Legal and Ethical Issues in Technology

The use of technologies becomes one of the essential necessities in the life that it ensures communications among people, helps in achieving duties, and interferes in all aspects of life.  The most commonly used technologies among people are smart phones, tablets, and laptops in the presence of internet services.  The use of technologies facilitates the gathering of information and resources, assists students in their education, educators in their teaching, employees in their work, and more other uses.  But, without professional and right uses of technologies, people will lose their times, efforts, and productivity and it will lead to chaotic situation.  Students depend on technologies in their educational journey.  For this reason, there should be legal and ethical standards of using technologies in education.  Based on that, both students and educators will be safe if they know how to use technologies in educational activities. 

            Mastria, McGonigle, Mahan, and Baxter (2011) stated four important issues that should be addressed through the use of technologies within the educational environment, which are copyright, fair use, public domain, and TEACH act that is associated to copyright.  Garland (2009) said that legal issues of using technologies in education should be focused on privacy, sexual harassment, and theft of information with copyright.  Students should be prohibited from using cellphones in the classroom, especially in texting and taking pictures.  They should be motivated to use technologies in their learning only.  American Nurses Association (2015) said that “systems and technologies that assist in clinical pracctice are adjunct to, not replacement for, the nurses’ knowledge and skill.  Therefore, nurses are accountable for their practice even in instances of system or technology failure” (p. 16).  This explains that nursing students should not depend completely on technologies in their education and clinical training.  Cain and Fink (2010) highlighted a significant issue related to the use of technologies in education, which is the concept of “copy and paste” or “cut and paste” from electronic sources that students might fail in plagiarism.  Five major critical questions that are related to ethical uses of technologies in education, were stated by Cain and Fink (2010) and need to be addressed through using technologies, which are “(1) who is viewing the social media information; (2) how is the social media information accessed; (3) for what purpose is the social information used; (4) what are the criteria one uses for making judgments about social media information; and (5) what is the nature of ‘‘relationships’’ in social media” (p. 5).  To avoid negative consequences of using technologies, all administrators, educators, and students should be aware about their rights of using technologies and social media.  This will improve the outcomes of educational institutions through the optimal use of technologies in education.  In short, Cain and Fink (2010) presented in their article specific legal and ethical issues related to the use of technologies and social medial in education, focusing on protecting privacy and copyright, preventing plagiarism, and the optimal use of tech. in learning and education. 

References:

American Nurses Association. (2015). Guide to the code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Nursesbooks.org.

Cain, J., & Fink III, J. L. (2010). Legal and ethical issues regarding social media and pharmacy education. American journal of pharmaceutical education,74(10). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3058471/pdf/ajpe184.pdf

Garland, V. E. (2009). Emerging technology trends and ethical practices for the school principal. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 38(1), 39-50. Retrieved from http://essentialconditionswiki.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/61147543/School%20Administrator's%20responsibility%20with%20Technology.pdf

Mastria, K. G., McGonigle, D., Mahan, W. L., & Baxter. B. (2011). Integrating technology in nursing education: Tools for the knowledge era. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.