We're at the next phase of the digital standards development project.
The different working groups developed draft standards between May - September 2023. Now we need to vote to adopt, edit / refine, or discard the draft digital standards that were developed for each group.
Please use the Google form on the right to vote for the draft digital standards for each group. Your feedback will be used to help us refine the standards and make this a truly co-creative process where everyone's voice can be included.
Parents/caregivers and communities play a critical role in education generally. This working group looks at digital standards that can support and guide parents / caregivers and communities in this critical role. If you'd like to join this or any other group, please complete the form by clicking on the button ↓ below ↓.
As you prepare for the Working Group Meeting 1, please look online for standards for your group around digital engagement, cyber safety and cyber wellness. We'll focus on these areas in Meeting 1.
Add your suggestions for Standards for Digital Citizenship in the appropriate column on the Padlet below.
Supports the school's digital learning strategy by advocating for greater community involvement, fundraising and/or protection of the school's resources.
Accesses community centres, libraries or other resources to gain digital skills and literacies.
Takes ownership of and responsibility for teaching their children about online safety and appropriate behaviour online.
During the roundtable, participants brainstormed some suggestions for possible standards for institutions. They initially used a Padlet as indicated.
On Day 2 they used sticky notes and a robot system which were captured on a GDoc shows their group discussions and suggestions that were developed on Day 2.
Participants wrote standards on sticky notes and added them to different posters:
Green: High Priority
Orange: Medium Priority
Red: Low Priority
This allowed them to discuss their priorities and potentially move their sticky notes around.
Dr Tarling analysed the standards developed from Iteration 1 Brainstorm. The sticky notes were digitized and analysed using the digital capital map. The results for each group were then collated and plotted on the radial chart to create the map of focus areas that the initial brainstorm sessions highlighted.
The group working on parents / caregivers and communities, predominantly focused on the need for these groups to develop both group and individual agency to participate in and support the education of learners. To a lesser extent they identified cyber safety, digital engagement and digital skills.
The working group for parents / caregivers and communities can take this map and identify where gaps arose in the initial brainstorming sessions, and develop steps to specifically develop standards that address the entire map and not just key points.
After the first meeting, initial, broad standards were identified and expanded. During the meeting, additional points were added for discussion and included in a growing list which lead to the development of potential level descriptors for the different standards.
While standards for 01) Learners, 02) Educators and 03) School Leaders were generally quite adaptable to a rubric format, this was not the case for 04) Parents and Communities, 05) NGOs, supporters and volunteers, and 06) Institutions and Infrastructure. The nature of the standards for groups 4-6 was more aligned with general guidelines for good practice than a progression or continuum. It was therefore decided to not present the last three group's standards using a table / rubric format, but instead use a standard bullet point format.
Additionally, the need was expressed in the parent group for a toolkit, including a first aid kit, that parents could use to help them navigate the digital world we live in. Screen Sanity is an organisation that provides such guides to parents. Their free-to-download documents were collated in this flipbook as a start to a parent toolkit. More resources are available on their website: https://screensanity.org/
It is our hope that this toolkit will grow and evolve over time to address topical trends and challenges that impact parents across South Africa.
Please use the Padlet below to post any comments, questions or suggestions about your working group or the general process that we need to be aware off. We can only improve the process with your input, and really value hearing from you!