Resource Pattern
Professional and Safe Conduct
As an element of the capacity building framework designed to help students make better use
of personal mobile devices (PMDs) for workplace learning (WPL), this specific resource
pattern aims to help students better understand the issues of professional and safe use of
mobile technology for their learning while on placement.
Most institutions encourage participation in the digital economy and digital citizenship, and
support responsible engagement with social media for purposes that enhance professional
work and professional development. However, they also seek to prevent employees from
unprofessional behaviour and misconduct arising from inappropriate engagement with social
media or various (mis)uses of mobile technologies. Students may come across workplace
placements that allow the use of PMDs and others that do not allow it.
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How can academics, workplace educators and their colleagues help students identify
their responsibilities around a professional and safe use of PMDs while on placement?
Not all workplaces are technology-friendly environments. The use of PMDs may not be
deemed suitable in certain professional contexts.
An initial approach to safeguarding against misuse (disruptions, distractions, disclosure,
breaches of permission and information, etc.) has often led to the banning of PMDs during
working hours altogether. Institutions are at different stages of appreciating the benefits of
using PMDs for work and learning, and therefore, are at different stages of introducing special
ethical guidelines or netiquette regarding the use of and access to mobile technology, social
media and the internet while at work. These netiquettes mostly focus on personal mobile
phone use and e-safety (e.g. online bullying, unsafe sharing of information, identity theft).
Students need to be made aware of such special digital or online communication etiquette.
They also need to be made aware of the impact the visible use of mobile devices in
professional practice has on their relationships with colleagues and clients/patients (ByrneDavis, et al., 2015).
Therefore:
When students intend to use mobile technology, including taking photos, they need to
consider carefully the professional and cultural contexts, user preferences, motivations and
purposes. They need to think carefully about the tools they use, how they use them and who
has access to them. They cannot assume that people have given consent. They need to be
made aware of the need to ask first and understand the privacy and confidentiality policies, as
well as being mindful that some people are reluctant or even refuse to be included in videos
etc. Clients have the right to decline permission to use PMDs.
While on placement, students require help to identify professional boundaries and really
understand the differences between:
•
formal vs informal
•
•
•
•
•
•
learning vs working
public vs private
home vs placement
real vs virtual
anonymous vs identified
sharing vs appropriating
Individual preferences and organisational acceptance can be better understood by looking at
professional bodies and host organisations’ policies and guidelines (what is said about the
use of mobile technology), observing and enquiring about informal etiquettes, likes and
dislikes (how is mobile technology actually used). From these sayings and doings, students
can determine how they can and want to use mobile technology professionally and safely on
a particular workplace placement.
The following table can help “promote the professional and safe use of mobile technologies”
(West & Vosloo, 2013) by helping students unpack the complex layers of explicit and latent
uses of PMDs in a host organisation.
Table: Professional and Safe Use of PMDs
Domains
Discipline /
Professional body
Policies and
guidelines
Actual use
My use
Content:
Form:
Workplace
Patients/Clients
Workplace
educator/supervisor
Personal
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Embellishments: ###
Related patterns: ###
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References
Byrne-Davis, L., Dexter, H., Hart, J., Cappelli, T., Byrne, G., Sampson, I., Mooney, J.,
Lumsden, C. (2015). Just-in-time research: a call to arms for research into mobile
technologies in higher education. Research in Learning Technology, 23.
West, M., & Vosloo, S. (2013). UNESCO policy guidelines for mobile learning HERDSA
Review of Higher Education (Vol. 21, pp. 002196). Paris: UNESCO.
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Acknowledgement
This resource was developed as part of a two-year research project funded by the Australian
Government Office for Learning and Teaching. It is a multi- site project led by CSU and
conducted in collaboration with The University of Sydney, Western Sydney University and
Deakin University.