By Jenna Kammer, Lauren Hays, and Sandeep Ponigoti,
June 9, 2022
Digital commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services in an online marketplace.
Burgess Wilkerson, B., Hamilton, C., Garrison, C., & Robbins, K. (2018). Preparing
millennials as digital citizens and socially and environmentally responsible business
professionals in a socially irresponsible climate. arXiv preprint arXiv:1901.06609 https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1901.06609
Millennials surpassed baby boomers as the largest generation in the workplace in 2015,
and the trend is expected to continue. According to research, Millennials are technologically
aware but lack digital accountability termed by the authors of this paper as social
responsibility. The authors of this article reviewed existing literature on Millennials
in the workplace and determined how to create curriculum and pedagogy within the area
of business communication to address this need. The authors concluded by identifying
ten themes that should be taught in business communication: socially responsive ethics,
self-identity, diplomatic business communication, transparency, evidence-based assignments,
assert their rights and opinions, protect human rights, political activism, cyber
secure technical skills, and critical thinking.
Chen, G., Xu, B., Lu, M., & Chen, N. S. (2018). Exploring blockchain technology and
its potential applications for education. Smart Learning Environments, 5(1), 1-10.
Blockchain is a digital ledger used to track money and goods. This article explored
blockchain applications in education. One primary way blockchain can be used in education
is for records maintenance. In other words, blockchain can be used as a ledger to
keep track of diplomas, credentials, assessments, and participation in learning activities.
Further, blockchain can be used to keep records of teacher's work. Disadvantages to
using blockchain as a record-keeping tool are that it will be impossible to modify
students' academic records as may be needed. Additionally, there are many functions
in the education system that are best performed by humans and blockchain removes more
human interaction. Despite the availability of blockchain for educational purposes
there are still few instances where it is being used or where it has been studied.
Dylan-Ennis, P. (2021). Teaching cryptocurrencies as cryptocultures. Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.37074/jalt.2021.4.2.12
The author of this article proposed that instead of teaching students directly about
cryptocurrencies, teachers should teach about cryptocultures. Then, when students
understand the cryptoculture, they can understand cryptocurrency. To make the case,
the author provides an overview of cryptocultures and uses examples of Bitcoin’s and
Ethereum’s environmental impacts to make the case of first teaching about cryptocultures.
Pluim, C., & Gard, M. (2018). Physical education’s grand convergence: Fitnessgram®,
big-data and the digital commerce of children’s health. Critical Studies in Education, 59(3), 261-278.
In this article, the authors explored the use of Fitnessgram, a digital platform that
is designed to be used by teachers to monitor the physical fitness of their students.
Fitnessgram is an example of the use of big data in education and how it can be commercialized.
The authors explored the history of Fitnessgram, how it has been used, and ways it
could be used to reduce the number of teachers and increase the number of data managers.
Parents and teachers have found the use of Fitnessgram unethical. The implications
for the use of tools such as Fitnessgram are broad and should be critically assessed.
Companies may be seeking profits through the use of digital technologies instead of
developing tools that are beneficial for education.
Seeland, J., Stoesz, B. M., & Vogt, L. (2020). Preventing online shopping for completed
assessments: Protecting students by blocking access to contract cheating websites
on institutional networks. Canadian Perspectives on Academic Integrity, 3(1), 55-69.
The authors of this study described contract cheating, which is where students pay
third parties to complete work for them. Contract cheating is expanding due to the
growth of technology. To address issues of contract cheating, the authors blocked
sites that offer contract cheating at three higher education institutions. From there,
they were able to determine how many students tried to access the websites and found
that many did. The authors conclude the article with future plans for how to address
contract cheating and a discussion of other considerations that must be taken into
account when trying to address issues of cheating.
