Digital Citizenship @ ASA

ASA is a Common Sense School which we actively teach digital citizenship as part of our curriculum and are invested in a safe and secure online environment for our learners. This year during the month of October our counseling team and specific classroom teachers emphasized the need for digital citizenship skills, especially during our period of virtual learning. Staying safe, smart, and secure online requires digging deeper into your digital habits and asking yourself questions.

How can I keep my private data safe and secure? ASA introduces students to the concept of online privacy and the potential implications of sharing private information with a range of people: friends, the public, app providers, and more. Students sharing information about themselves can be a natural and healthy activity, and it can lead to positive connections and personal growth. However, it can also present safety risks, and students need to be aware of potentially harmful consequences such as identity theft and financial exploitation.

How can I use media in healthy ways that give meaning and add value to my life? To support students in developing an internal sense of "media balance," we prompt students to reflect on the different feelings and emotions that arise when they engage in activities that involve digital media. Lessons focus on agency, not addiction, and quality time, not screen time. This means encouraging students to reflect on their own media diets and to develop individual plans for healthy media balance that consider both how media contributes productively and unproductively to their lives and relationships, and to grow the former and reduce the latter.

How can I cultivate my digital identity in ways that are responsible and empowering? In digital citizenship lessons at ASA, students consider how sharing information online can affect them and others and will learn how to reflect before they reveal, as well as encourage others to do the same. Students will also learn the pros and cons of having different personae and explore how presenting themselves differently online can affect their sense of self, their reputations, and their relationships.

How can I connect positively, treat others respectfully, and create a culture of kindness? In digital citizenship lessons at ASA, students explore the roles people play and how individual actions - negative and positive, intentional and unintentional - can affect their peers and their broader communities. They are encouraged to take the active role of an upstander to build positive, supportive online communities, and they will learn how to cultivate empathy, compassion, and courage to combat negative interactions online.