Kaitlyn Wolfe

Professor Duncan

ED230: Introduction to Educational Technology

February 07, 2023

Blog #2: How do I keep my students safe when using technology in

the classroom?

This discussion comes at such an opportunistic time for me, seeing as we are currently

discussing online safety in my classroom. With teaching middle school students, there are so many

dangers out there when accessing technology that they don’t quite comprehend yet. Yes, some of them

are aware of the dangers associated with the use of technology, and more specifically the internet, but a

large number of students are not aware of the potential dangers. So, how can I keep my students safe

when we use technology in the classroom?

 Firstly, you have to open a discussion about technology safety. If children are not aware that

potential dangers exist, how can they protect themselves against them? So, education and awareness are

key. I loved that Common Sense Media has lesson plans available for educators, and you can filter via

grade! I have the page for 6th grade linked, but you can toggle the filter to see what other grades’

curriculum looks like. In looking at the Alaska Digital Citizenship Week page on Alaska DEED’s

website, I also pulled the suggested lesson pacing plans that correlate with Common Sense Media’s

curriculum.

They cover a variety of topics, including cyberbullying, phishing scams, balancing media use,

your digital footprint, and being safe when interacting with others online. Some of these lessons are

crucial. When discussing digital footprints this week, many of my students assumed that when you

delete something, it's gone forever. It was eye-opening for them to realize that everything leaves a trace,

and that people can rediscover deleted items if they are determined enough to do so. We also talked

about how to interact with people online. One quote I found especially poignant from the article

‘Digital Citizenship Lessons Start With a Simple Conversation’. It reads, “...when we invite students to

talk about aspects of their digital lives they might not otherwise think about, we help them strengthen

their ‘digital awareness.’” In bringing these aspects of their digital presence to the forefront of the

conversation, we allow students to make better decisions about their actions online.

Another way to keep students safe when using technology in the classroom is to involve

families in the discussion. Without family buy-in, technology practices can vary wildly from home and

school, which impacts other students in the classroom. Even with more difficult conversations, having

parents interact and discuss with their children what online behavior should look like opens the doors
for continued transparency regarding their child’s digital footprint. By encouraging students and their

families to have discussions about their safety online, we can help create safe, aware, and kind digital

citizens in our classrooms.

Citations

Alaska Digital Citizenship Week, https://education.alaska.gov/digital-citizenship.

“Digital Citizenship Curriculum.” Common Sense Education,

https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/curriculum?grades=6.

Lindsey, LeeAnn. “Digital Citizenship Lessons Start with a Simple Conversation.” ISTE, 18 Oct.

2021,

https://www.iste.org/explore/digital-citizenship/digital-citizenship-lessons-start-simple-conversat

ion.