Week 6

Activity 6.3 Digital Citizenship Reflection

It is a prerequisite in the contemporary classroom for teachers to responsibly promote and model digital citizenship.  When their students are young, teachers should be strong and frequent in their messaging and guidance before any bad habits have to be undone.  The school is a safe and controlled environment where they can be molded, especially if they are reached at a young age.   However, the first thing teachers need to remember is to lead by example; their example sends a powerful message (good or bad).  Responsible modelling includes keeping a teacher’s personal life offline or securely private (e.g. not accepting Facebook friend requests from students, diligent privacy settings, keeping clean your digital footprint).  Teachers should also be certain that their digital communications are always professional.  Emails should be sent from a work address with a work signature and should not be sent late at night.  Texting should be kept to pedagogical purposes.  The teacher must never engage in any cell phone use that is disrespectful to the classroom environment, including personal texting, taking calls or game playing, which the teacher is trying to teach students not to do.

I would incorporate digital citizenship into my regular classroom instruction and activities that is ongoing and age appropriate.  Instead of one-off curriculum, discussions should be peppered through the school year and tied in to other curriculum topics.  I intend to be prepared for teachable moments, which can occur at any time.  Case studies and scenarios are excellent discussion tools.  Topics could include conversation boundaries, privacy and FOIP, digital security (e.g. anti-virus), and the ethics and laws surrounding copyright (e.g. illegal downloading, plagiarism), hacking, identity theft, pornography and gambling.   Posters installed at strategic locations, such as beside the computer, can reinforce discussions and serve as timely reminders.  There are numerous online resources that teachers can use, that offer a large array of videos, tip sheets and even posters.  When social media is used in the classroom, I would ensure that responsible citizenship is being modelled and that all activity can be monitored to catch any behaviours requiring corrective intervention.

 

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