Social networking technologies and cellphones can raise sticky questions for teachers on what sort of contact outside of the classroom is appropriate.
So MicroAssist, an e-learning company based in Austin, is launching a program targeted at preventing sexual misconduct at DEMOfall 09 technology conference in San Diego today.
Called EthicsEd, it’s a course meant for distribution through a district’s e-learning system for teachers. It covers situations like whether it’s OK for a teacher to be text messaging a student or friending them on a social network. It also focuses on warning signs, boundaries and unacceptable behaviors. It lets school administrators see whether teachers have completed it and keep records for legal purposes. At the end of the course, teachers also have to take a test to see if they learned the material.
MicroAssist has been around for more than 20 years and pulls together teachers, designers and writers to develop e-learning courses for schools. It’s self-funding this project. DEMOfall is co-produced by VentureBeat.
