I think teaching Digital Citizenship is extremely important. There needs to be some direct instruction about what it is and how to apply it in today's world. I think the top 3 key points that should be addressed are:
*Digital Etiquette-I have seen more than one of my students understandably upset because someone sent disrespectful text messages to them. We have all probably experienced reading an email from an adult that had a disrespectful tone. The kids need to understand that the same norms of respect should apply when they are communicating online as when they are face to face with someone.
*Digital Safety-To put it simply, it is part of our responsibility to help ensure the safety of our students. Understandably, their naivitivity sometimes puts the kids in a vulnerable position, including when they are online. We need to help them understand the importance of being cautious when they are on a social networking site, and what to do if they have concerns.
*Digital Literacy-Our kids are really good at quickly learning technology....admittedly, way faster than me! However, they sometimes struggle with finding the information they need, determining the validity of a resource, crediting the source, and avoiding the pitfalls of plegarism. This requires time intensive instruction and modeling, but the pay off will be well worth it as our students will be much more successful researchers.
No comments:
Post a Comment