Chapter 3, Creating a Digital Citizenship Program. Digital Citizenship in Schools by Mike Ribble.

      I have been reading Mike Ribble's book Digital Citizenship in schools and I keep going back to chapter 3 which discusses creating a digital Citizenship Program in your school district. This chapter shows districts a step by step plan on how to develop and implement  digital citizenship and it includes a digital citizenship audit to help schools understand needs and trends in their own district.

      After reading through this a couple of times, I started thinking about what type of plan, if any we had in our school district. I knew we had policies in schools that regulated in particular cell phone use so I started checking out what else our district had in writing that pertained to technology. What I found was that we do have policies in place that regulate use of technology in the broadest sense. In fact our schools regardless of age have the same general policy in all handbooks with general statements about the proper and improper use of technology. This policy gives permission for students to use technological equipment when signed by a guardian. Elementary and Junior High Schools also have a policy that forbids the use of any electronic device on school property. These devices will be confiscated if students are caught using them. The High School has a policy that allows students to use electronic devices at the discretion  and guidance of the teacher. These devices are only to be used for school related purposes and teachers have the right to regulate all use during the school day. Beyond these policies there is no other written information regarding technology in our district.

      I believe that it is time for our school district to begin developing a plan that is much more comprehensive such as the teaching model that Ribble discusses in chapter 3. I think that a plan like this will help us to establish a curriculum that incorporates technology and will benefit all students as they learn to navigate in the 21st century.

      As stated in the Common Core State Standards preface, there a variety of standards that connect to the use of technology and digital media. It also states that students will be able to employ technology thoughtfully to enhance reading, writing, speaking, listening, language and mathematical use. They will be able to integrate what they learn online with what they learn offline and can select and use various technological tools best suited to their goals.

      The use of 21st century skills is connected in so many ways with the use of technology that students need the opportunity to use these resources to help them expand their thinking and connect with others in ways that were not possible in the past. The use of internet resources, communicative resources and different applications to create so many new ways to express their ideas is key in their developing greater critical thinking skills. Just the ways that they can learn to communicate, collaborate and express their ideas is vital to their development of real world applications. Technology plays a role in all of this and I look forward to a time when the school district realizes that policies are not what we need and creates plan to integrate a digital citizenship program at all levels of our school system.