Running head: [REFLECTION JOURNAL] 1

[Final Reflection Journal]

[Terri L. Jones]

[Lamar University ]
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[Final Reflection Journal]

I have finally reached the end of the digital citizenship course after a whirlwind of new

knowledge and skills spinning around in my head. I have learned so much in this course, but I

have never been so glad to see the end of this course. The following will summarize my learning

of digital citizenship.

This course has taught me that everyone who contributes online is a digital citizen. In to-

day’s society, digital citizenship is so relevant. Digital citizenship impacts everyone. There are

positive and negative impacts of our digital footprint. The digital tattoo that we leave behind can

cause extreme hardships including financial, career, housing, and reputation. Therefore, it is im-

portant that we continue our education as lifelong learners. We need to model lifelong learning

and digital citizenship elements for our students. Prior to this course, I was aware of cyberbully-

ing and copyright laws. However, I wasn’t aware about the complexity and depth of the laws. I

realized that I need to continue to educate myself on digital laws. I also wasn’t aware that there

were nine elements of citizenship and that they fall under the categories of protect, respect, and

educate yourself and others.

In all honesty, my biggest accomplishment in this course was just completing it with an A. I

am a perfectionist, but during this course, I knew just when to click that submit button. This

course contained more content than all of the other courses in the Educational Technology pro-

gram. There were a lot of articles to read, videos to watch, and case studies to examine. In addi-

tion, there were two video presentations, long journal reflections, weekly quizzes, discussion

boards, and a culminating activity. I was also able to continue adding new content to my ePort-

folio on a weekly basis, which is something I haven’t kept up with until the past two courses.

This course was full of challenges. First of all, the third video on the vision statement for the

administrative coursework also fell in line with this course. Thanksgiving week off school
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caused me to lose time in the classroom for recording the video on the vision statement. Then,

report cards, special education progress report updates, end of semester testing and Christmas

parties all contributed to extra activities and workloads. I am a full time special education

teacher with a heavy caseload of students this year and keeping up with work and college was

almost impossible. Finally, there was an excessively overwhelming amount of content including

complex readings, case studies, videos, and legal articles. The articles were complex and re-

quired longer thought process than in previous courses. I often had to read the case studies and

articles as well as watch the web conferences multiple times in order to process all of the infor-

mation. Therefore, I found myself locked away on the computer for several hours and both days

during the weekend, struggling to finish assignments on time without the ability to review, edit,

or process information. I tried to follow the advice of previous students and the instructor by

completing one or two small sections of the assignment each night. However, breaking the as-

signments into chunks still gave me a headache. The biggest challenge I faced during this course

was working full time, reading the articles and text books and completing the lengthy assign-

ments.

My best work for this course was the presentation in week two on the impacts of cell phones

on digital citizenship because I had the most energy during this week. My mind was fresh and I

was able to be creative and use my skills that I have learned in previous courses. During the past

few courses, I have had numerous opportunities to create calls to action and video presentations,

so I feel that I have become proficient in this area. I enjoy video presentations and find them

useful as a teacher and as a future leader. I am looking forward to sharing them with my students

and co-workers when I teach digital citizenship classes.

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This coursework is critical inside and outside the classroom. As a digital citizen, I need to be

aware of my digital footprint. I need to ensure that I am monitoring it frequently just as I moni-

tor my credit report. I need to ensure that I am taking steps to continue cultivating a positive dig-

ital footprint. Now, I am more aware of the copyright laws and I know how to find them if I

need to research further. Since I am more aware about cyberbullying and suicide awareness, I

will be able to see the signs of depression and stand up to cyberbullying.

The most meaningful thing I learned in this course was the impacts of cyberbullying. As a

former middle school teacher, I am familiar with cyberbullying. Character education, compas-

sion, and empathy have a major impact on people and their self-esteem. It only takes one small

act of kindness.

I believe that this course should be required for all aspiring administrators because as leaders,

we need to model digital citizenship for our staff and students. As a future educational leader, I

need to have a growth mindset and continue to educate myself on current laws regarding copy-

right, cyberbullying, and digital citizenship. I need to ensure that my staff members are educated

about Digital citizenship so that they will be able to educate their students. I also need to ensure

that digital citizenship is modeled on my campus by myself and my staff members so that may

students can understand it thoroughly. As a future leader, I can promote these aspects of citizen-

ship on my campus and help students see connections between citizenship and digital citizenship.

Finally, I need to ensure that there is sufficient time built into the school year for digital citizen-

ship education.

There were so many great aspects of this course. My favorite aspect of this course was in-

vestigating and solving the case studies. I enjoy nonfiction stories and history, so the case stud-

ies were interesting. As a former middle school teacher, I have also learned that story telling is a

great way to connect with students and engage them. Although I griped and complained prior to
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completing them and took many breaks to re-read them and the articles that correlated with them,

I really did enjoy them once I got started. They challenged my thoughts and were a great way

for me to reflect on the information I had learned. I also thought they were a relative assessment

tool for me to demonstrate my understanding of the content. The discussion boards were also

enjoyable because I gained so many valuable resources from my colleagues and I love sharing

my knowledge with them. I also enjoyed having the time to add resources to my ePortfolio be-

cause I have fallen behind with my ePortfolio management.

If students are preparing to take the digital citizenship course, the first point I would make is

to be prepared to spend about 40 hours or more on assignments each week. It is important to be

an effective time manager. Skimming through the articles and videos is not an option in this

course because the content is rigorous. I would also suggest that students attempt to get ahead if

possible, especially on some of the article readings and videos. I would also suggest that future

students try to break the assignments into chunks and complete two or three small sections every

day. It is also important to take time with your family. Finally, I would encourage students to

develop a growth mindset. When this course is finished, it is a great achievement.

This course would be a great summer course because I would have more time to process and

dive deeper into the content. I was motivated to receive the digital badge and wasn’t sure if I

would be able to obtain it. The activities and content were engaging and beneficial. However, I

felt as if many of the assignments were redundant, which caused me to lose interest quickly and

become discouraged. If I could change any of the activities for this course, it would be the jour-

nal reflections. Since we did a web conference reflection every week, I felt like I was often re-

peating myself. I would not require both a journal reflection and a web conference of what we
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learned every week and then a final journal reflection about the entire course. I also felt like two

presentations was excessive. I thought that they were repetitive. I would have been able to

demonstrate mastery of learning with one final presentation on the nine elements and digital citi-

zenship. I don’t believe that two video presentations were necessary in this course. I also think

just one final reflection at the end of the course is sufficient. I believe that the culminating activ-

ity is a great assessment tool that can demonstrate course mastery.

I have already begun talking to friends about this course. I have discussed the relevancy of

digital citizenship, including the topics of cyberbullying and copyright laws. I have also dis-

cussed how this course has challenged me beyond belief and that I am proud of all of the accom-

plishments I have made in it. I would like my friends to know that I have gained confidence in

digital citizenship proficiency. I would like to offer help if they have any questions about cyber-

bullying or copyright. I would also like to share my presentations with them as a way to help

them teach digital citizenship in their classrooms or even to their own children.

https://techenhancer.weebly.com/
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