Digital Citizenship & Information Literacy
Digital Citizenship
According to Common Sense Media, digital citizenship is the responsible, safe and respectful use of technology. "All students need digital citizenship skills to participate fully in their communities and make smart choices online and in life." (CommonSense Media, 2020)
Included under the umbrella of Digital Citizenship are the following topics:
Media Balance and Well-Being
Privacy and Security
Digital Footprint and Identity
Relationships and Communication
Cyberbullying, Digital Drama & Hate Speech
News & Media Literacy
Go to Common Sense Media's web site and explore their resources and curriculum. Their curriculum and resources are divided by grade levels. Additionally, they have a multitude of resources for teachers to share with parents and for parents to access themselves. Take a closer look at the "Common Sense Media Lessons".
For this course we are going to take a closer look at News and Media Literacy, Creative Credit & Copyright and Cyberbully & Digital Drama.
Information Literacy
Go to Common Sense Media and read their definition of Information Literacy sections.
Once you've completed this brief introduction of information literacy, watch the videos below which are examples of how other teachers have begun to integrate news and media literacy practices into their classrooms.
With digital tools, it is easier than ever to create, edit, and publish your work to the world. But there’s a cost. It’s also easier than ever to spread misinformation. And fake news has become a real issue in recent times. We see this with students. According to a Stanford study, only 25% of high school students were able to identify an accurate news story when also given a fake one. Students also had a hard time distinguishing between real and fake photographs as well as authentic and staged videos. Researchers used the words “bleak” and “dismaying” to describe it. But it’s not going away anytime soon and that’s a very real problem.
So, how do we fix it?
"John Spencer: Helping Students Identify Fake News with the Five C's of Critical Consuming" https://youtu.be/xf8mjbVRqao Accessed 7 Oct. 2020
Students meet ELA Common Core State Standards by learning how different keywords produce different search results. Students practice select effective keywords to answer a research question, and test those keywords in online searches.
"Improving Research Skills with Effective Keywords" CommonSenseEducation https://youtu.be/pSfVKMl-Hj8 Accessed 7 Oct. 2020
As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there's a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a "filter bubble" and don't get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. Eli Pariser argues powerfully that this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy. www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles?language=en#t-525190"Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles" | TED Talk | TED.com." https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles. Accessed 16 May. 2017.
Confirmation Bias and Your Brain! ABOVE THE NOISE is a show that cuts through the hype and takes a deeper look at the research behind controversial and trending topics in the news. Hosted by Myles Bess and Shirin Ghaffary. In this video, Myles dives into the research and offers some tips to combat confirmation bias.
"Why Do Our Brains Love Fake News?" https://youtu.be/dNmwvntMF5A Accessed 7 Oct. 2020