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Entries Tagged as 'Digital Citizenship'

Online Safety and Responsibility

November 25, 2011 · 2 Comments · Coetail 2, Cyberbullying, Digital Citizenship

Whose responsibility is it to keep kids safe online? That’s big question with many possible answers. First of all, there needs to be some level of responsibility from the parents. Just as any part of a child’s safety should first be the parents’ responsibility. Parents don’t usually allow young children to cook by themselves. They guide them and supervise them.

Measuring ingredients together.

They don’t allow a child to jump off the high dive without first learning to swim.
Boy on High Dive
Parents need to realize that freely accessing the world wide web can be “playing with fire” or “diving” in to a VERY big pool without a lifeguard.

Parents also need to remember that children often imitate behavior they have seen at home and on TV. As I thought about cyberbullying, I thought of various “reality” TV shows where judges are sometimes rather harsh in their evaluation. They may be “telling” the truth, but when children and teens watch, do they think they have the same “right” to judge someone with equally harsh words, that can quickly escalate to cyberbullying? I have also wondered why some people put themselves in the place of being judged and humiliated on national as well as international TV. A case of cyberbullying happened about 2 years ago in Palo Alto. A 12 year old published a singing video on YouTube. Some high school students apparently watched it and then decided to start an “I hate ___” page on Facebook that was quickly joined by about 100 other students and led to the notoriety. I actually found reading the comments on the original article and also on the community forum more interesting and informative than the article. Parents wanted to blame school officials, teachers blamed parents. I thought one student said it well “Also, I would like to point out that I see a lot of insulting of each other here on this website which is useless, and that since most of you are parents, you probably have better things to do.”(Posted by MM, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Mar 3, 2009 at 8:48 pm)

Parents are often unaware, afraid or don’t know where to begin. As educators we need to help educate parents as well as students. A great resource we can guide parents to is Common Sense Media.

As educators it is also our responsibility to unsure students’ safety online as well as offline. When students have a problem with classmates on the playground, it is my responsibility to help students know how to deal with those problems. Who to tell, what words to use to resolve the problem, discipline if necessary. When I take students for a walk in the community or on the train on a field trip, we discuss proper behavior. It is my responsibility to see that they use proper behavior. I hope that I am working with parents on all of these behaviors just as I expect parents to support and work with me.

At what age should this begin? I believe we begin as early as possible by teaching students empathy, respect and responsibility for their own behavior and actions. I have begun having a discussion with our Guidance counselor on empathy lessons for the 2nd and 3rd graders. In my post here on copyright I mentioned the need to begin in kindergarten. Empathy also needs to begin in kindergarten and actually should begin at home from an even earlier age.

Waiting until middle school or high school is too late to begin dealing with cyberbullying. Danah Boyd in the article, “Bullying” Has Little Resonance with Teenagers, points out that teens don’t necessarily see it as “bullying” and won’t engage when adults address it in those terms. Middle school and high school students still need to deal with it, but in terms that will make sense to them and touch them. There are some very poignant YouTube videos that should become required viewing and follow up in middle school and high school.

We all have a responsibility to be positive role models online, talk to our own children(if a parent), talk to your friends’ children(those parents may not know how) and to teach our students respect and empathy. This isn’t someone else’s job it is everyone’s job.

Photo credits-

Hands measuring together – photo by ES in my classroom

Boy on High Dive by cliff0166

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Coping with Copyright

November 21, 2011 · 6 Comments · Coetail 2, Digital Citizenship

This week has filled my mind with more ideas and terms and things to think about than my mind wants to absorb. I’ve wondered: Where do I start? How do I teach what I don’t understand? Am I breaking a copyright law? What are the copyright laws I need to comply to? How do I make sense of all I’ve read? Who do I go to for help?

One of the websites I looked that, New Media Literacies helped with my understanding of what is this participatory culture where we will “create, circulate, collaborate and connect”. They also discuss the new media literacies that include: play, perform, simulation, appropriation, multi-tasking, distributed cognition, collective intelligence, judgement, transmedia navigation, networking, negotiation and visualization. A rather long article about the same participatory culture can be found here. In the article there are examples of how these new literacies have and are being taught in schools and ideas of how to use them. These two sites along with various others have led me to think about what do I need to do to help students and other teachers understand so they can be part of this participatory culture.

Now, you may wondered what these sites have to do with copyright and all my questions. Students today are creating work/projects, sometimes through collaboration, many times circulating that work and often connecting to others through that work/project via the web. What do those students know about copyright? When should we begin teaching about copyright? I had read Zoe’s blog about copyright and realized that even kindergarteners can understand and need to understand about copyright. When our technology facilitator was working with our 5th graders on creating an avatar for their blogs she had several conversations about copyright and where they could or couldn’t get images from.Even after telling them not to start at google images, some students asked if they printed off an image from google images and she scanned it, would that be okay. They really didn’t get what copyright is about. We need to begin with our youngest students and continue the conversations each year.

A mnemonic that I found fun and useful is:Harry Potter Can Fly!

  • Homegrown
  • Public domain
  • Creative commons
  • Fair use

I first saw this at this website and then went searching for the source. Adding a photo from Creative commons has been a big step for me as a blogger. All my previous photos were photos I had taken and were in my personal photo library. Feeling somewhat successful, the photo has appeared and not just the url or inbedded code has given me a sense of accomplishment. I had originally thought about starting with a photo of the copyright mark. I had looked on flickr and found one to use and then began reading the comments under it that led me to a blog where the creator of the photo commented on the blog. I know there are many learning communities that can be opened up as I learn more and explore more even about topics that feel a bit overwhelming.

Copyright Symbols

Photos by:

Wesley Fryers photostream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/5798145636/in/set-72157626886284140/

Mikeblogs -http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeblogs/3020966268/

 

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Privacy in a Digital World

November 13, 2011 · 2 Comments · Coetail 2, Digital Citizenship, Digital footprint

As I was reading this past week I came across a graphic that made me stop and think. When I signed up for Facebook, I didn’t include my cell phone number or my address. I still don’t have my cell phone number or address listed. I have since added my train station, but I am still careful about what I share. I am a social person and have always enjoyed building networks of people so Facebook has been a great way to reconnect with many friends and meet some relatives who have lived long distances from me. At various times I’ve looked at my privacy settings, unsure of what some of them mean. I am getting a better understanding and try to think before I post although I will admit that many of my posts are not profound. I would like to believe that none of them have been offensive either. As a Christian educator I also realize I have a responsibility and privilege to be a positive role model to my present students as well as former students.

I have former students(either in high school or graduates of high school), friends of my children(who are all now out of high school) and children of my friends and relatives as “friends” on Facebook. I also have friends from my high school and college days, relatives,  as well as various friends I’ve made in my life’s journey. I like to see what they are doing and let close friends know about what is happening in my family’s life. At times, I’ve been surprised at “posts” of some of the people I know. Recently, I’ve begun to think about, do they realize the digital footprint they are leaving? I have no intention of becoming an internet policeman. I do know I need to be a responsible educator and help my students, present and former, to understand what is a digital footprint and what it means to be a responsible citizen.

Cory Doctorow on YouTube made several key points that I agree with. When we monitor everything the students are doing on the internet, they don’t learn to monitor themselves. We need to teach them how to monitor where they are going, who they are interacting with and what they are posting. We also need to teach students to ask the question, “Why do you need to know this?” when they get a request for information online. Actually that is a good question for each of us to ask when there is a request for information. “Why do you need to know this? How will you use this information?” There were other ideas that Cory presented that I’m not sure I understand let alone agree with but it was worth watching for 12 minutes.

Everyone seems to look at privacy in slightly different ways, Brendan gives a great summary. Clair gave a great reminder of following the “Golden Rule” – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That may not keep your privacy “safe” but hopefully what others see about you will be the image you want to present.

Ultimately I am responsible for what I post online. There is no way I can control everything everyone else might post about me. I know I am not “without sin” but if I am living a life pleasing to God, I will leave a digital footprint that is also pleasing to Him. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be vigilant and be sure I’m checking privacy settings.

 

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Fossils and Footprints

November 7, 2011 · 5 Comments · Coetail 2, Digital Citizenship, Digital footprint

This week we will begin a new unit of study in second grade – Non-fiction reading and writing. The students will be reading books about dinosaurs and choosing a topic related to dinosaurs to research and share with the others in the class. One of the activities the students will be doing is to learn what a paleontologist does. How does one find fossils and traces that have been left by those “terrible lizards?” A favorite activity is to dig the fossils out of a cookie.(If I understood computer cookies better, I believe I might actually be making a pun, but that wasn’t the intent.)

M&M oatmeal chocolate chunk fossil cookies

As I was preparing the cookies, they’ll dig into later this week, I was thinking about my digital footprint. The cookie begins with lots of different ingredients; butter, flour, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, sugar, milk, oatmeal, M&M’s, and chocolate candy. Some of these are fine by themselves, M&M’s, milk, and chocolate candy. Some are good when added to something or cooked and all of them together create a fun and delicious treat.

I have had a computer and Facebook account for a few years. In the last 2 months I have added Diigo, a blog, Flickr and Twitter.(I’m still getting the hang of some of these, but I’m continuing to learn.) The computer I could use without any of those internet applications. I could email, listen to music, do searches, write papers, buy items online, etc. Some of those would leave a shadow – I get reminders to buy gifts from several companies and new book publications from Amazon, nothing terribly important and nothing noteworthy. However, by posting, creating, and sharing on various forums I am creating my digital footprint.

Does it matter? Is it important? Most definitely. One interesting article about your online reputation.

I have no plans to leave my current school or use my digital foot print to help me in a job search in the near or distant future. However, I need to understand what it is and be able to teach my students and help my colleagues understand about a digital footprint. When someone does a search of my name, I want to be sure they will find items I am proud of and am comfortable sharing with others. It is important we teach students from an early age about responsible digital citizenship. Commonsense media has great resources and ideas for parents and teachers. Students need to understand that just like the dinosaurs who lived long ago and left fossils and traces to help us understand how they lived we leave traces with each photo, comment or post we create.

What will an investigator find? That can be up to chance or I can create the image I want.

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Learning Targets Who Needs Them?

October 11, 2011 · 7 Comments · Coetail course 1, Digital Citizenship, ISTE, Learning, Standards

I DO!

ISTE, NETS what are they all about? A few weeks ago I had never heard of ISTE or NETS. Standards, learning targets that’s all we’ve talked about the past few years at our school. We’ve spent a lot of time looking at various standards and then choosing to write our own most of the time. As department chairperson for the elementary division I have worked with our department on writing language arts and math grade level learning targets. We even wrote some learning targets for our Student Objectives that are listed on the elementary report card. Recently we revised our grade level bible learning targets. We still need to work on our grade level science and social studies learning targets. The technology learning targets were to be written by the technology department and taught by them too, right!?! Music, Art and Physical Education all worked that way.

Elementary students in the computer lab.

Until this year our elementary students went to “computer class” once a week. Standards and learning targets for technology were someone else’s job. Last year the elementary principal talked to us about integrating technology into our classes. We were excited, I think, but really had no idea what we were getting into. In late spring, a good friend of mine, Vivian, mentioned the Coetail course to me. The elementary librarian at our school, Ruth had already been talking about attending. We were to get a “new” elementary technology facilitator, Grace so the two of us signed up too.

I’ve tried to use technology in my classroom in the past, but I must admit that it has been mostly as a consumer. Students could “listen to reading” with Bookflix, Storyline Online, Raz-kids, practice math with IXL and World Math Day. Last year the students got very excited when they were able to use an iPad for “listening to reading” and practicing kanji in Japanese class. None of these programs are bad, but I’ve realized there is so much more to technology in the classroom.

Practicing kanji in Japanese class.

So, here we are 6 weeks into the Coetail course and about 6 weeks into the school year. Our goal in the elementary department at my school is to integrate technology into 3 units this year. What does that look like? What can/should we expect students be able to do? What are authentic assessments using technology?  With no learning targets those are difficult questions. Our middle school has some technology standards and learning targets. They took NETS standards and rewrote them for our school. I like the standards they have written and they pretty closely follow NETS.

  1. Students create original digital products.
  2. Students apply technology to collaborate and communicate.
  3. Students research efficiently and effectively using reliable online resources.
  4. Students apply problem-solving strategies to organize content and complete projects.
  5. Students address current ethical and societal issues in the use of technology by applying a Christian world-view.
  6. Students demonstrate fundamental skills related to operational systems, input methods and software applications.

I understand these, but what do they mean in 2nd grade? How do I help the other classroom teachers decide what they mean in their classroom? When I looked at grade level learning targets for the middle school I didn’t see targets that students would necessarily carryover to other subjects. I saw a final project for a 9 week course. That’s not what I think NETS is about.

Reading a lot of different pages and articles on the ISTE website has been a great help. NETS for Students 2007 has been informative, but even more so is the Students 2007 Profiles. I’ve come up with some learning targets for 2nd grade, but continue to refine and tweak them. I’ve shared them with our elementary technology facilitator and our principal I guess my next step will be to share them with the technology co-ordinator and other elementary teachers. Will they work? I’m not sure, but I think so. I’ve found it especially helpful to have some type of learning target as I work on my final project for the Coetail course. I’ve also found it easier to find units that I want to integrate technology with as I have  learning targets that I can think about. I can think of authentic assessments that will show students have understood the content and can use technology to show that understanding.

Should the NETS for Teachers be part of a teacher’s evaluation. Yes, but first of all teachers need training and then continued coaching in this area. Technology, Coaching and Community has very practical advice.

  1. Context
  2. Relevance
  3. Ongoing
I know that as I am learning new skills and have opportunity to try them with colleagues I feel more confident in using technology with my students. Does it always work out? No, but then there are non-technology lessons that also don’t work out. Can we learn together? Of course.
One example of learning a new skill that I’ve been able to begin teaching my class about is blogging. We have a class blog. I’ve done most of the posting, but had the students each write about a photo and then I typed the text and posted the photos. I’ve assigned commenting as homework a few times and have had about half of the students and or parents respond. This is a new platform for parents, students and teachers at our school as an educational tool. As we all become more familiar with it I am looking forward to how we will all grow in our learning.
Photos taken by me at CAJ in the 2010-2011 school year.

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Help – How do I educate others about being a Responsible 21st Century Digital Citizen?

September 21, 2011 · No Comments · Digital Citizenship, Help

Recently I was able to set up a class blog. Getting it set up had its challenges, but now I have a new obstacle and I would appreciate input from other schools and educators about how to answer my administrators questions.

“How do we deal with the safety issue?” Before I published the blog, I set a letter home to parents asking permission for students to participate. The administration approved the letter. Those were returned and the parents seemed fine. I had told the parents it would be password protected and at present it is protected for those who can comment, but others can look at it if they know where to go. Since it is hosted on our school server it would not seem that many people would find it in a google search. I am not posting names of students by photos but, plan on using first names only if we need to identify a student’s work. However, students need to sign in to their school account to comment so first and last names are posted and they can write a classmates name as part of a post, ie. I like how Joe and John are sitting together reading. I am moderating the comments, but do I take out names? Do I tell the students not to identify classmates by their names?

My administration is concerned about the “predators” that take photos and turn them into kiddie porn. How do I answer that? It’s not a problem and it doesn’t often happen will not be acceptable answers. Is there data that is available?

I have seen other school blogs where student names, first and last are posted or just first names. What is the policy at your school?

I did a google search of 2nd grade blogs and found some that are password protected and some that are open to anyone. What is the advantage of one over the other? Is their an advantage?

I want to keep my students safe and protect their privacy, but I also want to educate them and their parents and others at my school on how to be a Responsible 21st Century Digital Citizen. Please leave your comments on what is happening at your school.

Thanks!

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