Contribute

This is a collaborative wiki. We invite anyone who is interested to create an account and pitch in. Below are some notes where we keep track of needs and plans.

The main forum for discussing the development of Ethical EdTech is our public email discussion list. You can also participate in synchronous conversation at #ethicaledtech on Freenode IRC. We also host regular events.

Be sure to consult the About page for inclusion criteria and more on the spirit of the project.

Students

Student participation in this project is essential to its success. Share your insights and experience about tools you've encountered in class and ideas for how technology can better meet your needs.

Get started by joining the conversation at the Student Voices page. Students should also feel free to contribute to any part of the Ethical EdTech wiki project.

Adding pages to the wiki

New pages that are not Tools should be preceded by ":Meta:" or another custom namespace.

Adding a new Tool page

Go to the Page Template, click the gear button at the top-right, and click Edit
Copy the full content of the page source
Go to the URL of the tool you want to create: ethicaledtech.info/wiki/[Tool_name]
Click the gear button at the top-right, and click Create
Paste the content of the Template source into the empty field

For guidance, you can look at the source code of existing pages by clicking their Edit buttons.

Tools to be added

Data

RawGraphs: open-source, browser-based tool for data visualization
D3.js: JavaScript library for data visualization
Plotly Chart Studio: freemium browser-based tool for data visualization; also available as open-source graphing packages for use with Python, R, JavaScript, and MATLAB
KH Coder: open-source desktop software for qualitative data analysis and text mining
OpenStreetMap
Palladio: open-source, browser-based tool for exploring historical data
Cytoscape: open-source bioinformatics software for network analysis
Leaflet: open-source JavaScript package for creating interactive maps
TimelineJS: open-source KnightLab tool for creating interactive timelines (possible ethical issue: requires use of Google sheets)
Lexos Visualizer: open source, browser-based tool for "lexomics" computational text mining
SciLab: open-source alternative to MATLAB for statistical analysis and data visualization
QGIS: open-source alternative to ArcGIS or other proprietary geographic information systems

Digital publishing/archive

Omeka:Platform for sharing digital collections and creating media-rich online exhibits. Developed at George Mason University.
Neatline: Platform for allowing students and scholars to tell stories with maps and timelines. Developed for Omeka.
Wikibooks
Drupal (linked from Scripto)

Coding

Jupyter Notebook: Web application for creating and sharing documents with interactive code.

Hardware

Bak USA Atlas - education laptop made in Buffalo
Raspberry Pi
System76 - Made in Denver
Purism
Mycroft

Privacy

Tor and the onion browser

History

Not categorized yet

Librem One
Canvas LMS
Wallabag
Tor
WordPress (distinguish from the Category)

The Module: namespace

We now (as of 20190604) have a Module: namespace. This is designed for things like:

Lesson plans (like a set of tools, readings, and assessments)
Tool packages (like a set of tools that work well together for a particular purpose)
Topic modules (like a batch of readings about surveillance capitalism)

So far, these haven't been implemented. Where shall we start?

Issues and roadmap

Overall project

Develop an Ethical EdTech syllabus that better organizes the material on Contribute and the Zotero group

Website

Set up pre-filled template for new page creation
Consider re-orienting the navigation from being tool-centric to being practice-centric, perhaps by focusing on workflows, lesson plans, or packages of tools
Specify "ethical" by defining a series of axes or criteria by which the tools are evaluated, such as: accessibility, privacy/security, transparency, commercialism, cost, control of data, usefulness outside of school
Wiki design
- Modify the template to have a more appropriate, useful structure. "Related" might be redundant with the Categories.
- What's the easiest way to get logos into pages? Use WikiMedia Commons?
Custom Design
- Need a logo (ico) and color scheme (here)
- A page outlining a few quick easy options for educators who don't have much time to try out new tools
- Set a maximum width for content and header bar
Promotion
- When ready, tweet out to all included projects word that they're in here

Open questions

Future of the project:

How can we organize educators to help strengthen these platforms?
What organizations might be interested in supporting this work?
What forms of publication would advance our goals?
How do we define our list of standards and goals?
How can our values inform our participation in EdTech and other technology/pedagogy conferences? (Conference values statement)

Questions educators might ask ourselves related to ethical EdTech:

How can we learn more about surveillance practices happening via educational technology on our campuses?
How can we influence campus IT decisions?
How do we offer students open-source tools and resources when they already use/rely on proprietary tools?
How do we maintain an equitable classroom when students have different levels of access to technology & tech tools?
When are data collection practices ethical? When giving personal data, what does actual consent versus coerced consent look like?

Potential challenges

What challenges do you face in avoiding the use of technologies that practice unethical forms of user surveillance and control? List any social, technical, institutional or other challenges that come to mind.

There is no easy-to-use alternative to Google Docs, which is useful for facilitating collaborative writing, peer review, and instructor feedback.
Students may be more inclined to use the (often more user-friendly) tools they are already familiar with rather than learning how to use different tools.
Creating classroom consciousness takes time and scaffolding - a difficult task in short terms with many students.
Instructors may be prescribed access to specific technologies and institutionally asked or mandated to use them.

Outcomes and goals

What projects might emerge from this documentation effort?

A campaign encouraging campuses to better support open as opposed to proprietary tools
A package mixing VPS/Cloudron/etc. to make it easier for educators to deploy these tools
A marketing cooperative of affiliated open projects
Pedagogical tools/modules

Meta