DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
In the connected era, students will be most successful after college if they have a digital presence that promotes their unique abilities and strengths. Online instructors are poised to play a powerful role in the development of our students’ digital footprint. Students aspire to be like their instructors who actively model safe and professional use of digital tools and resources. Effective online teachers understand that engaging students in the web is an important part of becoming digitally literate and, as such, learning is not tied to a textbook.
This principle emphasizes:
- Developing one’s own professional digital presence;
- Using and remixing digital Open Educational Resources (OER) to facilitate active learning;
- Establishing a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources while fostering digital literacy and media fluency;
- Providing opportunities for students to create content that can be shared outside of a learning management system;
- Fostering a learning environment that encourages students to connect with and learn from a global audience.
Reflections
Where I was.
Before taking this class, I didn't even know what digital citizenship was. I would often use digital resources without understanding whether I was doing something that could be interpreted as unethical or in violation of copyright or other license. Something as simple as using an image of a math graph from the internet on a handout or test would make me feel uneasy. I wasn't sure I could learn on my own about being a respectful user of digital resources. I knew the information I could find online wasn't always reliable or unbiased. As an educator, I was really lacking in this aspect and I was unaware of the role I could play to support my students to become good digital citizens.
Where I am.
I understand what digital citizenship is and what is matters to me as a teacher, parent, and a person. While taking this class, I evolved from feeling ignorant and apprehensive to finishing up as an informed and empowered digital citizen. I found myself sharing the articles and videos from this class with friends and family because I felt they were relevant to anybody who uses the internet or any digital media.
I often find myself using the term ‘digital citizenship’ when talking about social media and the internet with colleagues, friends, and family. I have developed into a digital critical thinker. I am an informed social and digital media user, consumer, and creator since learning about digital polarization, algorithm bias, digital redlining, and big data. More importantly, I feel empowered to guide my students in helping them become great digital citizens. I am no longer afraid. If I don’t know something about digital citizenship, then I know where to look for it.
Where I'm headed.
As I prepare to teach all my courses online during the fall semester, I want to develop a learning unit with a focus on student-centered digital citizenship.
I anticipate that my students will use digital media more than ever before. As such, one of my goals is to guide them to become empowered users who understand and value netiquette and the other core ideas of digital citizenship.
One of the most impactful assignments from this class was looking up my name on a search engine. I realized that if I want to have more control over my digital presence then I have to develop it by creating and maintaining my professional social media profiles. I to design learning opportunities for my students to not only consume, but also curate and create digital media with the confidence of a digital native and the knowledge of a digital citizen.
Examples
Professional Digital Presence
Having a Twitter account has opened a new world of learning and sharing with other education professionals. It has also given me more control over my own professional digital presence.
DigCiz Teaching Digital Ethics Assignment.pdfAssignment: Digital Ethics
As a digital citizen and an online instructor, it is important that at the very least I introduce my students to the principles of digital citizenship so that I can guide them to use digital tools and content in a safe and responsible manner. This assignment asks my students to use their critical thinking and digital citizenship skills to challenge the stereotypes promoted by search engine algorithms. These "algorithms of oppression" can have a particularly negative effect on our underrepresented students.
My Instructor Website
My website allows me to increase my professional digital presence and connect with my students and colleagues. Most of my instructional content in housed in Canvas which means that students cannot view it until they enroll in my class. By checking out my website, students can get a sense of what my teaching philosophy and style are like before they enroll in one of my courses.
Using OER
Though I currently don't use an OER textbook for this class, I piloted 3 sections from the OpenStax Precalculus textbook during the past term. Many students had never used OER in math before but they quickly adapted to the different electronic textbook.
OER for Conics
The traditional textbook I was using for this class did not provide a satisfactory amount of breadth and depth for conic sections. Fortunately, I had been previously introduced to the OpenStax Precalculus textbook which contains rich coverage of this topic.