Here we are again starting with another digital topic to explore; digital citizenship. I think exploring facets of the digital world from an educational point of view is important because not only will our students be online through various digital tools they use in the classroom, but also in their personal digital lives through the internet and social media. I also think that these topics around digital safety and use are important because as teachers we also have a digital life and have to be aware of what content we are putting out into the world when it comes to ourselves and what aspects we show of our classrooms. as well as making sure the digital tools we use with our students are adequate and appropriate. Digital Citizenship refers to using technology responsibly, specifically, when an individual is using technology to interact in any way with the rest of the world because when it comes to the internet using it really is a window to the rest of the world (Zook). In today’s society where technology is increasingly over time becoming a large part of our daily lives using it responsibly is hugely important. I believe this is especially important for youth because as they grow up technology is only going to evolve more with them so it is good to give them a good base understanding of the possibilities of what they can do online and where those boundaries should be when using technology safely. Over our observational practicum, I have seen a lot of technology being used in the classroom that ranges from doing just dance videos as a class, having an online class dojo to using raz kids or mathletics independently. Having reflected on some of these examples I would say that the biggest thing we have to do as educators is really to make sure we are reviewing whatever we are putting in front of our students. Also, I think that especially when you are getting into the older intermediate grades in elementary as well as high school students it would be beneficial for them to open up the conversation about technology safety as these are the ages that individuals start to use it much more independently. In k-12 education, I think a way that this could be implemented would be to allow them to use different online programs and then after reflecting as a class on what type of program it was. This could go further into just discussing things like putting personal and sensitive information online. To be honest I am a little stumped on how to include this in the classroom other than just really talking about it with your students and giving them a chance to understand the breadth of the online world as well as its consequences. Having said that I think I could do some research on this. Just doing a quick google search Common Sense education has a whole website on this and ready-made topics to discuss with different grade levels (2020). I think this a really great resource just to get thinking as it covers things like media balance and well-being, privacy and digital footprint and so on. Edutopia also has a lot of different resources on this like “how to run a class twitter discussion and what are the key things that need to be taken into consideration for young people using the internet (Edutopia 2020).  With lots of education being shifted to online due to the pandemic, I think this knowledge is incredibly useful especially right now when a lot of young people are connecting through social media as they cannot meet in person in a lot of circumstances.

References

Digital Citizenship. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/topic/digital-citizenship

Digital Citizenship Curriculum. (2020, September 28). Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/curriculum?grades=k,1,2

Zook, C. (n.d.). What Is Digital Citizenship & How Do You Teach It? Retrieved from https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/what-is-digital-citizenship#:~:text=Digital citizenship refers to the,topic to teach today’s%