Alex Lawhon

Reflection for Standard 5.2 Professional Ethics

Candidates practice the ethical principles of their profession, advocate for intellectual freedom and privacy, and
promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility. Candidates educate the school community on the
ethical use of information and ideas.
Artifact Description
ISTC 601, Social Media Night Marketing Plan:
Developed for ISTC 601, this artifact promotes digital citizenship and responsibility. After seeing a need
for instruction on this topic, a plan was developed to educate students, parents, teachers, and administrators via
an after-school community event on social media and what it means to be a model digital citizen. This plan also
proposes a strategy for continuing student education on digital citizenship throughout the school year.
ISTC 702, Cyber Ethics Presentation:
This artifact was created to give teachers resources for teaching the twenty-first century skills and
ethical principles of being a responsible digital citizen. The multimedia presentation, made using Prezi, includes
an overview, issues related to digital citizenship, and activities for educators to complete with their students.
ISTC 615, Keys to a Successful Selection Policy Presentation:
This Prezi presentation was created on the school library media policies and procedures used in Harford
County Public Schools (HCPS). Within the presentation is a discussion on the HCPS incorporation of
intellectual freedoms and privacy into their policies. Also included is an analysis of what Harford County does
well and how HCPS can improve their policies to include these rights as represented by the American Library
Association (ALA)’s Library Bill of Rights.
Relevance
The three preceding artifacts support AASL Standard 5.2: Professional ethics. Each one demonstrates
ways that I articulate and model the ethical principles of the media specialist profession. In the plan for a social
media night, fourth and fifth grade students and their families are invited to the media center where they can
speak with the media specialist and a police officer on what it means to be a digital citizen and use technology
and social media in safe and ethical ways. By promoting the responsible use of technology in this way, the
whole community becomes involved in learning about the ethical principles involved in digital citizenship.
Through collaboration with the guidance counselor, I also provide print information to children and their
families on the topic to facilitate discussions about digital citizenship, and I created a way to promote digital
citizenship throughout the school year by involving students in an incentive program in which students
complete online modules of the FBI’s Safe Online Surfing (SOS) program, they can earn rewards and gain
knowledge about digital citizenship at the same time.
The Social Media Night focuses on educating and promoting the ethical code of digital citizenship to the
community as a whole; the cyber ethics Prezi, developed for Educational Leadership and Technology, focuses
on the promotion of and education on those principles to teachers and administrators. Based on the needs of
Fountain Green Elementary, the cyber ethics presentation focuses on three main issues related to ethical
principles and technology: cyberbullying, downloading copyrighted materials, and plagiarizing information.
The presentation gives teachers an overview on each of these topics, how to educate their students about
these issues, and resources that can be used to engage students and continue to teach them. For example, when
discussing plagiarism, the Prezi suggests using real-life anecdotes of the consequences persons have faced after
choosing to plagiarize. It also gives teachers websites to use to check for plagiarism.
Finally, in my presentation for ISTC 615, I advocate for intellectual freedom and privacy. In my analysis
of the HCPS library media policies, I found that media specialists are encouraged to advocate for intellectual
freedom by having a collection that includes information and representation of diverse topics and opinions. I
also verify that while the policy does reference the Library Bill of Rights, it does not directly state students’
rights to access information. Also, the policy does not include information on Web filtering and the privacy of
searches completed; rather, these are found in HCPS’s document A Technology Plan for Schools: 2009-2013.
Analysis
As technology becomes more present in the classroom and home settings, AASL Standard 5.2 becomes
more important to emulate for students and teachers. Through the use of these artifacts, I have been able to
model digital citizenship and advocate for intellectual freedom and privacy for the school community. During
the Social Media Night held at Fountain Green, parents were able to connect with community resources to get
information on digital citizenship. Through collaboration, the school’s guidance counselor has also been able to
provide resources and education to students, and we have received positive feedback on the experiences.
In the future, I hope to continue to take on the role of teacher and instructional partner by making staff
and students aware of the Acceptable Use Policy in HCPS and what it means to use the technology responsibly.
I look forward to providing the chance to students to complete the incentive plan for the online modules of the
FBI’s Safe Online Surfing program.
While giving my presentation to the staff on cyber ethics, another need was identified for determining
the authority of sources. As an information specialist, I plan on teaching and modeling for students that digital
citizens evaluate the sources they are using for accuracy and authority, and then cite the sources properly to
prevent plagiarism. This can also be presented in professional development to the faculty to enable classroom
teachers to reinforce the skill.
As a media specialist who is a leader and program administrator, I have been able to evaluate the library
media policies set in place by HCPS, and through discussion, have found that most are well aligned with the
American Library Association expectations; however, as an advocate for privacy, I plan on requesting that
technology policies specifically be included in the media policies and procedures document. In this way, it can
be ensured that patrons’ rights made clear and are being protected in the media center.
Under this role, I would also like to devise a plan to retain the protection of intellectual freedom. First,
by advocating for the inclusion of the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights to be contained in the media policies
document, and second, by continuing to develop a collection that is representative of a wide variety of subjects
and opinions and that is not censored because of differing points of views.