Te Kura being a distant education provider which is heading towards total digital delivery by 2018 has its own set of ethical issues and policies. With the current blended approach we ensure that all copyright is legal when we create and reproduce copious amounts of printed materials so when teachers are “writers” of course content we have to try our best to source material that are free and cost effective however with some courses like Art and Photography this may not be the case. Our online cyber safety polices for students and families are listed below and if we wish to use student work on our site or publications, a separate form is sent out for permission from student and their whanau to safe guard all parties concerned.

In NZ education is a basic right and as Nelson Mandela quotes “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”! We are also an organisation that is responsible for providing education to most prisons in NZ..yes they do have a right to education so it is important that we provide a pathway for their life long learning too.

Under the CODE OF ETHICS for Certified teachers the one stated below outlines our obligations for delivering education to NZ Prisons.

To date a handful of our staff have been to training in one of the NZ prisons and actually found it quite overwhelming in terms of ongoing safety and responsibility of taking face to face sessions as you can imagine forgetting to collect a pencil at the end of session can pose creative opportunities for the learner in this environment!

Based on the following evidence that NZ prisons are now heading to provide online access, I propose that Te Kura also look into providing an online collaborative teaching service that is safe and secure.

Secure online learning updates

Secure online learning for prisoners

Internet penetrates prison bars to boost inmates’ education

Adobe Connect is an on-line teaching and collaborative tool where students or their supervisor can access a URL and using that enter the discussion or teaching session. This software license is available to all staff teaching here and is safe as student are able to enter as a guest so no email addresses or cell phone numbers are shared unlike Skype or Viber etc. Certain functions like voice or screen sharing or camera can be turned on and off so all people participating don’t feel like they are being intruded upon and at this stage feel this will be highly suitable to use in this setting.

Why we need to do this?