In your school, are there any aspects of digital citizenship that are not being addressed, but should? How might you address this need, given some of the tools you now have at your disposal?
Where to begin...I guess you cannot address any of the other aspects of digital citizenship if you don't have digital access, right? With that being said, my school just really needs to get access! We need to get WiFi and we need to get one to one devices for the students, whether via BYOD, laptops, Googlebooks, or iPads. Anything at this point is better than what the students have. It still remains quite a difficult task, er feat, to try to address things that we, as educators in our school have zero control over. Luckily, I'm on the technology team for the building, so I can at least voice my concerns and explain the drastic need to get a move on with digital access. And since using the parents as supporters to get my first technology app. approved deemed successful, I will continue to work with them. It seems that their voices have a lot of pull in my district, so if I can get them on board, then I think it will help to put things in motion much faster. -Laura B.
In one sense I am really lucky, because my district is very excited about technology. They want us to use it; they want the students to learn to use it responsible. I fell that using advisory time to do some of these digital citizenship lessons is a perfect place to present the information. Last week I did a lesson out of our digital citizenship book with my advisory lesson group, the one we discussed in class- about appropriate use, and inappropriate use. I broke them into small groups and gave each group a situation and they talked about in small groups and them presented it to the entire group- it went well. I plan to fit in more lessons when I can.
Yes, advisory seems the way to go! That's great that you were able to use that time to talk about digital citizenship. We actually haven't started our advisory periods in our school, yet. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to be one of the teachers to do it, anyway, because when 7th grade is doing advisory, 8th grade is doing "activity period", which means I'm teaching band every advisory/activity day. I think the students would react really well to some of the activities in the book, especially the ones that involve the students coming up with scenarios themselves and acting them out.
I'm so jealous! I'd love to do something like this with my students, be we don't have an advisory period. I do have a homeroom, but I'm wary that if I do something out of the norm, without having it approved first, that I will get my hand slapped. Again. And my hand is kind of starting to ache a bit. How did you get something like this approved? Or are you supposed to do whatever you deem fitting for advisory?
In my high school digital citizenship is not really addressed. We have an acceptable use policy and we did have a presentation a few years ago about internet safety but other than that it is not really discussed. There are cases of online bullying and students are disciplined for this but that is a reactive response to student behavior rather than a proactive plan to prevent it. After having attended Tech 4 Learning for 6 weeks, I think it may be time to start a discussion with my administrators about technology within the building. I am afraid I won’t get very far but I will try. We only have 4 advisories during the course of a year so I think I may get in touch with the people who organize them and see if we can incorporate digital citizenship into one of the 4 activities. Advisory seems like the only avenue that can reach everyone all at once with the same activity, so that is what I will do. I’ll keep you posted. David Gionfriddo
Our district has only an acceptable use policy as a guideline for using technology too. I like your idea of incorporating digital citizenship in one of the advisory activities. Can't wait to see how the idea is received.
I agree with you David that we need to be more proactive about bullying- and lessons in Advisory is a great way to go. Life is difficult enough for our students- to be bullied in school and then at home through computer and text is awful.
Digital citizenship is being addressed in my school through the use of acceptable use policies. At the beginning of each school year, the school distributes the Rules and Codes of Ethics for School Computer Users to be reviewed, understood, and signed by both the student and parent. This document is then returned to the school where it is filed away and can be brought forth in case of any future infractions by the student against the document. Additionally, this document is outlined in their student agendas where they can refer to it as needed. This document addresses most of the nine elements of digital citizenship, which include digital access, digital communication,digital etiquette, digital law, digital rights, responsibilities, and digital security. They do not, however, address digital commerce, digital literacy, and digital health and wellness. Even though aspects of digital citizenship are being addressed through acceptable use policies in my school, it is not being taught or integrated into instruction. Teachers informally tell their students of the consequences of plagiarism and cyber bullying, but direct instruction is not given. These are important issues for the 21st century learner, so digital citizenship should be addressed in the form of direct instruction. Given the rigid budget of the town, the introduction of a new class that could address digital citizenship would not be feasible. Advisory group could be one solution to the problem. Advisory group is held at least once per month and could be the right venue to start the integration of digital citizenship into the curriculum.
I just got a list this week of my advisory students who did not turn in their acceptable use policy signed by them and the parent. The office will come after them if it is not turned in by the end of the week. But like you said, it is just a document that is filed away and used I suppose if the student violates it and then claims ignorance. I'd have to look at it again but I believe it only covered a few of the aspects of digital citizenship.
For the most part, digital citizenship is not being addressed in our school. The only guidance we have from the district is the acceptable use policy, which is more of legal document and not a guide for instruction. Our students do have digital access in the school and they are taught elements informally by some teachers, but there is not a unified district wide approach to teaching students digital citizenship. I have always unknowingly taught elements of digital citizenship in my classroom. I talk to students about respecting other students virtual property (files) on our server. I talk to them about what to do if something inappropriate appears on their screen. I teach them about using other peoples ideas and information on line and giving credit to the source. I have students practice these things with the projects that we complete. I know there are a lot of other teachers that are doing the same thing as I do in the classroom, but I doubt that many are aware of digital citizenship. I have started to address the need of teaching digital citizenship already in my classroom, by using it as a framework to teach students appropriate of technology in school. Some other things I would like to do to further this process is start a blog that students could log onto and use to respond to a question that I post. I would also like to approach my building's educational technology specialist to see if we could expose other teachers to the idea of digital citizenship through a workshop and post them in the computer lab. Finally, approaching the district with the idea of creating a framework to teach digital citizenship as part of our curriculum would be the final step.
John, I do a lot of the same. I talk to the my classes individually about digital citizenship but wouldn't it be nice to see a little more concern from our districts. I feel like my district just does enough to cover themselves but they don't go beyond that to truly address digital citizenship.
We are losing students left and right to Thomas Edison in Meriden because they are considered a "Technology" school and Middletown middle schools can't even remotely come close to them in this area. When I worked at Middletown High, there was a lot of technology---from document cameras, projectors, computers in every classroom, and lots of access for students. However, at the middle school level (and I'm sure at the elementary level), it's pathetic. So, digital citizenship in our schools actually isn't even touched on.... and it's very unfortunate since the ONE thing that our students can relate to more than anything is their devices.
Teachers get an AUP at the beginning of the year, then it's never talked of again. But as far as I know, students don't receive a "rulebook" for digital citizenship. They're just taught as situations arise in their regular classes. I think it would be GREAT if students got an education in all the nine elements--nothing but digital citizenship, outside of their regular classes. And as others have said, it seems like advisory period would be the best time to do this. In our school, we do that twice a month, so they could get a lot done: take surveys, answer questionnaires, act out demonstrations, etc.
I am lucky that my school encourages teachers to use technology and will even have them present some innovative things they are doing at faculty meetings. All rooms have WIFI and BYOD is being discussed. We just got sets of Google Chrome books, and more teachers are getting LCD projectors installed in their rooms. I also feel lucky that my school district issues every teacher a laptop computer. So I don't think access is really the issue at my school. As far as the other aspects of digital citizenship, there is no time or place in the curriculum to teach these things, but I am planning on doing it during advisory. Our advisory meets every Wed for 30 minutes so there is time to do a lot with it over the course of a year.
There is of bullying in my school which spillsover to online bullying. I hear about it in the hallways and from students themselves. It concerns me a great deal. I put out fires where I see them and offer advice but now I am going to address it in Advisory and since I am on the Advisory committee I am going to offer the lesson plan and websites I found when researching my topic. Plagiarism is another issue that comes up and one of my students was caught with blatant plagiarism. Again, I have some great websites to offer- Turnitin.com is one- to my students in Advisory.
We talk about digital citizenship with our middle school, but not really with our lower grades, yet. We have just begun to incorporate iPads into all levels, but we have not gotten all the teachers on the same level of digital literacy. In order for our students to understand digital citizenship, our teachers first need to have a dialogue to understand it. We do, like everyone else who has responded, have very specific acceptable use policies, and even more specific ones for the iPad use, but they are not enforced equally across the board. THAT is our challenge.
Where to begin...I guess you cannot address any of the other aspects of digital citizenship if you don't have digital access, right? With that being said, my school just really needs to get access! We need to get WiFi and we need to get one to one devices for the students, whether via BYOD, laptops, Googlebooks, or iPads. Anything at this point is better than what the students have.
ReplyDeleteIt still remains quite a difficult task, er feat, to try to address things that we, as educators in our school have zero control over. Luckily, I'm on the technology team for the building, so I can at least voice my concerns and explain the drastic need to get a move on with digital access. And since using the parents as supporters to get my first technology app. approved deemed successful, I will continue to work with them. It seems that their voices have a lot of pull in my district, so if I can get them on board, then I think it will help to put things in motion much faster.
-Laura B.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI agree that digital access is a good place to start, all the planning and wonderful ideas can't happen with out access.
ReplyDeleteIn one sense I am really lucky, because my district is very excited about technology. They want us to use it; they want the students to learn to use it responsible. I fell that using advisory time to do some of these digital citizenship lessons is a perfect place to present the information. Last week I did a lesson out of our digital citizenship book with my advisory lesson group, the one we discussed in class- about appropriate use, and inappropriate use. I broke them into small groups and gave each group a situation and they talked about in small groups and them presented it to the entire group- it went well. I plan to fit in more lessons when I can.
ReplyDeleteYes, advisory seems the way to go! That's great that you were able to use that time to talk about digital citizenship. We actually haven't started our advisory periods in our school, yet. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to be one of the teachers to do it, anyway, because when 7th grade is doing advisory, 8th grade is doing "activity period", which means I'm teaching band every advisory/activity day. I think the students would react really well to some of the activities in the book, especially the ones that involve the students coming up with scenarios themselves and acting them out.
DeleteI'm so jealous! I'd love to do something like this with my students, be we don't have an advisory period. I do have a homeroom, but I'm wary that if I do something out of the norm, without having it approved first, that I will get my hand slapped. Again. And my hand is kind of starting to ache a bit. How did you get something like this approved? Or are you supposed to do whatever you deem fitting for advisory?
DeleteIn my high school digital citizenship is not really addressed. We have an acceptable use policy and we did have a presentation a few years ago about internet safety but other than that it is not really discussed. There are cases of online bullying and students are disciplined for this but that is a reactive response to student behavior rather than a proactive plan to prevent it. After having attended Tech 4 Learning for 6 weeks, I think it may be time to start a discussion with my administrators about technology within the building. I am afraid I won’t get very far but I will try. We only have 4 advisories during the course of a year so I think I may get in touch with the people who organize them and see if we can incorporate digital citizenship into one of the 4 activities. Advisory seems like the only avenue that can reach everyone all at once with the same activity, so that is what I will do. I’ll keep you posted.
ReplyDeleteDavid Gionfriddo
Our district has only an acceptable use policy as a guideline for using technology too. I like your idea of incorporating digital citizenship in one of the advisory activities. Can't wait to see how the idea is received.
DeleteI agree with you David that we need to be more proactive about bullying- and lessons in Advisory is a great way to go. Life is difficult enough for our students- to be bullied in school and then at home through computer and text is awful.
DeleteDigital citizenship is being addressed in my school through the use of acceptable use policies. At the beginning of each school year, the school distributes the Rules and Codes of Ethics for School Computer Users to be reviewed, understood, and signed by both the student and parent. This document is then returned to the school where it is filed away and can be brought forth in case of any future infractions by the student against the document. Additionally, this document is outlined in their student agendas where they can refer to it as needed. This document addresses most of the nine elements of digital citizenship, which include digital access, digital communication,digital etiquette, digital law, digital rights, responsibilities, and digital security. They do not, however, address digital commerce, digital literacy, and digital health and wellness. Even though aspects of digital citizenship are being addressed through acceptable use policies in my school, it is not being taught or integrated into instruction. Teachers informally tell their students of the consequences of plagiarism and cyber bullying, but direct instruction is not given. These are important issues for the 21st century learner, so digital citizenship should be addressed in the form of direct instruction. Given the rigid budget of the town, the introduction of a new class that could address digital citizenship would not be feasible. Advisory group could be one solution to the problem. Advisory group is held at least once per month and could be the right venue to start the integration of digital citizenship into the curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI just got a list this week of my advisory students who did not turn in their acceptable use policy signed by them and the parent. The office will come after them if it is not turned in by the end of the week. But like you said, it is just a document that is filed away and used I suppose if the student violates it and then claims ignorance. I'd have to look at it again but I believe it only covered a few of the aspects of digital citizenship.
DeleteFor the most part, digital citizenship is not being addressed in our school. The only guidance we have from the district is the acceptable use policy, which is more of legal document and not a guide for instruction. Our students do have digital access in the school and they are taught elements informally by some teachers, but there is not a unified district wide approach to teaching students digital citizenship. I have always unknowingly taught elements of digital citizenship in my classroom. I talk to students about respecting other students virtual property (files) on our server. I talk to them about what to do if something inappropriate appears on their screen. I teach them about using other peoples ideas and information on line and giving credit to the source. I have students practice these things with the projects that we complete. I know there are a lot of other teachers that are doing the same thing as I do in the classroom, but I doubt that many are aware of digital citizenship. I have started to address the need of teaching digital citizenship already in my classroom, by using it as a framework to teach students appropriate of technology in school. Some other things I would like to do to further this process is start a blog that students could log onto and use to respond to a question that I post. I would also like to approach my building's educational technology specialist to see if we could expose other teachers to the idea of digital citizenship through a workshop and post them in the computer lab. Finally, approaching the district with the idea of creating a framework to teach digital citizenship as part of our curriculum would be the final step.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I do a lot of the same. I talk to the my classes individually about digital citizenship but wouldn't it be nice to see a little more concern from our districts. I feel like my district just does enough to cover themselves but they don't go beyond that to truly address digital citizenship.
DeleteWe are losing students left and right to Thomas Edison in Meriden because they are considered a "Technology" school and Middletown middle schools can't even remotely come close to them in this area. When I worked at Middletown High, there was a lot of technology---from document cameras, projectors, computers in every classroom, and lots of access for students. However, at the middle school level (and I'm sure at the elementary level), it's pathetic. So, digital citizenship in our schools actually isn't even touched on.... and it's very unfortunate since the ONE thing that our students can relate to more than anything is their devices.
ReplyDeleteTeachers get an AUP at the beginning of the year, then it's never talked of again. But as far as I know, students don't receive a "rulebook" for digital citizenship. They're just taught as situations arise in their regular classes. I think it would be GREAT if students got an education in all the nine elements--nothing but digital citizenship, outside of their regular classes. And as others have said, it seems like advisory period would be the best time to do this. In our school, we do that twice a month, so they could get a lot done: take surveys, answer questionnaires, act out demonstrations, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am lucky that my school encourages teachers to use technology and will even have them present some innovative things they are doing at faculty meetings. All rooms have WIFI and BYOD is being discussed. We just got sets of Google Chrome books, and more teachers are getting LCD projectors installed in their rooms. I also feel lucky that my school district issues every teacher a laptop computer. So I don't think access is really the issue at my school. As far as the other aspects of digital citizenship, there is no time or place in the curriculum to teach these things, but I am planning on doing it during advisory. Our advisory meets every Wed for 30 minutes so there is time to do a lot with it over the course of a year.
ReplyDeleteThere is of bullying in my school which spillsover to online bullying. I hear about it in the hallways and from students themselves. It concerns me a great deal. I put out fires where I see them and offer advice but now I am going to address it in Advisory and since I am on the Advisory committee I am going to offer the lesson plan and websites I found when researching my topic. Plagiarism is another issue that comes up and one of my students was caught with blatant plagiarism. Again, I have some great websites to offer- Turnitin.com is one- to my students in Advisory.
ReplyDeleteWe talk about digital citizenship with our middle school, but not really with our lower grades, yet. We have just begun to incorporate iPads into all levels, but we have not gotten all the teachers on the same level of digital literacy. In order for our students to understand digital citizenship, our teachers first need to have a dialogue to understand it. We do, like everyone else who has responded, have very specific acceptable use policies, and even more specific ones for the iPad use, but they are not enforced equally across the board. THAT is our challenge.
ReplyDelete