the appropriate and effective use of the proposed technology resource to improve student learning?
- What impacts will the proposed technology resource have on the existing and future technology infrastructure of the district or school?
- What impacts will the proposed technology resource have on the reputation of the district/school regarding the provision of high quality educational services to students? (Willard 2000)
To view the complete text of Willard's recommended "District Policy and District Regulations [on] Collection of Student Information and Online Advertising on the Internet," see Appendix A of "The Internet in School: Expanded Educational Opportunities or a Stealth Portal to the Youth Market," at http://netizen.uoregon.edu/publications.html.
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