LESSON 1: POLICIES AND ISSUES ON INTERNET AND IMPLICATIONS TO TEACHING AND

LEARNING
EXITE

New technologies have become central to the

lives of every individual in this planet. Whether you are
talking on the phone, sending an electronic mail, going
to th e bank, using the library, watching news on television,
going to the doctor, catching a flight, or seeing a movie, you
are using ICT. Almost everything that we do in the modem
world is influenced by the new technologies.

Would your life as a teacher be also influenced by the new

technologies?
Should we leave our lives to be controlled by technology or should we control the utilization of
technology in our lives? How?

EXPLORE

One way of enhancing and regulating the use of ICT is to formulate and
implement policies to guide appropriate decisions.

Definition of ICT Policy

The Oxford English Dictionary has defined "policy”
as a course of action, adopted and pursued by a
government, party, ruler, and statesman. It is any course
of action adopted as expedient or advantageous. Its
operational definition of policy is a plan of action to guide
decisions and achieve outcomes.

Thus, ICT Policies are needed to put a roadmap

or course of actions to be pursued and adopted by
various governments, organizations, entities involving ICT. These include principles and
guidelines in the use of ICT which cover three main areas: telecommunications
(telephone), broadcasting (radio and television) and Internet.

The New ICT Technologies

More recent technological innovations increased the reach and speed of
communications which can be grouped into three categories:

1. Information Technology - includes the use of computers, which has become indispensable
in modem societies to process data and save time and effort. What are needed will be
computer hardware and peripherals, software and for the user, computer literacy.
2. Telecommunication technologies - include telephones (with fax) and the broadcasting
of radio and television often through satellites. Telephone system, radio and TV
broadcasting are needed in this category.

3. Networking technologies - The best known of networking technologies is Internet, but

has extended to mobile phone technology, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) satellite
communications and other forms of communications are still in their infancy. In addition to
Internet, this category also includes mobile telephone, cable, DSL, satellite and other
broadband connectivity.

The DICT Roadmap

In our country, the Department
of Information and Communication
Technology (DICT) has formulated a
roadmap to guide all agencies in the
utilization, regulation and enhancement
of ICT. Each project has corresponding
policy statements and guidelines.

The ICT for Education (ICT4E) is

a program under the DICT that
supports all the efforts of the education sector in incorporating the use of ICT as well as
in determining and gaining access to the infrastructure (hardware, software,
telecommunications facilities and others) which are necessary to use and deploy learning
technologies at all levels of education. Among the policy recommended programs that have
applications to education teaching-learning are:

1. ICT in Education Master plan for all levels, including a National Roadmap for Faculty
Development in ICT in Education. A National Framework Plan for ICTs in Basic Education
was developed.

2. Content and application development through the Open Content in Education Initiative
(OCEI) which converts DepEd materials into interactive multi-media content, develop
applications used in schools, and conduct students and teachers competitions to promote
the development of education-related web content.

3. PheDNET, is a “walled” garden that hosts educational learning and teaching materials and
applications for use by Filipino students, their parents and teachers. All public high
schools will be part of this network with only DepEd-approved multi-media applications,
materials and mirrored internet sites accessible from school’s PCs.

4. Established Community eLearning Centers called eSkwela for out-of-school youth (OSY)
providing them with ICT-enhanced alternative education opportunities.
5. eQuality Program for tertiary education through partnerships with state universities and
colleges (SUCs) to improve quality of IT education and the use of ICT in education in the
country, particularly outside of Metro Manila.

6. Digital Media Arts Program which builds digital media skills for government using
Open Source technologies. Particular beneficiary agencies include the Philippine
Information Agency and the other government media organizations, the Cultural Center
of the Philippines, National Commission for Culture and Arts and other government art
agencies, State Universities and Colleges and local government units.

7. ICT skills strategic plan which develops an inter-agency approach to identifying strategic
and policy and program recommendations to address ICT skills demand-supply type.
All the seven programs were guided by the roadmap that embeds policy statements that
relate to education specifically in the enhancement of human development for teaching
and learning.

SOME ISSUES ON ICT AND INTERNET POLICY AND REGULATIONS

Global Issues
Access and Civil Liberties are two sets of issues in ICT Policy which are crucial to the
modem society. The other concern is civil liberties which refer to human rights and freedom.
These include freedom of expression, the right to privacy, the right to communicate and
intellectual property rights.
Access to the Use of Internet and ICT. Access means the possibility for everyone to use
the internet and other media. In richer countries, basic access to internet is almost
available to all with faster broadband connections. There are still countries where access to
internet is still a challenge.
Infringement to Civil Liberties or Human Rights. What are specific internet issues on
internet policy that have relationship to civil liberties or human rights? Let’s study the examples
that follow.

Issue No. 1: Freedom of Expression and Censorship

Under international human rights
conventions, all people are guaranteed the rights
for free expression. However, with the shift
from communicating through letter, newspapers
and public meetings to electronic
communications and on-line networking, a need to
look into how these new means modifies the
understanding of freedom of expression and
censorship.

The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion, likewise the right to freedom of opinion and
expression. However there are practices that violate these provisions in the use of internet.
Some examples are the following:

1. Individual rights are given up in order to have access to electronic networks. Microsoft
Network’s (MSN’s contracts provide protection of individuals like “upload, or otherwise
make available files that contain images, photographs or other materials protected by
intellectual property laws, including but not limiting to copyright or trademark laws,
unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents to
do the same. ” However Microsoft reserves the rights, in its sole discretion, to terminate access
to any or all MSN sites or services.

2. Censorship restricts the transmission of information by blocking it or filtering the

information. Blocking is preventing access to whole areas of internet based upon the “blacklist”
of certain Internet address, location or email addresses while filtering is sifting the packets of
data or messages as they move across computer networks and eliminating those considered
“undesirable” materials. The selection of sites that are blocked or filtered has been considered
as an issue.
Warning!!!!
“When you are surfing the web, you may think you are anonymous, but there are various ways that
information about you or your activities can be collected without your consent.”
3. Defamation actions may be used to silence critics. This action deters the freedom of

Issue No. 2: Privacy and Security

Privacy policies are an issue. Most commercial
sites have a privacy policy. When someone uses a
site and clicks "I agree” button, it is as if you
have turned over private information to any
authority that may access it.
There are several types of privacy as shown by the
following examples:

1. For most, privacy means “personal privacy” the right of individuals not to have their home,
private life or personal life interfered with.

2. Privacy of communication refers to the protection from interference with

communication over the phone or internet. Respect for privacy of communications is an
essential prerequisite for the maintenance of human relationship via technological
communications media.

3. Information privacy is related to the use of computers and communications system

which are able to hold and process information about large numbers of people at a high
speed. It is important to ensure that information will only be used for purposes for which it was
gathered and will not be disclosed to others without consent of the individuals.
Issue No. 3: Surveillance and Data Retention
The use of electronic communications has enhanced
the development of indirect surveillance. In the indirect
surveillance, there is no direct contact between the agent
and the subject of surveillance but evidence of activities
can be traced. The new and powerful form of indirect
surveillance is dataveillance. Dataveillance is the use of
personal information to monitor a person’s activities
while data retention is the storage and use of information
from communication systems.

There is very little that can be done to prevent surveillance. What can be done is
to change the methods of working to make surveillance difficult. This is called "counter
surveillance” or “information security” if it refers to computers and electronic
communication.

Issue No. 4: E-pollutants from E-waste

Large amount of e-waste is generated by ICT.
These are in particular, terminal equipment’s used for
computing (PCs, laptops), broadcasting (television and
radio sets), telephony (fixed and mobile phones), and
peripherals (fax machines, printers and scanners).

The accumulated e-waste is due to rapid

turnover of equipment due to rapid improvement of
software. While material waste can be destroyed by
crushing, toxic material brought about by the different
equipment requires utmost management. The quantities
of e-waste are increasing in both developed and
developing countries. A very dismal state is that there is a
significant amount of electronic waste that has been shipped from industrial countries to
developing countries, using less environmentally- responsible procedure.

Remedies include standardization and regulatory measures to increase the life

cycle of equipment before they become obsolete. Efficient extraction of toxic components
and requiring the recycling by both consumers and equipment vendors are selling must be
required.

If not controlled then, e-waste will tremendously affect climate change, damage
human lives, and overload the capacity of the earth in carrying solid waste.
IMPLICATIONS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING
How do the policy guidelines, projects and
issues relate to the teaching and learning?
There are great implications of this lesson to both the
teachers who are teaching and the learners who are
learning. A few of these are as follows:

For the Teachers and Teaching

1. Guide the teachers on what they should teach that relate to ICT, and how to teach it.
Since ICT development comes so rapid and fast, teachers might be overwhelmed by its rapid
speed. Temperance in its use is a caution that should be looked at.

2. Technology should never replace any human teacher. The tools are support instructional
materials for the teachers which are available for use. The teacher should learn how to
appropriately use them. The human touch of the teacher is still a vital component in teaching.
Teachers should always be reminded that there are always limitations in the use of the different
gadget and tools.

3. There are rules and regulations that govern the use of technology. Caution should be
observed to protect individual privacy. As teachers, you must be aware that the use of
technology may jeopardize your privacy and security.
4. All the issues and many more shall be part of the teaching content as each teacher will be
encouraged to use technology in teaching.

For the Learners and Learning

The learners of the 21st Century are even more advanced than some of the
teachers. However, learners still need guidance on how to use, regulate technology use.
As there are positive and negative effects of technology use, learners should know the
difference. Learners should not only know the benefits of technology use, but they should also
know how they can be protected from the hazards that technology brings to their lives.

Learners should take advantage of the potential of learning support they can derive
such as the development of higher order thinking skills, the development of learning
communities through collaboration, the enhancement of skills to manage the vast
resources as 21st century learners and many more.
Both the teachers and learners should be mindful of the e-waste that are being thrown
away to the land and to the atmosphere. Thus, safety in the use of technology shall be
presented in the next lesson.
Task 1 Lesson 1
Direction: Assume yourself as an investigator who would like to inform your learners and co-
teachers about the current issues on technology use.

Search the web and find out articles or cases about the following:

A. Freedom of Expression and Censorship

B. Privacy and Security

C. Surveillance and Data Retention

D. e- pollutants from e-waste

Choose only one or two articles or cases that you will work on. Use the template below to
answer. Submit you output,

Title of the Issue: (Choose from A,B,C,D) Ex. Privacy and Security

Title of the Article:__________________________________________

Source:___________________________________________________

Author____________________________________________________

Summary Narrative:

What lesson have you learned?

What suggestions can you offer?

 EXAMINE

1. What is the importance of an ICT Policy for teaching and learning?_______

A. It provides a road map in education where ICT is utilized.
B. It censors all the activities of schools so that it will be uniform in ICT use.
C. It is a requirement of the DICT in the Philippines.
D. It serves as a basis for closing internet cafes near the school.

2. Which of the following does NOT belong to the cluster of technologies?______

A. Telecommunication technology
B. Information technology
C. Networking technology
D. Industrial Technology

3. The DICT Policy statements include the creation of all the following programs,
EXCEPT_________?
A. eQuality  Program
B. eSkwela
C. ICT Pedagogy
D. iSchool WebBoard

4. Which of the following issues on ICT is directly linked to climate change?_______

A. Freedom of Expression
B. e-waste
C. Surveillance
D. Privacy

5. As a teacher, how will you appropriately use technology for teaching and learning so that
your learners will benefit most?_________
A. Assign them to search in the web all the topics you are teaching
B. Maximize the use the technology tools as your support in teaching
C. Ask each student to buy a gadget that they can use
D. Make your lessons an open source all the time