I read the article, Privacy Concerns for ClassDojo and Other Tracking Apps for Schoolchildren and it was very interesting to read. First and foremost, I never heard of this application and never thought one existed. While reading the opening few paragraphs, when it is discussing how a teacher can give points for treating others well, bringing supplies in to share for the class, and completing your homework, I thought, “well that is a neat idea on how to give points to a student. It is motivating the students and in return they are receiving points for their work.” Then it continued on saying, if you take your cellphone out you will get docked points, or if you do not finish your homework when it is due, you will also get docked points. As well, I thought, “well that is a great system on how to award points and take them away.” Right then and there, I was sold on using this app in my future classroom, but only with my principal’s and/or my school’s permission to use it. Teacher’s today have to be safe on sharing any confidential information online about their student. I would like to watch over my back and be safe if I ever work with this site. Your job is (always) on the line.
Continuing to read the article, I began to change my mind on the possibility of using this application. First off, I have to believe companies that make applications for school’s to use or just in general, make long ‘Privacy Acts’ that most of the time, the customer will just scroll through to the bottom and hit “Agree.” When I read that it was 18 pages long, I immediately thought, “no one is going to read every single word. They do this on purpose because they’re smart enough to know that not one teacher will read this agreement.” You may have a few teachers that will read a few paragraphs and give up because it is too long of a read, or you may have teachers that read the whole agreement.
Relating this article, to our classroom and what we have learned about how social media works, is that I will not use this application in my classroom. There is always tweaks in the ‘Privacy Act’ that will get you. The company will know how to work around their terms because they will write them so vague, that they will leak students’ information to the world. But who knows, they might not do that. They say the teacher owns 100% of the rights on their profile. And again, no one knows because companies can figure out ways to outsmart the user.
