Sydney Alin's Tech Ed Blog post #2

Digital Citizenship is nothing to be feared, it should be embraced, and shared with students and parents as a very positive message for keeping students safe online. It sounds like a very sophisticated concept, but when you break it down, digital citizenship is nothing more than helping teach how to steer clear of cyberbullying, leaving a positive online footprint, and showing students what is available to help them online, all while keeping them safe and private. There are many online tools and seminars to help teachers in this evolving area, as technology continues to increase its presence in classrooms at all levels. The good news is that these lessons apply directly to the North Carolina Essential Standards and are part of a good curriculum. The lesson I want to outline for you is called, Rings of Responsibility, and will show what kinds of responsibilities a good digital citizen has. It applies to the NC Standards on Safety and Ethical Issues, 3.SE.1, Understand issues related to the safe, ethical, and responsible use of information and technology resources. This lesson shows the students their responsibilities, both offline and online by categorizing activities into categories: Self, Friends and Family, and Larger Community. This helps the students see what is expected of them and what their responsibilities are. The lessons online that help establish good digital citizens focus on being respectful and not bullying, communicating with people you know, visiting safe sites, and keeping your information private. These are all lessons that are important both offline and online and it is important that students know that the online world can be unsafe as well. This lesson is accomplished by making three rings of responsibility that mirror the categories of self, friends and family, and larger community. Students will place keywords such as: I protect my password, I get permission to post photos, and I keep my information private on the appropriate ring, and discussion takes place to reinforce and answer questions.

            Before engaging in any lessons, it is important that the students understand digital citizenship. Teachningchannel.org has a wonderful video of a teacher giving a lesson to a fifth grade class that can be used as a resource. https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-digital-citizenship In his lesson, the teacher engages the class in small groups, asks probing questions, has the students talk among themselves and listens to the students ideas. He then has the students build a digital citizen superhero and apply words and concepts to that superhero. In this way, the teacher engages all of the students in a collaborative manner. Each student has their own superhero and makes a comic so that learning and understanding can be evaluated by the teacher. The video is seven minutes long, but is filled with good ideas and concepts to keep the students safe and make them good digital citizens.

            Another great tool that teaches about digital citizenship is the Webonauts game on pbskids.org, This game takes you through several lessons that stress privacy, how to deal with situations of bullying and being responsible online. Through a series of scenes, it teaches the students about keeping information and settings private so only people you want to see your information can see it. It also shows how what you post online can be public information and how people can use it against you. It teaches about why you should protect your password at all times and is a fun interactive way to learn how to be a digital citizen. This is a game that students can do in groups, individually, or at home with their parents as a learning experience for the family.

  There are even websites for teachers to participate in continuing education and listen to speakers and watch videos online. Technology is a great tool in the classroom and allows teachers to differentiate education plans, and monitor student progress faster and better than before. Many students in elementary school will come to school with great exposure to technology, but it is important for all educators to remember that many of the safety lessons online will be taught in school, not at home. We as teachers need to educate ourselves, so that we can teach our students about digital citizenship.