Digital+Citizenship

The use of technology in society, specifically in U.S. schools is taken for granted, abused, and misused in many situations. Research on the use of technology in schools is continually being done and becoming very controversial. Digital citizenship is a concept that many do not consider. Mike Ribble, author of “Digital Citizenship – Using Technology Appropriately,” describes digital citizenship as “the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use.” The research that has been conducted on this topic concludes that there are nine elements that make a digital citizen, including: etiquette, communication, education, access, commerce, responsibility, right, safety, security (Ribble, Bailey, and Ross 2004). These elements make up the behaviors of digital citizenship and should be taught and considered to all technology users including students in a detailed form. In the article, “Digital Citizenship – Addressing Appropriate Technology Behavior” details, examples, misuse, and strategies to teach these nine elements can be found.

The elements of digital citizenship should be part of every student’s life when using technology in order to become an independent, responsible citizen in today’s society, which is consumed with technology. As future teachers we must model digital citizenship and pass this along to the future of America, our students. Teachers must consider the content that is used in their classroom and the sources that it comes from. There are many laws and safety issues to consider when providing teaching materials to students and the materials that students are using.

Digital Citizenship could not exist without technology. Teachers, 180 days out of a year, demonstrate to their students the characteristics of how to be a good citizen in the United States. Teachers should also apply this teaching towards the digital world. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube,blogs, texting, podcasts are some of the specific aspects of technology that students use on a daily basis. Students must know how to use these communication tools appropriately. Using them inappropriately could lead to issues such as cyber bulling and other harmful ways. In many elementary classrooms students use computers, Smart Board/Promethean Boards, and, most importantly, the Internet. An example of something that could happen on the Internet is a student may download a virus by going to questionable sites. Limewire and other file sharing software is another aspect that teachers should teach about and copyright laws. Some schools are accessible to a wide range of technology, which makes digital citizenship more of a priority.

Epals
[|www.epals.com] This website allows for a safe environment for students, parents and teachers to participate in. Through this website, you can connect with other classrooms that are in different parts of the world. The website helps classrooms collaborate on cross-cultural experiences and allows class-to-class projects. It can also be a great tool for teachers to use to gain new and inspiring ideas.



Stop Cyberbullying
[|www.stopcyberbullying.com]

This link will take you to a website where you can find a Pledge for students to take part in. This pledge encourages students to be good digital citizens, and helps increase their awareness of the responsibility that comes along with technology. The pledge can be used for individual classrooms or with entire schools. The pledge tool kit includes individual pledges for the children to sign, banners, and ribbons. It also includes directions for teachers so they will be able to implement this pledge effectively.



Easybib
[|www.easybib.com] This website is a great tool to introduce to students to help them learn to properly cite resources. Through this website, students can simply input the information required for citation. Then, the website correctly formats the citation. Students will be more likely to cite sources correctly if they have a program like this available to refer to.

Cyber Tree House
[|http://www.cybertreehouse.com] Sarah McKamy October 2, 2009 This site is a great way to introduce young children to being a knowledgeable cyber citizen and understanding what the rights and wrongs of internet usage are. The site is specifically designed for young children, and uses simplistic terms and vocabulary so that children even in as early as first or second grade would be able to use this site and comprehend it. What is so useful about this site is that it provides the information in a cartoon-like way with interactive graphics and clickable features to make the learning experience exciting. The site consists of a tree house through which students can navigate through to learn safety tips, learn about following copyright laws, play educational games, and watch videos. If you are looking for a fun way that young students can learn about digital citizenship, giving them a short amount of time to try it out on their own, or even pulling it up on an interactive board with the entire class, would be a unique way to get them thinking about this topic.

Antonio Taylor, October 2, 2009
“To help make the Internet a great and safe place for children” states the site. A very helpful website that focuses on children using technology appropriately. The site focuses on three of the nine themes of digital citizenship: Access, Literacy, and Security. The site also includes award-winning online projects, resources, and childnet news releases.

Jessica Cooley, October 2, 2009
This article describes the elements of digital citizenship. It provides a curriculum for teaching students how to be a good digital citizen. It explains strategies and examples for demonstrating digital citizenship responsibility.

//Frances Mann—October 2, 2009//
This link will take you to information on a book that is a great resource for educators to use. It describes digital citizenship and how it can be implemented into classrooms. The book comes with two chapters that will be of particular interest to educators. One chapter includes activities to help teachers, administrators, faculty and staff become educated on digital citizenship. Another chapter includes lesson plans that can be implemented into your classroom to help students become aware of their roles as digital citizens.



//Frances Mann--October 16, 2009//
This video is a great resource to use when teaching your students about copyright laws. It discusses the importance of properly citing sources, and the consequences that can happen if you do not properly cite sources.It also provides an example of how you should and should not use information from a source. Because it is a short video, it would be important that you expand upon the ideas that are discussed.



//Antonio Taylor--October 15, 2009//
X-block is a internet safety website designed for teens. Even though this site is designed for teens, it is a great tool to use with upper elementary students. The site allows students to join for free to become imentors (and provide free training) to help spread internet safety in their school as well as home, by the use of activities and example events that the site provides. The site also includes articles dealing with cyber-bullying. This is a very interactive site that teachers can use to get their students actively involved with internet safety.



//Jessica Cooley--October 21, 2009//
This website allows kids, teens, and parents to use the resources to become knowledgeable on digital citizenship. The site has an online safety guide for children with ideas to stay safe online and it supplies families with tools to stay safe and protect yourself from harm online. There is also a section that links kids to websites that have opportunities to learn the online rules and safety tips from games, etc. The unique feature of this website allows kids and teens to report online trouble to officials for further help.



//Jessica Cooley--October 21, 2009//
This is a website designed for teachers that provides lesson plans and activities to teach students about web literacy. All of the resources for teachers are available straight from the site at no cost. It provides teacher manuals, and the actual materials for the students to use in the lesson. The "Jo Fool or Jo Cool" lesson provides students with scenarios of different websites where they have to decide if the characters are making the safe decisions or not. At the end of the lesson there is a quiz on the activities that allow students to see if they can recognize when to make a "fool or cool" decision online. This website could be really helpful for teachers looking for resources and lessons to use for digital citizenship activities for students.



//Frances Mann--October 23, 2009//
This website provides a curriculum that is centered on teaching students how to be a good digital citizenship. The curriculum is FREE to educators and can be applied to grades K-12. It comes complete with written lesson plans, student activities and worksheets, and a "home connection" section. These lesson plans do not need to be taught in a sequential order and can easily be integrated into any classroom. The curriculum is based around an acronym for SMART. S--Safety and Security Online M--Manners, Cyberbullying and Ethics A--Authentic Learning and Creativity R--Research and Information Fluency T--Twenty-First Century Challenges



//Antonio Taylor --October 23, 2009//
BrainPop is a very interactive website resource to help students of various ages to learn about Digital Citizenship. The website includes videos on topics such as Internet Safety, Plagarism, Cyber-Bullying, Online Sources, Copyright, Information Protection, and Digital Etiquette. The videos uses cartoon characters, which is a great appeal to students in the lower elementary grades. The videos expound on the specific areas of digital citizenship, and at the end of the videos students are able to take a quiz or complete an activity. This is a very good resource for the classroom!



**WiredKids**
http://www.wiredkids.org/wiredkids_org.html Sarah McKamy—October 23, 2009

What makes this site useful is that there are separate sections for many different types of people: kids, teens, adults, educators, parents, and so on. This site has articles for educators to read about different areas of internet safety and how to observe kids’ usage in the classroom. There are also games for students to play to teach them about the rights and wrongs of internet usage. There is also great information provided about laws concerning internet safety and protection of children who use the internet.



**Disney’s Surf Swell Island**
[] Sarah McKamy—October 23, 2009

This site is designed by Disney, and gives advice to adults about how to ensure children are safe while using the internet. There are tips about rules to give children to make sure they are aware of the rights and wrongs of internet usage, as well as information about cyberbullying and how to make sure it is happening. There are a couple of videos to watch that shares some of this information. Also, there are a couple of PDFs that can be printed out; one is an agreement form you can have a child sign after you go over the rules of internet usage, and also a list of rules to follow while using the internet. Although this site is geared towards parents, I feel that it is still useful for educators and students as well.



**NetSmartz**
http://www.netsmartz.org/ Jessica Cooley -- November 4, 2009

This picture is an article on the NetSmartz homepage. This website is filled with articles, information, activities, games, workbooks, etc. for kids and teens. It has two different sections for kids and teens with lots of interactive games and activities to learn about rules and guidelines for cyberspace. This would be a great resource and tool for students, parents, and teachers to use for information and ideas on ways to stay safe online.



Connect Safely
http://www.connectsafely.org/

//Antonio Taylor -- November 6, 200////9//
This is a great site that offers a wide variety of information dealing with internet safety. The site includes latest news, safety tips, commentaries, a connectsafely forum, and a video library. The safety tips come both in english and spanish, and offer advice on how to prevent cyberbulling, sexting, and safety tips on many aspects of technology. The forum section allows guests and staff to communicate about the importance of internet safety and also specific issues. This is site is a great resource for the classroom. It will help provide information to students, and also will build discussion between students.

//Frances Mann--November 6, 2009//
This website offers a free program for educators to implement into their classrooms and schools. There are links to video and print materials for each grade, interactive workshops and programs to help educate parents, and advice from other educators on how to teach digital citizenship. You can sign up for workshops and online training for free through this website. This is definitely a resource that educators should take full advantage of in creating good digital students.



//Frances Mann--November 13, 2009//
Digizen.org is a website that is used to investigate social networking services. This site helps to evaluate how students are using these services in both a formal and informal way. There are several different aspects to this project. It includes research on benefits and opportunities, barriers and risks, and ideas and examples. Teachers can use information found on this website to help their students take advantage of the social networking services that are available to them in assisting their education.



//Antonio Taylor --November 16, 2009//
This is a site directed towards educators tackling the topic of digital citizenship. The site addresses the the C3 Matrix, or the 3 C's, of digital citizenship. The C3 matrix is comprised of cyber-safety, cyber-security, and cyber-ethics. The site also bases the 3 C's off of Bloom's Taxonomy, which I found to be very interesting, and helpful for a teacher. Along with its correlation to Bloom's Taxonomy, it offers a rubric on a student's knowledge of the 3 C's. The rubric ranges from Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. The site is very useful for helping a teacher have focus on the topic of Digital Citizenship.

=Computing Cases --http://computingcases.org/=

//Sarah McKamy//

Although in appearance this site is very simplistic with minimal graphics, there is plenty of infromation available on this site that is useful for educators. This site offers quite a lot of teaching materials available to help teachers relay the importance of using technology wisely. There a number of activities provided for teachers to use. In addition, this site provides case studies that teachers can introduce their students to. This shows students real life situations involving the misuse of technology.

=Computer Crime and Intellectual Property -- []=

//Sarah McKamy//

This site actually contains lists of crimes that have been committed concerning the misuse of the internet and computers. Through this site, students will be able to see the variety of cases that are out there concerning people making poor ethical decisions when using technology. If I were to use this, I would pick out the cases I wanted students to see, just in case there are some that elementary students should not see.