Digital Citizenship. What does that term mean and why is it important to you?
As we increasingly turn to digital technology to help in what seems like every aspect of our lives, having a strong sense for digital citizenship will become more and more important.
So, let’s start with what it means:
Digital Citizenship: is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately. (digitalcitizenship.net)
This week, learning about digital citizenship has helped me as an educator provide a safer, more controlled, and smarter approach to allow my students the proper experience they deserve when they do research online.
This week in science, we are studying about rocks and minerals. We learned about the three kinds of rocks, and did research on iPads to watch videos and go deeper into the topic. Through the videos and articles posted by my professor and classmates at SFSU, I learned that digital citizenship starts with a conversation about what it means to respect the internet. This talk with my students went well, and I learned that they have spent a fairly extensive time online already at the ages of 9 and 10 only. After our conversation, I gave the students different sites they could visit and when it was time to wrap up, we had a large group class discussion about their trip to the World Wide Web.
Digital Citizenship class at the French American International School begins next week with our technology teacher giving a weekly class on what it means to be a digital citizen and how we can get the information we want, while staying safe online. I’m really excited to learn more and also to share what is taught!
Tech Teacher Life 