Digital Citizenship Collaborative Unit

Katie Cowart

FRIT 7739

Georgia Southern University

Dr. Downs

Spring 2022
Identification of Learning Problem

Students today are faced with more screen time opportunities than any group of students

before them. Technology is becoming more prevalent at schools and in homes as the

technological devices themselves become more mobile and classrooms are integrating more

technology into the lessons. Middle school students are of the age where they are starting to use

cellphones to communicate with their peers through various platforms. They are exposed to

technology during the school day through the use of Chromebooks in each class at Emanuel

County Institute and then have access to devices outside of school. Social media is one of the

largest platforms students use to communicate, and when they aren’t actively using it, they are

discussing what they have seen or heard on sites such as Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, etc. After

discussing the specific issues seen in her sixth-grade classroom, Mrs. Karen Moxley and I

decided there was a need to discuss the relevance of digital citizenship, the effects of screen time,

netiquette, and digital footprint.

Learner Analysis

Our target learners are sixth grade students in Mrs. Karen Moxley’s homeroom class.

Mrs. Moxley teaches English Language Arts to all sixth-grade students at Emanuel County

Institute, but the target audience for this course was the eighteen students in her homeroom.

Students are 11 – 12 years of age, and the class is comprised of approximately 60% girls and

40% boys. One of the students has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) where he receives

small group, additional time, and speech accommodations. Mrs. Moxley has observed the

students in her homeroom participate online during classes. Recently, however, the topics that

have come up at school started outside of school over social media platforms including snapchat
and TikTok. The drama that begins at home is brought into the school building and has affected

the learning environment many times this year as the counselor has had to get involved and pull

certain students. Since students are active online at school and/or at home, Mrs. Moxley and I

thought it was best to address the major concerns that has been affecting the students both in and

out of school.

Instructional Objectives

At the end of the Digital Citizenship and Responsibility unit, students will be able to…

1. Examine how digital citizenship relates to their life

2. Define screen time and explain its effects on digital health and well-being.

3. Describe at least five tips to maintain digital etiquette and communicate

appropriately online.

4. Define digital footprint and explain its lasting effects.

Task Analysis

The sixth-grade students will follow a series of lessons hosted on a Google Site. The

collaborating teachers, Mrs. Moxley and I, will facilitate the course and guide students through

each module that includes topics such as the relevance of digital citizenship, effects of screen

time, maintaining digital etiquette, and the lasting effects of a digital footprint. Mrs. Moxley will

serve as the subject matter expert (SME) related to appropriate content for sixth grade students as

she has been teaching middle school for twenty-six years. She has had a lot of experience with

middle school aged children and how they interact with others in-person and online. In order to

accommodate the student with special needs, a student partner will be placed alongside him to
assist him in navigating the course and reading aloud the articles/infographics. He will also be

provided with extended time during the assessments and closed captioning for the videos to

follow along with if needed.

Task 1: Read over instructional goals. Watch the video introducing

Introduction digital citizenship.
Task 2: Digital Read the 9 Play the Watch the Read the Participate
Citizenship in elements of “Spot Fake “Be Safe Social in the Poll
Your Life digital News” Online” Media Everywhere
citizenship game. video. infographic. discussion.
infographic.
Task 3: Screen Take the screen Watch the Read the Participate in
Time time quiz. “Screen Time Screen Time the Padlet
Effects” video. infographic. discussion.
Task 4: Netiquette Read the “What Watch the Read the Take the
is Netiquette” Netiquette tips Netiquette Netiquette
article. video. infographic. Quiz.
Task 5: Digital Watch the Read the “My Digital Participate in the
Footprint “Oversharing and Footprint” Digital Footprint
Digital Footprint” infographic. Padlet.
video.
Task 6: Complete the Digital Citizenship Complete the course feedback
Assessment assessment. form.

Development of Assessments

A variety of assessments are used throughout the Digital Citizenship unit to check for

understanding of the instructional objectives. Formative assessments are used through discussion

boards and online quizzes. The discussion boards are presented through the Poll Everywhere and

Padlet platforms. The online quizzes and games are previously made and hosted on other
websites but have been embedded into the course Google Site. A summative assessment occurs

at the end of the course to evaluate student knowledge of digital citizenship aspects covered in

the course. This is given through an embedded Google Forms quiz (Appendix A). Students will

also have the opportunity to assess the course itself. This is also given through an embedded

Google Forms quiz (Appendix B).

Content Sequencing and Instructional Strategies

Sequence Description Objective

1 Watch the introduction to digital citizenship video. 1
2 Read the 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship infographic 1
3 Play the Spot Fake News game. 1
4 Watch the Be Safe Online video. 1
5 Read the Social Media infographic. 1
6 Participate in the Poll Everywhere question. 1
7 Take the Screen Time questionnaire. 2
8 Watch the Screen Time Effects video. 2
9 Read the Screen Time infographic. 2
10 Participate in the screen time discussion. 2
11 Read the Digital Etiquette article. 3
12 Watch the Netiquette video. 3
13 Read the Netiquette Do’s and Don’ts infographic. 3
14 Take the Netiquette quiz. 3
15 Watch the Oversharing and Digital Footprint video. 4
16 Read the Digital Footprint infographic. 4
17 Participate in the Digital Footprint Padlet. 4
18 Take the summative assessment. 1, 2, 3, 4

The content was developed to be completed procedurally as each component builds upon

the previous. Students are engaged in each module with the relevant materials, such as videos

involving student voices and interactive games and quizzes that give students more insight about

themselves. Collaboration is another instructional strategy used through the discussion boards.

As students participated in the discussion boards, conversations came up regarding other students
answers and ideas others hadn’t thought of. Students were intrigues most by the interactive

quizzes, such as the screen time quiz. Infographics allowed the students to read through

important information without getting bogged down in long articles.

Evaluation and Reflection

An evaluation of the course was completed by students at the end of the unit. Using

student-friendly verbiage, participants were asked three questions regarding the helpfulness of

the course, ease of use and navigation of the website itself, and the relevance of the material to

student lives. Out of the three questions, the average answer for each fell between a rating of 4 or

5, where 5 is agreeing with the statement fully. After completing the digital citizenship unit with

Mrs. Moxley, the student discussions were rampant regarding the topics discussed. This added

to the effectiveness of the unit along with the data from the Digital Citizenship Quiz that was

given as the summative assessment. The class average was 96%, which entailed that the students

understood the material being presented to them and were able to apply it to the scenarios in the

summative assessment’s questions. If I were to change anything regarding the unit, I would

present the information on the website in a more engaging way, such as a digital scavenger hunt

that I have seen work effectively in a classroom setting.

Appendix A
Appendix B