Uses in the Classroom • Digital Citizenship
Before teachers can teach what it means to be a model digital citizen, they must LEARN what it means to be a model digital citizen. The Be a Model Digital Citizen guide by John D. Ross, PhD at TeachLearnTech.com is complete with definitions of terms, resources and lesson ideas for educators who want to learn more about digital citizenship.
In today's ages of "screens" kids are being exposed to technology at very young ages, much younger than in previous generations. It's never too early to start teaching children about online safety. Many lessons have already been prepared for all grade levels at CommonSense.org.
This chart above from KnowBe4.com outlines warning signs about possible suspicious emails.
Need an image but are afraid of violating copyright laws or usage permissions? Use Creative Commons Search! Images are free to use and do not violate copyright, but you must still give a proper citation. Show students this site so they can grab free images to enhance their project and presentations!
Unfortunately some behavior problems and even physical altercations can result from something that started as a simple but negative comment on social media. See CyberBullying.org for information and resources on the warning signs and how to help prevent cyberbullying.
The above video, called "Shift Happens", was originally created for a school board meeting in Colorado. Although using stats from 2006, it still holds relevance about the ever-continuing changes in technology and how students think. There are updates and conversations about these topics in this video at shifthappens.wikispaces.com.
How fast is your home or work internet connection supposed to be? If you are paying for fast internet and it seems sluggish, that could be an indication of a virus or other malware. Use SpeedTest by Ookla to time your connection speed.
From Merlot.org, this K12 Digital Citizenship Guide is provides educators with curriculum on digital citizenship and professional development for adults working with K-12 students on digital citizenship.
Trying to show students how to determine if a website is VALID? Hard to do when ANYONE can post ANYTHING online. See one of the first and most famous internet hoax sites at Save the Northwest Tree Octopus. |
Does your password have a mix of capital and lower case letters, numbers and special characters? If your password doesn't take at least several thousand years for an ordinary PC to decode, you might want to try making your password more complicated. You should also have more than one password, even if that's not very convenient to have to remember. Try out your passwords at How Secure Is My Password?
Evil doers do evil things around the clock. In this 2009 report from 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl reports on computer viruses that propagate on the Internet and infect PCs, which enable their creators often called "cyber gangs" to learn the information they need to electronically rob bank accounts.
From DigCitUtah.org, here is a portfolio of student-made projects showing how over 30 kids are teaching the world how to be good digital citizens - kids creating ripples of GOOD!
Think you deleted everything there is "bad" about you online? Don't worry, there's a backup of it somewhere... When checking for your digital footprint, try running a search through the Wayback Machine to see if there are things out there about you that you thought were gone!
Many digital citizenship lessons need to start with some kind of background about the internet. Here is a lesson I have prepared for high school students, parents, or adult learners - it is a broad overview of many topics including social media and internet safety. If not viewable,try looking at the Google Doc here.