Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices.
a. Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources
To advocate for safe and responsible use of social media in our school, I wrote an article on social media on The Smith School website. This article promotes our own use of social media for school communication while giving information about our school policy regarding student use.
I designed this digital citizenship curriculum to integrate with the IT courses I taught in New York. Instead of focusing on discrete digital citizenship learning goals, I wove the ideas into practical applications within the computer science curriculum. I also collaborated with teachers of other subjects to teach safe and ethical use of technology when using the computer lab for cross-curricular projects.
b. Address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources
In my reflection paper for the Intro to Tech in Schools course, I set out my goals for learning about addressing the needs of all learners with technology. Since students do not all come to school with equal access to and background knowledge in digital tools, it is up to us as educators to level the playing field. In online interactions with my peers, I can experiment with and develop my own skills in providing equal access to digital resources for all students.
In a health class I taught, we created a PSA video about getting a good night's sleep. This syllabus from the class demonstrates that I use digital storytelling as a means for learners to work together on a project-based final assessment. Though the rubric for the project gives clear guidelines for making the project complete, I don't assume that all learners will understand the process of creating multimedia nor the attributes of an effective public service announcement. Instead, I structured the unit to bring all students up to an equal starting point for the project, in part by building in activities in which students share background knowledge and help each other. Thus, the students in the class with varying levels of technical knowledge worked together using their new skills and created a product they were proud to share.
c. promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information
When introducing students to a new classroom environment, I make sure to include them in the decision making process. This creates ownership of the space, and responsibility for taking care of the resources. This was critically important when working with a group of high-energy students in a small computer lab. That's why my first assignment was to co-create the Smith School Lab Rules.
In my courses, the students use real tools with real audiences to share their work. This includes blogging and social media. In part, that's why I created the Smith School Facebook page. Here I modeled posting etiquette and responsible interaction with the public. I often pointed out specific issues with the site when discussing digital citizenship curricular concepts with students in the class.
d. Develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital age communication and collaboration tools.
This Technology Integration Lesson Plan pairs students with peers from other countries. Using video recording and editing software along with traditional film-making and storytelling tools such as storyboarding, students will maintain an ongoing conversation about their own culture in comparison with others. Like pen and paper based penpals, the Epals site helps teachers pair students from across the globe for individual or group communication. Adding the element of technology improves this activity by helping to develop technical skills among participants while allowing video to show more to help develop global cultural awareness.
My Edmodo PLN network demonstrates that I've connected with teachers from around the world in topical focus areas. My communities using Edmodo include computer science, technology for learning, and teachers of Japanese. By retrieving and posting lesson materials and participating in discussion forums around important issues, I have used this network of fellow educators to enrich the range and depth of my lesson plans and understanding of the state of my areas of instruction.