In such unprecedented moments with more time spent online for learning platforms and surfing news, several skills are required by teachers and students to deal with the complex challenges emerging with the increased use of technology.
Digital Citizenship
- Digital citizenship is concerned with creating empathetic, active, digital citizens who engage online respectfully, determine the validity of online sources, and using technology to amplify their voices to be heard by public leaders and shape public policy, as described by ISTE CEO.
- Watch the talk by Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education, discussing the Do’s of digital citizenship.
- ISTE develops standards for students to work in the technological landscape, one of which is related to digital citizenship.
- According to ISTE, digital citizens recognize the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world and act in ways that are safe, legal, and ethical.
- Watch ISTE digital citizenship series that includes i) digital footprint, ii) online behavior, iii) intellectual property, and iv) digital privacy.
Resources for teaching digital citizenship
- A ‘go-to’ resource for teachers is MediaSmarts; Canada’s Centre for digital and media literacy, which includes digital and media literacy fundamentals linked to BC curriculum. MediaSmarts website includes lesson plans and resources to support learning design; searchable by specific provincial and territorial curriculum and also by topic, subject area and grade level.
- CommonSense offers digital citizenship lesson plans to prepare students to take ownership of their digital lives, including topics on media balance and well being, privacy and security, digital footprint and identity, relationships and communication, cyberbullying, and news and media literacy.
- Commonsense also provides credible primary and secondary research resources for students and kid-friendly news sites.
- However, it is a good idea to encourage students to review and compare various news sources and analyze various narratives of one kind of news in order to help them build their Digital Literacy skills.
Interactive games for students
- Digital Passport (provided by Commonsense) for Grades 3-5 that introduces 6 interactive games related to the use of safe and secure passwords, dangers of multitasking on cellphones, privacy issues when sharing online information, responding to cyberbullying,
- Conducting effective research online
- Digital Compass (provided by Commonsense) for grades 6-8, to learn the basics of digital citizenship through a game of 8 characters.
- Educational games (provided by Media Smarts) that introduce children to key ideas in media and digital literacy
Connecting your class with students around the world
An interesting tool that allows students to put digital citizenship into practice is to set up penpals, Visit this blog post about Penpals schools to learn more about one opportunity. Penpal schools is an online platform that allows international students to connect with students across the globe to discuss global concerns.
A note about Online Safety
Engaging in authentic activities to help students develop their digital citizenship skills, can also support students in learning to engage in safer behaviours while online. Included in digital citizenship, will be social media etiquette where students need to be aware of, and cautious to avoid. behaviours associated with cyberbullying, such as incitement of hatred, uttering threats, criminal harassment, sending false messages, etc. A few resources linked below:
- Review the social media guidelines (links to external site) prepared by ERASE Student Advisory in BC for students, teachers, and school staff.
- A Surrey School District document titled “Digital Citizens and Social Media” highlights responsible use of information and Communications Technologies highlights the importance of safety, privacy, responsible online citizenship, as well as guidelines related to social networking, online publishing, file sharing, and mobile devices.
- Privacy: Visit the Protecting your Students Privacy blogpost on the Scarfe Sandbox to learn more.
Literacies embedded within Digital Citizenship
Digital Literacy
The BC Digital Literacy Framework (links to a post within this blog) provides an overview of the digital literacy skills and strategies that teachers should try to incorporate in their classroom teaching.
MediaSmarts has developed a Digital Literacy Framework (external link) that classifies competencies for digital literacy into three main principles: use, create and understand. Skills fall under 7 key aspects of digital literacy: ethics and empathy, privacy and security, community engagement, digital health, consumer awareness, digital health, consumer awareness, finding and verifying, and making and remixing.
Media Literacy
Media literacy is about critically understanding the nature, techniques, and impacts of media messages and productions. Issues covered by media include body image, gender representation, diversity in media, intellectual property, marketing and consumerism, and violence. Several lessons and resources are provided by Media Smarts for teachers and parents to cover these topics. More details are provided here by Media Smarts on key concepts of media literacy and tips on integrating it in the classroom.
Guest Post: Nashwa Khedr, EDCP graduate student, project assistant 2020
