Digital Citizenship Definition:Digital Citizenship can be described as a concept of learning about how to use technology and the internet respectfully, appropriately, and about the “dos” and “don’ts”. This concept is very important for everyone to learn, no matter what age, because it actually applies to anyone who uses technology and/or the internet (which to be honest, it most people during period this time). Since more and more schools are starting to turn to 1:1 ratios, meaning that each student has one piece of technology, the students need to have the knowledge of how to behave and act on the internet.
How to Teach about Digital Citizenship:There are a few different ways to teach the concepts of digital citizenship to your students. First off would just be through examples. Having visuals to go along with what the teacher is saying helps students to understand and grasp the idea being discussed better. Also, teachers can have simulations and games that the students can go through. Having students use hands-on activities where they can make choices and work through problems is a very great way to help students learn material. It helps them to work with decision making and work through different scenarios that they themselves may have to go through some day. Lastly, teachers could have students doing role-playing activities to help the information set in. This causes students to come up with their own material that they learned about and share their ideas with the class. These are all good ways to teach students about digital citizenship as well as assess their learning of the topic.
Parental Involvement of Digital Citizenship:It is very important for teachers to involve their students’ parents in their learning for many different reasons including to know what their students are learning about, how to help them if they have questions, to become informed about the content, and so on. There are a few ways to involve the parents or family members in the student’s learning about digital citizenship. First off, the teacher can send out an email to all of the parents telling them about what they have been learning in class, what activities they have been doing, their homework assignments, and general information. The only problem to this is that not all parents/guardian/families have access to technology and/or the internet, making it impossible for them to get information via email. Another option can be that the teacher types out letters with all of that important information and give it to the students so they can give it to their parents. This will help the parents stay up to date with the information that their students are learning and “not kept in the dark”. Another way teachers can keep parent involvement is by having the parents have their students usernames and passwords to their learning websites where they are learning the information so the parents know what types of activities and information their students are learning about, if they are completing their classwork/homework, and so on. Again, this can be difficult for parents/guardians/families without internet or technology, so it would be a good idea for the teacher to create progress reports with all of the information that would be on the website and send it home with the students so the parents can be involved with the learning.
Images Retrieved From: https://www.digitalpassport.org/educator-registration/studentLogin
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Digital Passport website is a site that we were asked to review over and do the activities in order to prepare for class. This is an absolutely wonderful resource to use to help teach students about all of the different aspects of digital citizenship. This resource is made for all grade levels with different activities and information depending on the grade level. The games are very informative and really get the message across for the lesson. I played some of the games for second graders and I was able to learn a lot from doing these activities. There was a game on this website called “Twalkers”, which was a game about texting and walking. This games was able to show the learner that texting is very distracting and that you can not multitask well when you are texting. These games really have strong messages that leave a lasting impact. If I were teaching the topic of digital citizenship, I would have my students go through these exercise.
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Images Retrieved From: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/scope-and-sequence#grade-band-3-5
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Common Sense MediaCommon Sense Media website is a site that has lesson plans and information on different aspects of digital citizenship depending on the grade level and the topic. Here is where teachers can find details on each of the topics of digital citizenship, finding the standards that it meets, see the objectives of the lessons, while also having descriptions about the information to teach in each lesson. This resource is very helpful in explaining all of the aspects of digital citizenship while also showing how to teach these lessons as well. If I were teaching about digital citizenship to my class, I would use this resource for information, details, ideas, and lesson plans.
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Images Retrieved From: http://www.digizen.org/resources/cyberbullying/interactive/
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Digizen GameDigizen Game website is an awesome, real-life scenario game site where you (as the player) get to pick out a character, make them look the way you want, and then you are sent to school. Throughout the school day, lots of different types of occurrences pop up that have to deal with digital citizenship. It really focuses on the topic of cyberbullying and how to deal with that. This really is a great resource to learn about digital citizenship because it is a hands-on realistic simulation that is applicable and relevant to students’ lives today, making this form of learning rather meaningful. You get to go through conversations with others who are struggling with cyberbullying and you have to decide what to say and what to do. This is a great source for teaching students about this problem because it forces them to think for themselves and work through these problems on their own. If I were teaching digital citizenship, I would definitely use this resource because it helps the students become more informed about the dangers of cyberbullying and different aspects of digital citizenship.
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