Digital Citizenship Mini-Lessons

Here we have three different activities for you to enjoy. Try them all, if you'd like! Each is worth a maximum of 5 points of extra credit.

Lesson One: bubbl.us

Now that we've talked about appropriate and inappropriate speech online, meander over to bubbl.us. Create a new account and do the following:

• Make three "parent" bubbles with the following three phrases:

  • Keyanna is 13 and she often plays Whatville, a virtual world for middle school kids like herself. One day, another avatar throws a heart her way. Keyanna knows that throwing hearts is a common way to flirt on Whatville. She also knows he’s not a newbie, because it takes someone with a lot experience to design the kind of appearance that his avatar has.

  • Abby is 14. Yesterday was her friend Ivan’s bar mitzvah, and Abby chatted with some of his relatives at the party. Today, Abby logs on to the social networking site MyFace and sees a friend request from Ivan’s uncle. She doesn’t know him very well, but they did chat a little bit about school at the dessert buffet.

  • Catherine is talking with her online friend MikeyMike99. He’s starting to flirt with her lately, and she’s flattered because he seems pretty mature. After all, Catherine’s not really into any of the guys at her school, so she likes flirting with Mike online. She’s pretty good at it too. And yeah, he said something that might have been kind of sexual once or twice. Today he writes, “Can I show u a pic?” Before she types a response, he says again: “Keep this private ok? I like u, Cat. I hope u like me 2.”

• For each parent bubble, make two child bubbles. One should say "(person's name) could say..." and one should say "(person's name) could do..." Tell me what the person might say or do to be safe in that situation. Use at least three sentences.

• When you have finished, please export the project as a PNG image.

Remember, not all of these situations might necessarily be dangerous; they may just be situations that need to be handled delicately! Think your way through the situations carefully.

If you need help, check out my tutorial on bubbl.us on the tutorials page. My example is below.

Lesson Two: ID Maker

Head to ID Creator's Badge Maker. You're going to be making an "internet license." Pretend this identification card is something you have to present every time you post online. What are you comfortable with having on that card?

• Choose a badge (make sure it can hold a lot of info!) and press next

• Add your picture (make sure it's cropped and sized correctly--and remember, only share your picture if it's something you'd be comfortable sharing online! Otherwise, just use something that represents you.)

• Change the title to "Internet License"

• Change at least four different sections on the card so that they reflect things you're okay with sharing on the internet (make sure to Unlock Object first so that you can modify them)

• Use the Windows Snipping Tool to save the license

If you don't happen to finish the license, use the Windows Snipping Tool to save your image. You can then finish the words in Paint.NET at some later time. 

If you need help, check out my tutorial on ID Creator on the tutorials page. My example is below.

Lesson Three: Make Beliefs Comix

Head to Make Beliefs Comix. You're going to make a comic either about preventing plagiarism or what bad thing might happen if someone actually plagiarizes! Your comic needs the following:

• At least four dialogue boxes

• At least two character

• At least one background

• At least two "objects"

If you don't happen to finish the comic, use the "Save Image To Disk" button to save your image. You can then finish the dialogue in Paint.NET at some later time. 

If you need help, check out my tutorial on Make Beliefs Comix on the tutorials page. My example is below.

Can I do this extra credit from home?: TOTALLY YES