Digital citizenship part 2

At this point I have read through chapter five in Digital Citizenship. I wanted to touch upon a point I made in my blog from last week as I think it fits perfectly with what I want to say this week.

Last week, I pointed out that I thought we would see a digital literacy class at some point in all of our curriculums. To me the only question is at what level should it appear? Elementary school? Middle? High School? All of them?

That being said, I felt that chapter five, "Teaching Digital Citizenship to Students" was the perfect, simple foundation for a digital citizenship class. The chapter focuses on a four step reflection model that stresses 1) awareness, 2) guided practice, 3) modeling and demonstration, and 4) feedback and analysis. This four step guide is perfect for not only discussing technology, but also for implementing a structured education on the appropriate uses for technology necessary for educational achievement.

The first component, awareness, focuses on teaching students understand how technology works and the effect that it can have not only on them but on others as well. Additionally, it focuses on potential problems that arise from said technology, and also on the rules and laws the govern the use of the technology. In discussing and teaching each of these aspects, students can begin to understand where their own usage falls on the scale of appropriate and inappropriate uses of technology. For me, the focus on how their uses affects others is HUGE. We are teaching a generation of egotists focused only on themselves. Think how often you hear someone having a loud and inappropriate conversation in a public place. This type of behavior is unacceptable and teaching these scruples and values in the classroom may impact its occurrence in the world. I see this component as an opportunity to look at negative outcomes of technological abuse. In the past, I have read non-fiction articles about students who committed suicide due to bullying that occurred in the online arena. This not only meets the common core in that it engages students in reading non-fiction, but it also gets them thinking about the outcomes of inappropriate  behavior. When we have had this discussion, students tend to put themselves in the category of "Oh, I would NEVER do that." But when students stop to think, they realize, even if they didn't think of it as bullying, that they had taken place in this type of behavior.

Step two focuses on leading students in guided practice of situations that mimic real world technological issues. For me, this is genius. Most often when kids see the way they act, being acted out by other students, they get very critical. This critical review can help to teach a sense of ownership for certain behaviors, thus lessening inappropriate behaviors by students while increasing positive and appropriate behaviors. I see this as a happening through fishbowl discussions. When students take part in a fishbowl, a number of students discuss a topic in the center of the room while the rest of the class listens from the outside. This enables students to hear what they re thinking while allowing them to weigh in with their own opinions. When students are given the safe environment to discuss what is expected of them, they are more likely to take it seriously and to invest in the conversation, thus working through technological boundaries, behaviors, etc.

This third component looks at modeling and demonstrating appropriate technology use. As a sixth year teacher, I understand the need for modeling. You can be the best teacher in the world, but without modeling expectations, students won't necessarily learn what you want them to learn. I see this occurring through in-class role playing in which students act out the right and wrong ways in which to utilize technology. Additionally, teachers can model appropriate technological use right in class. I already use sites such as EdModo and YouTube in class and my students see me using them in order to highlight what we already do. Beyond all of this, the most important aspect of this stage is the idea that students should be sent home with digital citizenship lessons that they will engage in with their parents, thus working on boundaries and guidelines that will extend to the home. For instance, I see students going home to discuss appropriate tech ology uses and to then set boundaries at home, discussing with their parents what technology is available and why they actually need to use it.

Finally, the fourth aspect is feedback and analysis. At this stage students share experiences with each other and discuss ways in which to improve upon their use of technology. Teachers also provide feedback in order to help students avoid problems. I see this as a forum for students to share instances where they did or didn't use technology in an appropriate manner. If a student misused technology and is aware of it, they can discuss it with their peers and can receive feedback on how they can either fix their mistakes or can receive support for being able to share their mistakes.

Overall, I felt that this chapter provided a solid, basic roadmap for a curriculum based on developing digital citizenship.