Digital+Citizenship

==== media type="youtube" key="pQHX-SjgQvQ&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" height="355" width="425" **(2:38)** INTRODUCTION This is a spot dedicated to building on the knowledge and understanding of digital citizenship. It is a broad term in which many people seem to have confusions. Just as many things related to technology is ever-changing, the definition of digital citizenship is an on-going discussion of what it all entails, and a definition of digital citizenship will need to be reviewed continuously, just to keep up with the times. **WEB 2.0** ==== media type="youtube" key="6gmP4nk0EOE&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" height="355" width="425" **(4:31)**
 * A Little Funny For You.....Doesn't it feel like this sometimes???**

**Who, What, When, Why, How?** As we know, all classrooms are different, all students are different, and all needs are different. If we can at least be aware of what is being exposed to our students or children, then we can try to ensure their safety when we are around, and give/show them some tips for staying safe when we are not around. Internet safety is an item that should be on the responsibility list of teachers who use computers as classroom tools. As the internet and computers are an important tool for communication, collaboration, and information, it is crucial that we keep our kids safe from as much as we can. To do that we need to first know about these issues, know how and when to spot them, how to properly teach our kids what to do in situations and allow them chances to gain understanding of why this is a "new" item we care about. Learning and Technology Wikispace - Resources to help teachers make decisions about digital citizenship
 * Teacher Resources:**

Allison Sherwin writes in her blog [|(Allison's Alloqui)] that: //"Teaching is not over-protective parenting. There is a lot of stuff online that is potentially unsafe for students. I thought before that it was a teachers duty to get every student onto facebook (or whatever) and show them the cool things and some of the privacy settings that are important. If I put that scenario into a face to face situation, It'd be like taking my grade 6 class to a party!?!?! Doesn't make sense. So my new outlook...parents and teachers have a responsibility to keep students safe be creating awareness and informing of the consequences. Just like we say "Don't drink and drive, call for a ride home if you need one," we can approach some social networking sites in a similar fashion...create awareness and discuss the safety issues, provide some suggestions on what is acceptable content and give students the independence to make their own choices...and just always be available in case they need that "ride home" one night."// We can take a lot from what she is saying. She is saying that ultimately we need to let our students be shown the proper way, then let out on their own to experience it. Like driving a car - you do not get your licence first then learn the rules; you get your learners licence then you experience driving with help, then you pass your drivers test, and then you get your licence and can go it alone!

**Internet Safety** Part of being a digital citizen is being responsible. If we can show students exactly what we mean by thinking before you act, then this video can definitally be a step in the right direction. I have used this video in my classroom when I have talked about Internet safety. Issues such as posting pictures, giving out personal information, and adding strangers to your friend lists, are things that our students are encountering almost every day. We have many of classes in school that relate and show us how to grow up to be responisible citizens in society, but nowadays it is more than just a physical society, it is a digital society, so let us show them the right direction in becoming a digital citizen. media type="youtube" key="-ibtRZGsSKs&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" height="355" width="425" **(0:59)**
 * Think Before You Post **

//**Be Safe**//
[|Online Predators and Their Victims] [|Social Networks are not the problem, behaviours are.] [|Social Networking from teens perspective.]

Cyberbullying
Here are two videos (each less than a minute long) from the Ad Council designed to bring attention to the effects of cyberbullying. I find them very difficult to watch! It does not matter how old you are because it happens at all ages. Let us put an end to it. media type="youtube" key="seOQyMvG99w&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" height="355" width="425" **(0:50)** media type="youtube" key="QYaWNYXpBis&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" height="355" width="425" **(0:49)**
 * Talent Show**
 * Kitchen**

**Living Sky School Division #202 - Computer Technology Acceptable Use Policy - DRAFT** As the times they are a changin', so is the need for updated policies. Living Sky School Division has begun that process and has posted a DRAFT policy. Although it is expected that this be the new DIVISION policy, but that a local policy will be created at the school level to ensure the needs of the individual school be kept in mind, and that the local Internet/Computer use policy is specific to that school's needs. [|Computer Technology Acceptable Use Policy - Draft.]

[|Luseland School Internet Use Policy - as seen from Ms. Fjeldstrom's Blog]

What If? (Made by students....)** media type="youtube" key="9KrTcsyDydE&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" height="355" width="425" **(1:05)**
 * Digital Citizenship Possibilities - Don't knock it 'till you try it!

media type="youtube" key="vCVuzNo1EDo&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" height="355" width="425" **(2:53)**
 * Participate on the information highway.....**

media type="youtube" key="_A-ZVCjfWf8&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" height="355" width="425" **(4:08)**
 * A Vision of K-12 Students Today**

media type="youtube" key="Fnh9q_cQcUE&hl=en&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" height="355" width="425" **(2:30)**
 * and Lastly, but not least....Education Today and Tomorrow**

So how do we instill in our students, community, citizenship, leadership, empathy, loyalty, responsibility, respect, safety in a world of:

 * ==anonymity?==
 * ==students with more knowledge and experience than us?==
 * ==too much to do with not enough time?==
 * ==inability to keep up in the technological world?==
 * ==conflict on the job of parents vs. the job of teachers?==
 * ==and more?==

//**DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR KID IS SAYING ONLINE?**//
//**What Educators and Parents Can Do:**//
 * 1) //Do an internet search for your child. Put their full name within quotation marks, e.g. “Eldon Germann”. Try [|Vivisimo]. a clustering meta-search engine where all the archived conversations in which your child has used a particular screen name will be found. Searching for their name in [|google] will find their social networking website. If the site is public you will be able to view it. You will also be able to find out what others are saying about your child on their sites. Don’t try to catch your kids but ask to see their site. Tell them you will be viewing their online world to see that it is safe. Talk to them about what is safe. Give them 48 hours to go and tear down all that may be unsafe and then sit down and view it with them.//
 * 2) //Set up a [|google alert] using your child's name. Each time the name appears on the internet you will be notified via your e-mail. You will be able to view not only what your child is doing but what his or her friends are posting on the internet. NOTE: Alerts will not catch information in social networking spaces.//
 * 3) //Join the networking site that your child uses. If their profile is private you will not be able to see it unless you register with the site. You don’t have to put anything in it but you can explore it to understand how it works. Once you have logged-in you can search within the site for your child’s name, locate their profile and view it.//
 * 4) //Read the safety tips provided at the social networking site your child uses: e.g. [|Bebo Safety Tips] and [|Hi5 Online Safety.]//
 * 5) //Recently I listened to a podcast by [|Kevin Honeycutt], [|Building 21st Century Achievers], in which he suggested that parents informally create an// Online Neighborhood Watch. //When you are viewing your child’s page and you see something odd or unusual about their friend’s activities notify their parents.// Look out for each other’s kids.//

Most parents and educators are ‘digital immigrants’. Ask your student/child to help you understand the digital environment that he or she operates in. Talk to them about it and openly express your concerns. - Donna DesRoch