Objective:

Students will collaboratively discuss and evaluate the tradeoffs between making information public or keeping it private, focusing on issues of accessibility, privacy, and security. They will also reflect on how these decisions affect digital creators and users.

Materials Needed:

• Scenario cards with different online sharing situations (e.g., sharing art, social media posts, research)

• Chart paper and markers for each group

Steps:

• Introduction:

  • Begin with a discussion about the importance of digital sharing and privacy. 

  • Ask questions like, "What are the benefits of sharing your work online?" and "What could happen if your information is shared with the wrong people?" 

  • Discuss how artists and creators can reach broader audiences but may also face security and privacy concerns.

• Group Activity - Discussion and Scenario Analysis:

  • Divide students into small groups and provide each group with a scenario card. 

  • Scenarios may include an artist debating whether to make their art accessible to the public or a student deciding whether to post their research project online. 

  • Students will discuss the benefits and risks, focusing on privacy and accessibility tradeoffs. 

  • Each group writes their pros and cons on chart paper.

• Presentation and Discussion:

  • Each group presents their scenario and discusses the key privacy and accessibility trade offs they identified. 

  • They will engage the class in a collaborative discussion, posing questions about how to balance these considerations and how real-world creators handle these challenges. 

  • Encourage students to modify their views based on new ideas presented by classmates.

Equity and Access:

Ensure that each group has a mix of students with diverse perspectives. Provide sentence starters or guiding questions for students who need support in contributing to discussions.

Real-World Application:

Relate the lesson to how professionals like artists, writers, and content creators make decisions about sharing their work online. Highlight the relevance of online privacy and security for students’ digital lives, including social media and personal content sharing.

CS Practice(s):

• Collaborating Around Computing: Students work together to evaluate digital privacy tradeoffs, using structured discussion and collective decision-making.

• Communicating About Computing: Students articulate the benefits and risks of sharing content online, expressing their ideas clearly in group presentations.

Standard(s):

• CA CCSS ELA-Literacy SL.8.1

• CA CS 6-8.IC.24

Objective:

Students will create a multimedia presentation using Google Slides, Powerpoint, or another multimedia presentation tool to analyze the tradeoffs between making information public and keeping it private. They will research different technologies and engage in collaborative discussions to reflect on how platforms balance security and accessibility.

Materials Needed:

• Computers 

• Access to free-use images and videos for multimedia presentations

Steps:

• Introduction:

  • Begin by discussing how artists, content creators, and even businesses decide whether to share information publicly or keep it private. 

  • Ask students to reflect on their own experiences with social media or cloud platforms—do they make everything public? Why or why not?

• Group Activity - Research and Multimedia Creation:

  • Students work in pairs to choose a platform (e.g., YouTube, Instagram, Google Drive) and research how it handles privacy settings, access controls, and sharing options. 

  • Using a multimedia creation tool, they create a presentation that outlines the tradeoffs between accessibility and security. 

  • The presentation should include multimedia elements such as images, videos, or charts to support their analysis.

• Presentation and Collaborative Discussion:

  • Students present to the class, explaining their findings and highlighting the tradeoffs between making information public and ensuring privacy. 

  • After each presentation, classmates ask questions and respond with their observations, contributing to a broader discussion about the value and risks of public sharing.

Equity and Access:

Provide templates to support students who are less experienced with multimedia tools. Pair students with complementary skills (e.g., a stronger researcher with a more tech-savvy student) to ensure balanced collaboration.

Real-World Application:

Discuss how this lesson applies to real-world scenarios such as social media usage, content creation, and professional data sharing. Highlight how professionals in various fields, from artists to engineers, must weigh the benefits and risks of making their work public.

CS Practice(s):

Testing and Refining Computational Artifacts: Students gather and present information about different platforms, critically analyzing how they handle privacy and security.

Collaborating Around Computing: Students work together to create a polished, multimedia-rich presentation, using teamwork and technology to address a common issue.

Standard(s):

• CA CCSS ELA-Literacy SL.8.1

• CA CS 6-8.IC.24