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2016, Page 8

The digital divide – a significant barrier to education through social media

A considerable digital divide exists globally Facebook is the worlds largest social media site and the 3rd most visited website globally (Alexa, 2016). Facebook originated from Harvard university and extended to other US colleges before becoming the site we know today. It and other social media outlets now play a key role in education; but the digital divide means that only a privileged minority benefit from this. The benefits of social media to education are clear. Continue reading →

The Digital Divide is still a thing


An ethical issue that I find interesting is the digital divide. I feel that having insufficient access to social media can place great disadvantage to many within the workplace and education. Many people factors within life can causes this divide When thinking about the way we use digital technology, like our smartphones, laptops etc. we often don’t think about the people who don’t have one or ever used one. Continue reading →

Can we speak freely?

Photo credits. Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. It is argued that authorities have violated this right by prosecuting those who express themselves freely in cyberspace, for example WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange vs US. This may implicate any and all of us, especially students – do we have the right to speak freely? Keefe, a nursing student from the US, was expelled for posting “disturbing” content on Facebook. Continue reading →

Topic 4. Ethical issues raised by the use of social media: digital divide.

According to the sociocultural learning theory, people learn through social interaction. Social media are a technological tool that can support learning and provide space for student-teacher and peer-to-peer collaboration, communication and participation (Sobaih et al, 2016). Figure1 presents elements involved in use of social media activities in education. Figure1. Social media in education. Source: Sobaih et al (2016), p.298. Continue reading →

In the minority

As technology has been growing rapidly throughout the decades, it’s inevitable that the slower paced markets, such as those that are found in less developed countries may be a bit behind on keeping up with these changes. Through the years a division has arisen between two very different worlds and created a type of digital divide that sets the two even more apart. Continue reading →

Social Media Ethics of Business

As social media continues to explode in popularity, businesses are increasingly having to adapt to this new medium to stay relevant. There have been some great examples of social media use by companies in the last few years from Oreo, Pizza Hut and Burger King, but today I want to talk about some of the ethical issues related to social media. Continue reading →

The Digital Age Thieves

(Credit Forbes) Through the rise in popularity of both Facebook and twitter people creating original content such as videos and images has become the backbone of social media. This has given rise to social media marketing where firms advertise through social media either by themselves through posts or through paying others to post links to their websites. Continue reading →

TOPIC 4: The importance of authenticy of voice in using social media for education

Social media has only recently been adopted in education, with supporters promoting their use as part of connectivist learning (Friesen and Lowe, 2012). The PowToon I have created below helps to explain the role of the most popular forms of social media in education. Obviously however, social media was not initially built to facilitate use in the classroom and because of this it poses a number of ethical issues for educators (Henderson, Auld and Johnson,2014). Continue reading →

Endorsement Ethics. Who’s Opinion is Real?

Are large corporations stealing the voice of the people and manipulating it for their own ends? Ethics are the moral principles that govern a company’s behaviour or their conducting of an activity (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). Pre-social media there was a clear divide between producer and consumer. Then came social media and everything changed! (Forbes, 2013) Suddenly we have prosumers (Newsroom, 2015). Continue reading →

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all”

When researching the ethical issues associated with social media use and the concept of cyber-disinhibition, I was instantly reminded of a something my mother said to me on multiple occasions growing up “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all’. Social media allows us to express all of our opinions and although not all of them may be positive, there must be some limitations on what you can and can’t say. Continue reading →

Topic 4: Social Media Ethics

In this blog post, I am going to look at the ethics surrounding using social media in the nursing profession. Social media has become a prominent form of communication, especially for the millennial generation. It is important that nurses use social media in a way that does not violate patient’s right to confidentiality and privacy, or compromise the integrity of other healthcare professionals (Henderson and Dahnke, 2015). Continue reading →

Topic 4 – Ethical issues raised by educational/business use of social media

The UK has recently broken into the top 10 of countries worldwide with the largest number of internet-connected users, with a higher percentage of online users ’92.6%’ (per population) over all countries within the top 30 [1]. In this day and age internet connectivity is synonymous with facilitating probably the single biggest facet of the internet; Social-Media ! (See Figure 1).  Figure 1: 2016 worldwide Social Media Statistics Social-Media comes in various forms e.g. Continue reading →

Lost In Translation: Social Media in Education

Going into this module I didn’t fully understand the idea of curriculum innovation, but this question opitimises why it is so important. We are encouraged to explore everything that the Internet has to offer and use any platform we see useful, in order to make our responses diverse and interesting. It is because of this that my personal learning network is developing and not just my ability to memorise and regurgitate facts and information. Continue reading →

Social Media Plagiarism

Ethics focus on what is best for society, and constitute a structure of moral principles governing how people live their lives.  Therefore, ethical issues occur when moral principles and actions are conflicted, and individuals are unsure between right and wrong.   Education is slowly becoming more integrated with social media, so the ethical implications of this are becoming more relevant. Continue reading →

Social Media Plagiarism

Ethics focus on what is best for society and its members, and constitute a structure of moral principles which govern the way people live their lives.  Therefore, ethical issues occur when individuals’ moral principles and actions are conflicted, and they are unsure between right and wrong.   Education is slowly becoming more integrated with social media, so the ethical implications of this are becoming more relevant to society. Continue reading →

A personal reflection

Topic 1 is over. I repeat after months of hair pulling moments and a copious amount of Google searches and YouTube tutorials later Topic 1 is over. Although relieved I’m somewhat saddened by the news that what appears to have become the bane of my life for the past few months is over. Finding myself submerged in an online world I thought I knew so much about I soon realised how wrong I was. Continue reading →

Topic 1: Reflection

Right from the start I found myself questioning Prensky’s idea of ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’ perplexed by his somewhat outrageous statements suggesting age is the key determinant of a persons technological skill I was intrigued to see if any of my fellow colleagues had picked up on this barbaric idea. While browsing through my colleague’s blogs I immediately found myself drawn in by Holly’s very creative and original title. Continue reading →