Digital Citizenship -- Digital Literacy

This post builds on the ideas shared in the article "Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship".

Theme 4 of 9 is digital literacy. Sometimes this gets overlooked because we hear the kids we currently teach referred to as "digital natives" all the time, so often the assumption is that kids know how to use technology since they've had it in their lives from the very beginning. However, being born into an era of technology doesn't mean being born automatically knowing how to use all that technology.

I was at a conference not long ago, and the speaker told us, "Take out your phone and look at it. Do you have a current, state of the art phone? Take a good look at it and realize that for our young students, the ones in elementary school, this is the worst technology they will have in their lives." That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. My cool, current iPhone was going to be my students' equivalent of a Motorola Razr or a Nextel phone???? But this begs the question, "How do we prepare kids to be able to use technology that doesn't even exist yet?"

The key to this is NOT learning how to use the current technology at hand. Rather, the key is learning how to learn. So as not to put anyone on the spot, I'll use myself as a quick example.

When I learned Dr. Henkle was hired as our new superintendent, I also learned about what he had done at his previous district with Chromebooks and strongly suspected we were going to be using them here soon, too, so I bought a Chromebook for myself to try it out. What I did to figure out some of the things that I wasn't used to included Googling problems I had or "how do I" questions as well as watching videos on YouTube. Things I could remember, I kept in my head. Things that I was afraid I would forget got written on Post-It notes and stuck to my Chromebook until I could keep them in my head. I did nearly the same thing when I switched from an iPhone to a Pixel phone -- lots of Googling, bookmarking websites that I knew would be good sources of information, and talking to people who I knew would be good go-to people for advice on my phone.

So, how did I learn?

• Google searching
• Saving resources online
• Watching instructional videos
• Making notes for myself
• Consulting experts

This is how we can help our students develop digital literacy as well. When they go to try a new piece of technology or a new technology tool, don't feel the need to instruct them on every little detail; show them the basics and then let them try it out. Productive struggle is a great learning experience! Encourage kids to help each other when they are stuck. Let them Google the solutions or watch videos on how to do something. Don't feel like you need to be the expert -- you don't! Kids can be resourceful; we just need to encourage it and give kids the opportunities to try new things.

Digital Citizenship -- Digital Communication

This post builds on the ideas shared in the article "Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship".

Theme 3 of 9 is digital communication. This is a biggie! For some of us, we might communicate electronically with others more than we even do face to face (whether this is good, bad, or otherwise is a discussion for another post). Since digital communication is so common, it stands to reason that there is some etiquette behind that mode of communication. Fortunately, this is relatively easy to explain and reinforce with the kids in our class.

One thing to consider is choice -- what is the best way to communicate with someone? There are so many forms -- email, phone call, text messaging, instant messaging, chatting on collaborative work, Skype/Google Hangouts/FaceTime, gaming, social media. Even though all these types of electronic communication are pretty readily available, they aren't all created equal. For instance, a supervisor who needs to let his staff know he won't be in the office one day probably wouldn't choose a phone call to each employee as the best way to communicate that. Students working together on a project who need immediate feedback might choose to use a chat feature instead of email. And a teacher who wants to invite the principal to visit his or her classroom probably won't choose to send that invitation via Snapchat! (Although that might be fun....)

A simple discussion with our students whenever they are faced with communicating electronically with someone else can help them decide the best way to initiate that communication. A discussion about the purpose of the communication and with whom they are communicating can generate ideas about the most and least effective forms of communication.

The other consideration is etiquette. Questions to consider:

• How should I address the other person?
• How formal should my language be?
• How long should my message be?
• How often should I be in communication with this person?
• What information is okay and not okay to be shared electronically (ex.: email address -- okay to share; passwords, account numbers -- not okay to share in electronic communication)?

Again, before initiating any electronic communication, we can simply have a discussion with our students about the above questions. This will help them understand that different kinds of communication require different modes and different behaviors.

How can we help students practice their electronic communication skills? Here are some ideas:

• Encourage students to send you an email if they have questions.
• Find a virtual pen pal for students to communicate with.
• Have a guest speaker visit your classroom via Skype/Google Hangouts.
• Offer students the opportunity to work collaboratively on projects in your class.
• Seize teachable moments, whether they come from within the classroom or from stories we hear in the media.
• Host online discussions through Google Classroom.
• Create activities where students collaborate and comment on each others' work using something like Padlet.

Finally, it's worth reminding students that whatever form of digital communication they choose to use, they're going to be governed by some terms of service. Here at school, on the job, at home using their personal email accounts or social media -- all of their communication is monitored in some fashion. All electronic communication can be vulnerable to being intercepted or hacked. All methods of electronic communication have items that are prohibited from being shared (i.e., using the communication for anything illegal).

Want help with this in your classroom or more ideas how to encourage improved digital communication skills with your students? Just let me know -- feel free to send me an email or a Snapchat :-)

Digital Citizenship -- Digital Commerce

This post builds on the ideas shared in the article "Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship".

Theme number 2 of 9 is digital commerce, which is the electronic buying and selling of goods. I don;t know if you are anything like me, but a serious amount of my shopping is done online. I am a heavy Amazon Prime user, and I do almost all of my Christmas shopping online -- including ordering gift cards! Of course, I wasn't always that way because the ability to shop online didn't always exist or wasn't that easy to do. But now it is, and chances are digital commerce is only going to continue to grow in use as time goes on. It makes sense then to help kids understand digital commerce, even thought the kids we teach don't have credit cards or debit cards to make purchases. Concepts kids should know related to digital commerce include

• Understanding how to recognize secure transactions (like looking for operational SSL)
• Understanding how online purchases through established accounts work (like buying apps, upgrades in apps, music, or other items work with an account like iTunes that is already connected to a credit card)
• Knowing the risks of sharing personal information on digital commerce sites -- which can be anything from harrowing identity theft to annoying spam email)

Here are some resources you can use to talk with students about digital commerce:

• ISTE Infographic
• Video tutorial with a short 3 question check quiz
• Digital commerce lesson plan aligned to CCSS
• Videos on various digital commerce topics from the Federal Trade Commission

If you need help tackling this topic in your class, let me know! I'd love to help you teach this important topic to your kids!

Digital Citizenship -- Digital Access

This post builds on the ideas shared in the article "Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship".

As you have heard many times (and will continue to hear), digital citizenship needs to be reinforced continuously considering our students all have Google accounts AND we are now 1:1! Exciting, yes, and fraught with responsibility!

The digital citizenship website I referenced above lists nine themes of digital citizenship. Over the next nine blog posts, I'd like to address each one of the themes and give you ideas about how you can address those themes easily in your classroom.

The first theme listed is digital access which addresses the fact that not everyone has the same access to technology. This is true even in our school district. While all students now have a device at their disposal during the school day and student sin grades 5 - 8 are able to take their devices home, it is entirely possible that some kids can't use their devices at home. Some nay not have internet access at home, while some may have internet but not wireless access. What can we do to make sure our students have access to the resources we ask them to use at home if they are limited somehow at home? Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Know where students can go outside of school to get internet access. There are places, like the public library, that have free wireless access. Encourage students and their families to look for the locations in our community that have partnered with Channahon School District 17 to provide wireless access for students. Here's the logo to look for:
  
• Also available from the local public library are mobile hot spots. (Contact or stop in at Three Rivers Public Library to learn more about this.)
• If you know of families who might be having a difficult time financially gaining home internet access, contact the district office. They have resources they can refer to in order to assist families as much as possible.

Giving students Google accounts and putting a device in their hands doesn't guarantee digital access. But knowing what resources are available to our students once they leave our classrooms can help bridge any digital access divides.