Crucial “Digital Citizenship” Conversations – The Principal of Change An educator in one of my workshops asked me, “I know you are big into Twitter, but it doesn’t seem to be the network of choice for students, so why should I use it?” My response was that it is not about what kids consider “cool”, but more the ability to learn to network through these social spaces. I referenced a blog post I wrote on the idea of “3 Things Students Should Have Before They Leave High School“, and here were the ideas that were listed in a shortened form: Now, each one of those are not “set” and they can look quite different. Revisiting the initial question, I listed a “professional social network”. This all being stated, I was blown away by this post from Jenn Scheffer and her students speaking about “Digital Citizenship”. A few things… First of all, these are amazing conversations these students are having about both the positives and negatives of social media (seriously read the whole post because it is amazing).
US Digital Literacy | US Digital Literacy Digital Citizenship Education in Nine Steps | Take the Lead Today’s students have an online playground in addition to the physical one at their schools. But unlike school playgrounds, digital spaces are rarely monitored or supervised. As students connect, communicate, and collaborate digitally, they need to learn web literacy, source evaluation, information filtering, and self-monitoring skills. In my school district, our journey towards cultivating a culture of digital citizenship began with a Strategic Design Plan that included seamless integration of digital citizenship “across the curriculum, so that all stakeholders collaborate in an atmosphere of respect, integrity, sharing, trust, and service,” as our plan states. The strategic design process began in 2011, with community stakeholders drafting a new mission, vision, goals, and core beliefs for the district. During the first year of 1:X, librarians were the primary conduits for digital citizenship instruction and modeling. We are currently in year four of culture building.
Explainer: Creative Commons The digital age has presented many and diverse challenges for copyright law. The rapid uptake of digital, networked technologies led to widespread online distribution of content, as well as the emergence of new practices and technologies that enabled digital content to be shared, reused and remixed on an unprecedented scale. But while technology provided the capacity for sharing and reuse of content to occur on a vast scale, legal restrictions on the use of copyright material hampered its negotiability in the digital environment. Creative Commons (CC) emerged as a direct response to the shortcomings of copyright laws and licensing practices in the dynamic, interactive and distributed internet environment. The founders of CC recognised the power of the digital online environment, and saw the importance of enabling materials and information to flow online. How does Creative Commons work? The first suite of CC licences (version 1.0), was released on December 16 2002.
Digital Citizenship: Resource Roundup Tool or Weapon? Addressing Cyberhate in the Classroom by Jinnie Spiegler (2015): Classroom strategies to fight cyberhate include not supporting or reinforcing it, reporting it, supporting the targets, speaking out against hate, and engaging in activism. Digital Responsibility The Basics of Open Technology by Ira Socol (2015): From abundant tools and smart budgeting to accessibility and trust, the Albemarle County Public Schools district maintains a tech program that leverages digital literacy for all students.Five-Minute Film Festival: Are We Addicted to Technology? by Amy Erin Borovoy (2014): Can’t put your device down? Obsessing over social media? video Media and Digital Literacy Other Resources From Edutopia Additional Resources on the Web
A dozen ways to teach ethical and safe technology use From The Classroom Teacher's Technology Survival Guide A dozen ways to teach and promote ethical and safe technology use Responsible teachers recognize that schools must give students the understandings and skills they need to stay safe not just in school, but outside of school where most Internet use by young people occurs. Teachers who address safe and ethical Internet use proactively: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Will doing those things guarantee that a student will never get in trouble or danger online? Ethical instruction needs to be on going. * Johnson’s 3 P’s of Technology Ethics: Privacy - I will protect my privacy and respect the privacy of others.Property - I will protect my property and respect the property of others.a(P)propriate Use - I will use technology in constructive ways and in ways which do not break the rules of my family, church, school, or government. Image source:
Teaching Children About Digital Footprints As we have introduced a 1:1 netbook program in grade four at my school, we are focussing on helping the students learn how to use their new devices to their full potential. We have been doing some work on internet safety, and this week have been looking at digital footprints. Not one of the 54 students in my double class knew what the term meant before we delved deeper. Wikipedia describes a digital footprint as: “…a trail left by interactions in a digital environment; including the use of TV, mobile phone, the internet and other devices and sensors.” Unfortunately, I’ve come across a number of resources which only focus on the negatives of digital footprints and promote a culture of fear. The message I like to promote is that we should protect our digital footprints and try to ensure that they are positive. I’ve often wondered if having no digital footprint at all is almost as bad as having a negative one. Four years ago Chris said: Perhaps that day has come?
10 Good Tips To Spot Fake News April 15, 2017 A few days ago we shared with you a new Google feature that allows you to easily fact check online content. Today, we are sharing with you 10 good tips that will enable you to critically assess the veracity and credibility of online content (e.g. news stories). These are guidelines Facebook Help Centre provided for it users to help them spot fake news. However, these tips can also apply to any other type of content.
5 Excellent Videos to Teach Your Students about Digital Citizenship Edutopia is one of my favourite educational web resources . Today while I was checking its Five Minute Film Festival page I came across a link that took me to their YouTube channel where I found a treasure trove of interesting videos on digital citizenship and because digital citizenship is one of the important themes in this blog, I decided to handpick some of the clips that grabbed my attention and share them with you below , you can also check the entire list here. But before that, let me share with you this concise and to-the-point definition that Amy gave to digital citizenship : "Digital citizenship" is an umbrella term that covers a whole host of important issues. Broadly, it's the guidelines for responsible, appropriate behavior when one is using technology. 1- What is Digital Citizenship 2- Digital Dossier 3- YouTube Digital Citizenship Curriculum 4- Invasions of the data snatchers 5- Netiquette: playing nice online
Managing your digital footprint with Year 8 – Lucacept – intercepting the Web Last Thursday I ran a session with our Yr 8 cohort to cover some aspects of what is required to be a mindful digital citizen and take responsibility for managing your digital footprint. We started with a video I featured on School’s out Friday a week or so ago. It’s an attention grabber, that’s for sure. I like to use video to start a session; it pulls their attention in and helps get the students focused. A hand was raised immediately following with a student asking was all of this information obtainable through Facebook. In its popular deployment on the internet, HTTPS provides authentication of the web site and associated web server that one is communicating with, which protects against Man-in-the-middle attacks. This was news to the vast majority of students in the room and had many of them very concerned about their use of sites where they purchase clothes and shoes. Following this, we looked at the following video from Thinkuknow UK. Like this: Like Loading...
Why Our Learners Need Media Literacy in a Transforming World Media literacy has become a more important consideration in our children’s futures than ever. It behooves educators to be familiar with media’s role in our changing world. Media is here to stay as a main component of how society shares information across a vast population quickly. While some teachers fear it, others are realizing the potential to reach more students through things that our digital natives are familiar with. When importance is given to finding and harnessing ways that students learn best, the modern teacher benefits as much as students. At the same time we must be addressing citizenship within the digital community. Twitter, Facebook, and various news sites keep us up to date in real time. Media literacy helps us take vast amounts of data and compile them into immediately understood presentations. With these points to keep in mind, let’s examine how Media Fluency can make sense of the waterfall of images, videos, and text in the digital world. Listen Leverage
The 9 essential elements of digital citizenship | eSchool News Every digital citizen should have these skills To hear author Mike Ribble tell it, kids are entering school with some exposure to technology—meaning schools won’t be making a first impression. According to a recent Common Sense Media’s study, the percentage of children ages eight and under who’ve used a mobile device nearly doubled from 2011 to 2013, from 38 percent to 72 percent. And about two in five children under the age of two have used a mobile device. “Whether they have a knowledge of how to use it appropriately is another question,” said Ribble, the author of Digital Citizenship in Schools and the chair of ISTE’s digital citizenship PLN. Findings like the ones outlined by Common Sense suggest the need for schools to start teaching good digital citizenship to students at a very young age—and Ribble and many others believe that students should learn these skills throughout the K-12 curriculum.