DP Digital Society Questionbank

A cashless society

In the near future, it is possible that cash will not be accepted as a means of payment in Sweden. People are already using alternative ways of paying, such as mobile payment, card payment and internet payment. Currently, over 95% of citizens in Sweden have internet access.

Many people in Sweden claim there are advantages of using an app developed by Swish. The Swish app allows friends to share a restaurant bill, pay where credit or debit cards are not accepted, for babysitting or parking tickets, or make a donation at church.

However, other people in Sweden claim that making the Swish app the only means of payment may increase inequalities within the country.

Discuss whether countries should pass legislation making apps such as Swish the only means of payment.

There are two possible methods for ensuring students use the TailorEd online learning system responsibly. They are:

• restricting access to sites that may be considered inappropriate
• educating the students about acceptable use.

Analyse these two methods.

With reference to the stimulus material and your own inquiries, recommend whether Tayton School should use social robots and/or assistive technologies to ensure students with SEND can be further integrated into the school.

The students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) want to be included in school activities and have appropriate access to the curriculum. 

The two interventions influence a student’s identity in the classroom.

Evaluate the impact of educational digital technologies, such as social robots and assistive technologies, on the identity of students with SEND in Tayton School.

How to appropriately interact in an online environment

Increasing numbers of parents are claiming digital technologies that monitor online activities are the best way to protect their children from offensive content. A number of companies, such as mSpy and Qustodio, have developed online monitoring apps.

Other parents claim it is not necessary to monitor their children’s online behaviour, preferring to encourage their children to develop the knowledge and skills to make appropriate choices.

Parents can consider two different interventions to ensure their children use the online environment appropriately:

1. Monitor their children’s online behaviour using apps
2. Encourage their children to develop the knowledge and skills to use the online environment and make appropriate choices.

With reference to real-life scenarios, evaluate these two interventions.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of CBR Bank, Alice McEwan, said in a recent interview, “CBR Bank will be replacing all passwords, PINs and personal verification questions for our online banking and mobile banking with voice biometrics recognition.”

To what extent are the changes proposed by Alice beneficial for both CBR Bank’s customers and CBR Bank’s IT support?

Many citizens have raised concerns about the surveillance of their web browsing history or the censorship of selected websites by their national government.

To what extent is it appropriate for national governments to use surveillance and censorship to control citizens’ access to websites?

Many schools block access to social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. However, other schools are investigating two different options:

• Monitoring the network to view what websites the students are viewing.
• Giving different ages of students different levels of access to social media sites.

Analyse these two options.

Robbi’s website claims that, “Robbi is friendly, helpful and intelligent. He can sense and respond, and learns as you engage with him”. Some of the customers who own Robbi are considering whether they could extend the range of tasks Robbi could perform, or whether they should allow Robbi to make decisions for them.

To what extent should individuals rely on social robots like Robbi to act as decision-makers for them?

The human face of student counselling

Many Diploma Programme (DP) coordinators are finding they do not have enough time to interview every student before they choose their DP subjects. They are considering purchasing the Student Counselling System, a proprietary management information system (MIS).

The developers of the Student Counselling System claim that, if students complete online questionnaires to determine their interests, abilities and future goals, the system can give them very accurate results, resulting in less than 5% of students changing their diploma subjects. They also claim the Student Counselling System will allow DP coordinators to be able to interview every student, something they cannot do now.

Some DP coordinators have concerns about the automation of this process and believe that advising students is something that is best done by relying on their own professional judgement and intuition.

Discuss whether DP coordinators should rely on the recommendations of the Student Counselling System rather than their own professional judgement and intuition when advising students about what DP subjects to study.

Umair has decided on a strategy to develop his software and Braille keyboard by using crowdfunding and open-source software.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy.

To what extent can the use of models and simulations like the MADAS system help prevent future accidents?