As digital platforms and different avenues of technology become more and more prevalent in every aspect of society, digital citizenship should be modeled and directly taught to students. There are many themes throughout digital citizenship, relevant to children and adults alike. Below you will find some resources that define and reflect valuable information regarding digital citizenship.

After looking through many resources on digital citizenship, I found several definitions that are similar, but also unique in their own ways. Dr. Ribble, the author of Digital Citizenship in Schools (2015), defines digital citizenship as the “continuously developing norms of appropriate, responsible, and empowered technology use.” The journal article iCitizen: Are You a Socially Responsible Digital Citizen? (Curran, 2012), describes digital citizenship as a digital version of character education. According to the definition in the article “We shouldn’t assume people know what digital citizenship is,” the definition is “the norms of appropriate, responsible tech use.”

From reading these resources about digital citizenship, my own definition lies very closely with Dr. Ribble. As he describes in the first chapter, there really is not another source that encompasses all that is truly involved in digital citizenship. The definition should involve the connotation that it is for everyone, not just to be taught in schools. Being a digital citizen means that you know how to use social skills and responsibility that you use in everyday life within the digital world. It’s really a ‘way of being’ whenever using tech to enter the digital world.

I would explain this topic to my colleagues by using the Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship by Dr. Ribble. I am a math curriculum coordinator which would drive the way I talk about digital citizenship from a student perspective, teacher perspective, and how it impacts curriculum and instruction. Definitely, in my department we would want to talk about digital access and health and welfare because that impacts how we develop curriculum and how we educate teachers about what tech use should look like in the classroom to benefit students most. In years like last year, we definitely saw how important it is to be digitally fluent. When teachers are not very fluent, students get a very different education than when the teacher is very fluent with technology and willing to take risks because of their level of comfort. In our department I would also talk about how rights and responsibility are part of digital citizenship. We have to be careful to cite everything we use, including graphics so that we don’t get our district into trouble with copyright.

I also really related to the three categories these elements fall into are: directly affect student learning and academic performance, affect the overall school environment and student behavior, and affect student life outside of the school environment. The principles are interrelated by having a common goal of improving learning outcomes and preparing students for being future ready. They are separated into different categories so that educators can focus on areas where they have the most control and impact in students’ lives.

The three guiding principles are Safe, Savvy, and Social. These are really the foundational principles that students should learn from day one of having technology. They need to know how to keep the wide web a safe place and what that means in a digital world. Savvy includes students being able to maneuver effectively through the digital world. Social includes responsibly and respectfully interacting with others.

The digital world is so much more different than it used to be. Our kids have digital access at the touch of a finger. Kids and adults need to always keep in mind that their digital activity is leaving a lasting footprint. We all need to remember there are people on the other side of the internet. Everyone has to be so careful about what they post online. It can follow you for years to come. We should use the internet to impact people, not impress people.

What Nicholas Negroponte was describing in his Ted Talk (2002) reminded me of when we watch the video about the learning computers that people were planting in rural areas all over the world to see what would happen. Humans have the desire to figure things out and are drawn to things that interest them. It is shown blatantly that kids can learn outside of school based on what they learn from video games in their spare time. This is also true when we see students in classrooms who get to learn in a hands on, inquiry based way. They are more involved in learning than if they were just sitting and taking in information. Another example would be riding a bike. Students won’t likely learn to ride a bike by watching a video about it. They would learn to ride it by trying it out, and learning from mistakes.

This quote relates to what I am learning as I am reading Productive Math Struggle (Sangiovanni, et al., 2020). In one chapter, it talks about how that just learning how to struggle can apply in all parts of human life. When children learn that mistakes are expected and that you have to persevere when things are hard, they realize they need to keep going and trying because productive struggle is sometimes necessary to learn.

Net neutrality is so important to education. It provides equity and access to all relevant information as students research and learn throughout their school career. It is also so important that teachers have that access at students’ fingertips because it empowers students to be in charge of their learning and takes that responsibility off the teacher to be the sole information provider. For educators, net neutrality also makes sure that the online market for tools that teachers use is fair and then teachers have choices in what is best for their students.

I found a profile for myself for Linked In, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. When I looked at Images, I found 9 that were all from social media posts on Twitter. That is the only account I have that is public. I am comfortable with my digital footprint. I learned from my first boss about what is appropriate and inappropriate for social media. She was very strict about it as a principal with very involved parents in our community. As I have gotten older, I have continued to follow her guidance and I do not post anything controversial or anything that I would not be comfortable being shared. I have myself a 4, because I feel that my digital footprint even helps others grow.

References:

SanGiovanni, J., Dykema, K., & Katt, S. (2020). Productive Math Struggle: a 6-point action plan for fostering perseverance. Sage Publications, Inc.

TEDtalksDirector. (2014, July 8). A 30-year history of the future | Nicholas Negroponte. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b5BDoddOLA.

What I learned this week and reflected on is the effective use of copyrighted materials definitely enhances the teaching and learning process. There are some barriers that teachers have in using copyrighted materials correctly. Those reasons I think are because of lack of time, lack of district money for resources, and lack of training.

When I talk about not having enough time, teachers get very little planning time, and if there is not a set curriculum or district paid for resources, teachers go to whatever is easiest to access within their few minutes of being able to prepare for a day’s lesson.

I think sometimes the issue of following copyright for teachers is the lack of time and resources that districts have. A lot of teachers feel like they do not have enough resources, so when they do find resources to use, they are tempted to just use it and even share the work of others. I feel like this is rarely out of not wanting to do the right thing, it comes down to the lack of funds to pay for it or time to vet resources or knowledge of what their district offers as curriculum resources that support what they are trying to have students accomplish. Not only will it give students better resources for information if the district provides these resources adequately, the students will have a more personalized use of them since they will have to buy the rights of use for each student.

It is very difficult sometimes to get these points across to teachers because of the time constraints they are under as teachers, and the lack of resources that can sometimes be available to smaller school districts. It is so important to remind teachers of creative ways to get resources into the hands of students without copyright infringement and teaching students about how to access materials they need that have been vetted and purchased for teacher use.

It is also important how teachers inform and take students through the learning process about copyright. They need to understand that there could be fines associated with it, and really the important part is the why. If we didn't have copyright laws, people would not be as willing to share their ideas. With students, you can approach copyright by relating it to not copying each other’s work. Teachers cannot just use unlimited amounts of copies just because it is for educational use. If teachers do want to share with their students, they need to do it on a private learning management system. When looking at information in public domains, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it doesn’t have a copyright. If you are going to use chunks of text, you have to paraphrase. As an employee or teacher and you create things on your own time, if it is done during school hours, on a school device, or a school domain, the ownership can be claimed by the company or school district.

Reference:

Brown, R. (2012). From the University Presses-The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries. Against the Grain, 24(4). https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176x.6203

Cyberbullying is a huge issue. There is data that shows that most people have seen cyberbullying happen online, but most do not say anything. People who are cyberbullied are much more likely to commit suicide. Youtube has a higher percentage of being cyberbullied than other platforms. Children are starting earlier with cyberbullying online. It can be tricky for schools to get involved in cyberbullying when it does not occur at school. Adults also participate in cyberbullying.

According to Hinduja and Patchin (2015), cyberbullying consists of four elements: The behavior has to be on purpose and willful. It has to be a pattern of behavior, not just one time. The person being bullied must feel as though they have been harmed. The last element is that it happens in a cyber environment, such as over the phone, online, or with another device.

Cyberbullying happens online with all ages of people, but particularly with teens. It gets exponentially worse as students have access to phones and then build social media accounts. Where that there used to only be a certain time and place for bullying to happen at school with students who are easy targets, now it can happen at any hour of the day and reach unlimited amounts of people. It can happen on social media where a student can be targeted on their own page or from a source started by someone else. It can happen through text and prank calls. The point is that it is a huge issue that has cost many students their lives as they feel they can only turn to suicide as their only way to escape the torture.

I have been reading a book by Dan Heath called Upstream (2020) that is all about analyzing the problems at hand, and figuring out how to go “upstream” and prevent them. I think that a curriculum that is hands on would be the perfect start to educate students about the effects of cyberbullying. It needs to happen in middle school when students are just starting to access social media and most of them have phones. It cannot be a sit and get experience. It has to immerse students into the effects of cyberbullying and have them develop empathy for others. They also need to learn how to be an upstander, not just hear about what it is. There needs to be role playing involved and it needs to be revisited often. It cannot be a one time event.

References:

Heath, D. (2020). Upstream. Simon & Schuster.

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the schoolyard: preventing and responding to cyberbullying. Corwin.