The infographic below,link to my podcast, and final reflection are the last elements for me in my digital citizenship course. These synthesize my learning from this course and are key pieces for my ongoing efforts to bring curriculum on digital citizenship to my district.
Some of the important takeaways for me from my recent digital citizenship course were the importance of teaching our students how to be good digital citizens, that a digital footprint can last a lifetime, and laws are in place to protect us and our intellectual property in the digital world. Teaching students how to interact with others in the digital world is one of the most important 21st century skills we can teach. There is an assumption on the part of many teachers and parents that students understand how to work technology and should also understand how to use it wisely. This is simply not true. Students must be taught how to interact responsibly with technology and the digital world, and how to create a digital footprint that is positive. This teaching must be ongoing, and modeling of these expectations are helpful for creating good digital citizens. I was surprised at how many laws there are for copyrights on digital content. I knew of Creative Commons before I began this course but knew nothing about the licenses. Teachers use pictures, videos, articles, and other content daily to teach and it is so important that they are aware of the copyright laws and use them as a guide. Properly citing work and ensuring that copyright laws are followed not only keeps teachers and students safe from potentially using something illegally, but also gives credit to those who produced the work. One of the most useful aspects of this course for me was learning about digital footprints. I grew up in an era before cell phones, something I am thankful for every day, but our children and students are growing up in the digital age where there is a permanent record of their online posts and pictures. This is an area I want to improve in as a teacher and parent. Stressing the importance of creating a positive online reputation for children is so important, they need to be trained in how to do this and reminded often to think through the content they are planning to post. As an educational leader, learning that our students and teachers must have training in digital citizenship and finding ways to provide this training is a key area of growth for me. I am part of a district that is 1:1 on technology and just placing the technology in everyone's hands and saying go forth and be productive is not enough. There needs to be training and guidance for all stakeholders to keep the technology from being misused and keep everyone safe in the digital world. I plan to start with my campus leadership and begin developing a plan for how to work digital citizenship into the curriculum. There needs to be an understanding that it will take time to do this, but it will be worth it because it is helping create a better use of the technology resources while also creating a community of responsible digital citizens. Overall, one of my favorite aspects of taking part in this course has been the creation of materials I can use on my campus and in my district to help promote digital citizenship. I created my first podcast and plan to continue these for a series about digital citizenship and I have found valuable resources for teachers and students about digital citizenship.
This week in my digital citizenship course, the focus was on cyberbullying. As a child of the 80s and 90s, I’m thankful every day that we did not have internet or cell phones. There were bullies of course, but cyberbullies seem so much worse because there is no real escape from them. We see this as adults on any given social media platform. There is always someone lurking in a comments section waiting to pounce on people who felt comfortable enough to share. Memes that make fun of people for anything you can think of are constantly being shared as are stories of people faltering and failing meant to be entertainment. As part of our course, we watched a video of Monica Lewinsky speaking at a Ted Talk about her experience of public shame and humiliation back in the 90s. She was tortured by media to the point of considering ending her life just to find some peace. This was long before social media and yet the attacks against her left her feeling hopeless and desperate. If her story broke today, it would be everywhere. Every social media platform would be carrying her story and memes would be generated to further poke fun at her. At the center of the scandal, there was a human being who was young and made regrettable choices. This is the part of shaming that usually gets left out. Those involved in scandals are no longer seen as human beings. If Monica’s story came out today, I have my doubts that she would have survived it. Online bullying is brutal and the victims have no place to escape from it. Though the problem of cyberbullying is growing, there are ways to combat against it. In the cases I studied this week, if action was taken by those involved including the victims the outcome was better. If the victim told adults and the adults helped them take action against the bullies then the attack could be stopped. If the victim stayed silent, then the attacks continued and grew worse. As a young person, it is sometimes difficult to talk to anyone about problems but in potential cyberbullying situations it is imperative to talk to someone about it. This is where education comes in. Educating students on what cyberbullying is, how to handle it if they become the target of an attack, and how not to become a bully are key parts to understanding and stopping this. Adults including teachers, staff, and parents also need to be aware of the signs of cyberbullying and how to help a child who is being bullied. Education for all may not prevent cases of cyberbullying, but it equips everyone to better handle it if it does happen. Also, people who are educated about cyberbullying may deter would be attackers from trying to start something. The key takeaways here are understanding that cyberbullying is a real problem that needs to be taken seriously by everyone. Education on how to address and handle cyberbullying attacks is critical for helping anyone who may be a victim or someone that a victim reaches out to.
For more information and resources on how to prevent cyberbullying, click on the box below:
This week I was introduced to copyright law as part of my digital citizenship course at Lamar University. I went into this knowing little about copyrights other than there are materials out there that have a copyright and permissions must be obtained to use those materials. I am finishing the week with new knowledge about just how much copyrighted material teachers use daily and some of the laws that apply to this use. The copyright laws also apply to our students and the work they create and use, especially online. It is important that both educators and students understand the basics of copyright law and where to find information that can help them. One of the most important resources for both teachers and students is the fair use policy. Fair use is commonly how teachers are allowed to use small parts of copyrighted works in their classrooms for educational purposes. The important aspects of this are how much of the work is being used and how it is used for educational purposes. It is important for educators to understand the basics of fair use and how it can help them with using copyrighted materials in class. Another valuable resource is Creative Commons. If you are like me, you have added pictures to a presentation on PowerPoint using the images from Creative Commons. There is so much more out there in Creative Commons and the website is a wonderful place for teachers and students to find copyrighted materials they want to use and share. It allows the creators of copyrighted material to obtain licenses for sharing their work with the public. The licenses in Creative Commons give guidance for how the owner of the material wants their works to be shared including how to cite their work and give attribution as needed. Giving attribution to a copyrighted work can also help give credence to using it under the fair use policy. Another important aspect of copyright law that teachers should be knowledgeable about is public domain. There are works that are released into public domain all the time because the copyrights have ended. Just this year, works from 1925 were released into public domain. The works in public domain including literary works, films, and music can be used and built upon by teachers and students alike and are no longer subject to copyright. Works that are public domain should still be credited to the authors and creators out of respect for their work though. In the brief time that I have spent delving into copyright law, it has been an eye-opening experience. Many educators,including myself, take for granted much of the work we use in class that may be copyrighted. The more we know about copyrights the more we can create legally. Also, teachers are tasked with educating students on how to be good digital citizens and this includes teaching them the basics of copyrights and how to properly cite works that they are using. These are not only skills for the classroom, but these are also life skills that will help prepare them for the future.
Week two reflection
The portrait of a good digital citizen includes awareness of the content that we add to the digital world and the understanding that how we present ourselves online good or bad, reflects on us. I read several articles this week about our digital footprint and gained insight into how that footprint is created, how it can be changed, and most importantly how each student I teach also creates a digital footprint.
In one activity, I searched for my name on Google. Thankfully, I have been cautious with what I post and put online so my digital footprint is not a bad one. If I were applying for a job right now, I doubt my digital footprint would raise any red flags. I was happy to see that my Weebly website was the first thing to pop up. Knowing that site is the firstplace people are directed in a search about me also made me aware that my website needs to be edited regularly and be representative of the work I am creating as an educator and graduate student. The knowledge I have of my own digital footprint can help me to educate my students on how to create a positive digital footprint for themselves. As an adult, it is easier to think of potential consequences before acting. With maturity comes caution in most things. As a middle school teacher, I face a challenge in teaching young people to exercise caution when they put content online. My students tend not to think ahead or evaluate potential consequences before they act. In the case of social media, many of my students have been reckless with what they put online. I have even talked to students who have been in arguments with people that they do not know in online chats and gaming forums. It does not even occur to most that a simple screenshot can make a comment made in a heated moment, permanent. This is where education on how to create a digital footprint that is positive becomes vital. This is a skill that will help students minimize the damage that can happen by being careful with what they put out online. Teaching students to be cautious about what they say online, the pictures and videos they choose to post, and not engaging in arguments online can go a long way to helping them become better digital citizens as well. It may sound silly especially to my students, but I believe one of the best ways I can teach them to protect themselves and the digital footprint they create is by imagining themselves going to a busy street and saying or doing the things they plan on posting. If they imagine a crowd of people standing around that includes their family, teachers, friends, and mentors would they think twice before they posted something? That visualization could be the very thing they need to help them think before posting something that is permanent and potentially harmful to their reputation. Students may not think much of potential consequences, but if they are given a way to look at a situation as reality rather than just a simple post online that could make many of them think twice. Teaching students to be cautious about the digital footprint they leave behind will not be an easy task. It is something that will have to be talked about regularly by teachers and parents. The task is so important though. It is frightening to think of the damage students may do because they are irresponsible with how they represent themselves online. In some cases, the damage could be irreversible. That is why it is vital for teachers to start now and help students learn to cultivate a positive digital footprint as well as teaching them how to minimize the damage from the things they have shared online in the past. The digital age is here and just as it is our responsibility to make sure students learn 21st century skills, we must also ensure they learn to create a positive image of themselves in the digital world.
Week one reflection
Digital citizenship is a hot topic in education, especially as more classrooms transition to curriculum that is mostly online and 1:1 student technology is becoming more common. In my current course in the DLL program, I am studying digital citizenship and how it relates to my work as a teacher and my students. The first thing I learned is what digital citizenship means. In the text, Digital Citizenship in Schools: Nine Elements All Students Should Know it is defined as “Norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use.” (Ribble, 2015). The author, Mike Ribble, breaks down the concepts within digital citizenship into three categories which each contain three elements. These categories are respect, educate and protect. The first category, respect, contains the elements digital access or providingequitable access to technology and internet, digital etiquette which is the manners used when conducting yourself online, and digital law which relates to the legal use and sharing of digital property.Next, the educate category includes digital communication, digital literacy, and digital commerce. Digital communication covers how students communicate with others online, their audience, and the ability to discern which digital tool is appropriate for their message. Digital literacy includes the use and evaluation of digital tools as well as proper citation of digital materials. Digital commerce helps students understand how to safely make online purchases. Finally, the protect category covers digital rights and responsibilities, digital safety and security, and digital health and wellness. The rights and responsibilities are privacy rights, and freedom of speech. Safety and security deals with protecting personal information and controlling access to personal data through privacy settings. Health and wellness are about knowing when to unplug from the digital world for breaks and finding balance between activities that are on and offline. Many of the elements of digital citizenship relate to each other such as etiquette and communication. Knowing your audience and having respectful communication in the digital world go hand in hand. Protecting your information online and making purchases are also tied together, we want students to be safe consumers. Digital literacy goes along with rights and responsibilities because you must know the legal expectations of being a digital citizen to protect your rights and not infringe on the rights of others. It is important to understand that because there are elements that relate to each other, digital citizenship should include all these so that students become well rounded as digital citizens and they understand the importance of all these elements and how they work together. The most important takeaways for me from this week are that digital citizenship is not something that can be overlooked as we head further into the digital age in schools. Also, it is not just the students who need to be educated, but also the adults involved in educating them. Teachers can be the best models of what good digital citizenship looks like.Students are thrust into the digital world earlier in life and in many cases the maturity to handle online activities and environments is not developed yet. It is our responsibility to teach students, especially younger ones, how to be good digital citizens without making assumptions that they already know what they need to do. Too often teachers assume that their students’ high level technology skills must also mean that they know how to be good digital citizens. We must teach these skills to fill the gap between digital knowledge and digital responsibility.