Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship refers to the safe and responsible use of technology and encompasses far more than most people realize. Common Sense Media has identified eight (8) distinct areas of digital citizenship:

• Internet Safety

• Privacy and Security

• Relationships and Communication

• Cyberbullying and Digital Drama

• Digital Footprints and Reputation

• Self-Image and Identity

• Information Literacy

• Creative Credit and Copyright

The Common Sense Media website has a wealth of Digital Citizenship resources for parents, educators, and other advocates.

TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge)

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) attempts to identify the nature of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge.

The TPACK framework addresses the interrelationships between the various forms of knowledge for teachers:

• Content Knowledge (CK)

• Pedagogy Knowledge (PK)

• Technology Knowledge (TK)

• Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)

• Technological Content Knowledge (TCK)

• Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK)

• Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK)

To learn more about TPACK, visit tpack.org.

SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition)

The SAMR framework for technology integration was developed by Ruben Puentedura, Ph. D. as a way to create learning tasks that result in higher achievement for students.

• At the Substitution Level, technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with no functional change.

• At the Augmentation level, technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with functional improvement.

• At the Modification level, technology allows for significant task redesign.

• At the Redefinition level, technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable.

There are many SAMR resources available online. Too many to list here. Of particular interest is Dr. Ruben Puentedura's blog.

DOK (Depth of Knowledge)

Dr. Norman Webb developed Depth of Knowledge as a way to measure the amount of complex thinking required to successfully answer an assessment related item or classroom activity. The higher the level, the more complex thinking that is required.

• Level 1 tasks focus on recall and reproduction. DOK 1 tasks simply require students to remember a correct response or formula.

• Level 2 tasks focus on skills and concepts. DOK 2 tasks require students to make some decisions about their approach and typically require more than one mental step.

• Level 3 tasks focus on strategic thinking. DOK 3 tasks include some degree of planning and the use of evidence by the student. This includes tasks with more than one correct response requiring justification on the part of the student for their choice.

• Level 4 tasks focus on extended thinking. DOK 4 tasks require students to synthesize information from multiple sources, or transfer knowledge from one domain to solve a problem in another.

For more specific ideas on what tasks correlate to each DOK level, consider this chart. The right most column is far more important than the middle column.

The 4 Cs (Critical Thinking, Communication, Creativity, Collaboration)

The Four Cs are the result of the work of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). Over the course of 2 years, P21 developed a "Framework for 21st Century Learning," which emphasized 18 different skills. Over time, and with input from leaders of all kinds, these 18 skills were narrowed to the 4 that were deemed to be the most critical for K-12 education:

• Critical Thinking

• Communication

• Creativity

• Collaboration

Life and work environments are becoming increasingly more complex. To thrive in these environments, students will need these four learning and innovation skills.

To learn more about the 4 Cs, click on each of them above to go to the corresponding P21 Research Series.