Digital Citizenship Week

What is Digital Citizenship?

Digital citizenship, in a nutshell, is character education for the digital realm. It is imperative that we make an effort to educate students on digital safety. Ultimately, responsible use of technology in the early years will translate to a better Internet for tomorrow. Will problems still exist? Yes, people will still make mistakes. But imagine what the Internet will be like if we don't make an honest effort to educate students on the best uses of technology?

This year one of my focuses will be on how digital citizenship should be intertwined in the everyday experience of the student. Looking for these teachable moments will provide great opportunities to fit digital citizenship into a natural part of the school day. To get things kicked off and rolling, next week is offically digital citizenship week! 

Digital Citizenship Week

The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) has declared that next week is #digcit (digital citizenship) week. They have kindly laid out resources grouped by grade level so that teachers can easily implement as they please. Each day has a different focus:

• Monday - Focus on Digital Citizenship
• Tuesday - Digital Citizenship is a Team Effort
• Wednesday - Your Digital Identity
• Thursday - Be Upstanding
• Friday - Rights, Remixes, and Responsibilities

They recommend reserving 45 minutes of your time for each lesson to dedicate toward digital citizenship. You may or may not have enough opportunity give of your instructional time each day depending on your schedule. With that said, give the amount of time that you can afford to give. Some focus on digital citizenship is better than nothing as it will give you opportunities to revisit the topics naturally in the day-to-day routine. These resources will provide your students with the scaffolding they need to understand the importance of being an upstanding digital citizen. 

Here are the resources the IDOE has provided for Indiana teachers: 

#APRIDE #DigCit!

MSDSC teachers, take pictures and tweet them out to share how your class is learning what it means to be a digital citizen. Sending out pictures of great things happening in your classroom is an awesome way to demonstrate and model proper use of social media. (It would be a great use of your iPad as well.) Don't forget the hashtags #APRIDE and #DigCit.  

Don't have a Twitter account? Send them to me via email and I would happily do it for you. Give a little description to share what your class is learning and I will tweet away. 

Need More Resources?

The IDOE also has a Google Plus Community you can join where educators across the state of Indiana share ideas and resources of how to best integrate digital citizenship into your curriculum. You can visit that community by clicking here. 

You can also visit the direct post by Michelle Green on the IDOE blog where she initiated the movement for a week to celebrate digital citizenship. Click here to view. 

Common Sense Media provides a wide range of activities and resources. They have lesson, videos, and learning experiences laid out for teachers that are ready to implement. 

NetSmartz is another great site with lots of resources to utilize. It comes with teaching resources, presentations, and implementation guides specifically for teachers.