Topic 7 of 9 focuses on digital rights and responsibilities. Just as citizens of our country, we have certain rights guaranteed to us, we also have some rights guaranteed to us online as well. We have a right to freedom of expression, privacy, etc. online as well as in our non-digital lives. And just like in real life, those rights also come with responsibilities to ourselves and others.
It's important for students to understand that yes, they do have rights online, but they need to also understand that exercising those rights can be tricky.
First of all, every service or site students use is governed by terms of service. Probably, most students (and adults, too, for that matter) don't bother reading the TOS when they sign up for Twitter or download Instagram or Snapchat on their phones. The problem with that is now they are not sure if they ever violate those TOS. For instance, cyberbullying or other kinds of electronic harassment is going to be a violation of the TOS. As teachers, we can help students understand the value in reviewing the TOS before using a site or a service. You could analyze, as a class, the TOS for something like iTunes or Snapchat or even Netflix and discuss with kids what some of those rules mean. I used to do this with the iTunes TOS when I taught computers and kids were always shocked to discover how many ways they were violating the rules :-)
Also, it is important to realize that the freedom kids have online does not exempt them from consequences. That is one of the topics Officer Lazzari and I try to cover with kids at the junior high in tech safety lessons, that sometimes they things you say and do online are appropriate, sometimes they're just being mean or rude, and sometimes they're illegal.
This also ties into the concept of the kids' digital footprint. Kids can make themselves look however they want to online. They can control their online reputation. Their posts on social media can and do have very real consequences -- students have lost college admission and scholarships, and adults have lost jobs and job offers because they were irresponsible online.
We can help kids understand all this by continuing to guide them in their online behaviors and interactions. When having kids send emails, take some time to teach them email etiquette. When collaborating on work, encourage kids to offer constructive feedback to their peers; maybe even model what constructive and unhelpful feedback looks like. When stories come up in current events, use them as teachable moments (obviously keeping things age appropriate); ask kids what would have been a better way to handle this or what was the problem with what the person did.
Essentially, all the etiquette we use to interact with our fellow humans in person are also in effect online. One of the most simple yet straightforward way to help kids understand this is to ask them, "What you are about to do or say online, would you also do or say that in person in front of your friends, family, teachers?" If it's not something they would do in person, they shouldn't do it online.
Need help coming up with ways to make digital rights and responsibilities clear? Reach out -- I;d love to come up with ideas for your kids!
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