Digital Citizenship Teacher and Parent Resources
It is our job as educators to guide students through proper and safe use of digital media since digital media will be a permanent part of their lives. If we don't, we will lose relevancy in our students' lives. Below are some resources that I have found helpful in teaching students about their digital reputation, online safety, protecting personal information, social networking, online gaming, copyright, plagiarism, cyberbullying, and sexting.
Online/Digital ReputationStudents often don't think about the long term consequences of their online actions. The digital environment gives them a false sense of privacy and anonymity. We need to show them that EVERYTHING they do online is public. Once something is online, it is online forever.
It is not only students who need to remember this. PLease be careful about what you post. As an educator we are scrutinized. The following link leads to just a few articles about teacher's who have lost a lot because of online interactions. |
Your digital reputation can be a tough subject to teach about. The following link leads to a toolbox for teachers that includes videos and files to share with your students.
Online Safety
Of course being safe online is important. But how can we get young teenagers to understand just how important it is? The following video and quiz page encourages young teens to talk to a trusted adult when faced with questionable content online.
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I also really like what NetSmartz has put together for educators on online safety. They have videos, quizzes, games, and presentations geared to any age group of students. This is the link to their "Tweens" information page.
Protecting Personal Information
We need to use online media and digital resources in the classroom if we are truly going to prepare our students for the world of work that they will be joining, however that can be really scary. NetSafe Utah is a great resource for educators trying to stay safe with online classroom projects.
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NetSmartz has put together a nice tip sheet for keeping your personal information safe. This tip sheet can be found here:
Social Networking
Everyone loves to connect with other people online. Social networking has become a major form of how we stay in contact with others in our life. There are so many different social media platforms available to fit anyone's preference. We are not going to stop our students from accessing social media sites. We need to instead, teach them how to use these sites appropriately.
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NetSmartz has again put together a great tip sheet about social networking, what social networking is, and how it can be used positively.
It can be really hard to keep up with all of the social networking apps and sites that the kids are using. In order to remain relevant and get the "scoop" on all of the apps students are using, try searching in the Common Sense Media library. They have put together what is good and potentially bad about every social media site. I really like this page because they also include reviews from kids saying why they like it.
Online Gaming
There are a lot of controversies surrounding whether video games are damaging to kids' development or beneficial to it, but one thing is for certain, every student does it in one form or another. The following tip sheet (from NetSmartz of course) has some good suggestions for staying safe while gaming online.
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Some people think that video games have no place in the classroom. I personally think that if it will help students to take in the content because it is presented in a format that they understand and can relate to, it is a good thing. A video game that I have used to great success in my classroom (when I taught high school) is genirevolution. It is an awesome game that teaches the principles of financial literacy.
Copyright
The library of congress has put together succinct information about what a copyright is.
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Cyberbee is a website that has good clear FAQs about copyright written in easy-to-understand language.
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Plagiarism
The following video is a good explanation of how to avoid plagiarizing.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is a big problem. It can be at least as harmful as traditional bullying, but can follow the victim everywhere 24/7. Because cyberbullies cannot see their victims they sometimes cannot understand the depth of the pain they are causing.
NetSmartz has a good list of the types of cyberbullying. (Click more in the site to see all forms of cyberbullying). |
This tip sheet from NetSmartz has good suggestions for what to do when you are cyberbullied and how to stop the spread of cyberbullying.
Sexting
Common sense media has put together some good advice for talking to teens about sexting.It is aimed at parents, but I think it is still good for educators.
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The Australian Government Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner has great information for teachers on sexting. There are videos to show, and practical steps to take.
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The sources for all images on this page (all are creative commons images) are hyperlinked to each photo.