Module 5 Digital Citizenship W531 Computers in Education Lana Reeser My audience for this digital citizenship presentation will

be the students at Lynhurst 7th and 8th Grade Center. They are ages 12-14, and predominately come from a low-income urban setting. Over 80% of our students are on the free and/or reduced lunch program. While the majority of our students have cell phones, I would estimate only a little over half have a computer with internet access.

Digital citizenship is using appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology. Ribble (2013) identified nine themes related to digital citizenship: access, commerce, communication, literacy, etiquette, law, rights and responsibilities, health and wellness, and security. Digital citizenship encompasses students learning to respect, educate, and protect themselves and others in regard to technology.

In my school district, digital citizenship is part of the library curriculum at the elementary level, but I do not know what is included in that curriculum. In my first year as the media specialist at Lynhurst, I did not cover digital citizenship; because it is so important, I plan to teach a unit to both seventh and eighth graders, and I would like to coordinate the units with the Ninth Grade Center and high school librarians as well. We will be having a meeting with all media specialists at the beginning of the school year, so I plan to check the elementary curriculum, and also talk with the high school librarians. I will also collaborate with the language arts teachers in my building, to find the best time in the year to teach it.

One challenge associated with digital citizenship, according to Oxley (2011) is that, responsible and ethical use of the internet is not something that teenagers consider to be important (p. 5). Because of this, educators have a responsibility to teach students about what is and is not appropriate behavior on the internet. We need to empower students to be able to handle possibly dangerous situations they may encounter online, especially in homes where adults may not be present, or are not familiar with technology.

I really liked the curriculum provided by Common Sense Media. There are 15 lessons in the 6-8 grade unit, and each lesson takes about 45 minutes to teach. I only have about 15 minutes with each class, so I will have to modify what I use quite a bit. The language arts classes come in to the library on a two week schedule, seventh grade one week, and eighth grade the next. My goal is to spend one month teaching digital citizenship, which means each class will get two 15 minute lessons.

For my action plan, I would like to cover internet safety and cyberbullying for seventh grade. My objective is for students to be able to describe positive aspects of online talking and messaging and to generate multiple solutions for helping others when cyberbullying occurs (commonsensemedia.org). For eighth grade, I chose digital footprint and reputation and respecting privacy. My objective is for students to learn that information from their digital footprint can be searched, copied and passed onand can be persistent and to consider the possible benefits and risks of sharing information online (commonsensemedia.org).

References Cyberbulling: Be Upstanding (6-8). Commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/cyberbullyingbe-upstanding-6-8. Oxley, C. (2011). Digital citizenship: developing and ethical and responsible online culture. Access (10300155), 25(3), 5-9. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy2.ulib.iupui.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5 &sid=24dfed1f-dfbf-4d85-8057-e624d55d9841%40sessionmgr115&hid=123 Private Today, Public Tomorrow (9-12). Commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/private-todaypublic-tomorrow-9-12. Ribble, M. (2013). Nine themes of Digital Citizenship. Digital Citizenship: Using Technology Appropriately. Retrieved from http://digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html Safe Online Talk (6-8). Commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/safe-online-talk-6-8. Trillion Dollar Footprint (6-8). Commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/trillion-dollar-footprint-6-8.