Digital Citizenship

Of the nine digital citizenship topics presented which do your students struggle with?
Which are they strong in?

Learners have success and struggle with an array of these types of digital citizenship topics. I
avoided using the law and commerce standards as weaknesses because I don’t feel like my
middle school students have a fundamental understanding of how they work.

Strengths:

Digital Communication and Collaboration- This area of digital citizenship is considered a

strength with my students. Students are very good at being able to express themselves through
multiple avenues that give them the ability to collaborate. Whether it is Google Drive, back
channels, Schoology discussion boards, or other media, students are able to communicate with
each other to enhance their learning. This is one of the aspects of digital citizenship that I have
seen an increase in their ability throughout the year. They have figured out ways to
communicate with each other that were not taught but they do it effectively, especially when
looking at group projects.

Digital Fluency- Throughout the years, students' Digital Fluency has continued to get better.
During my first year, it would be a challenge to log in to Discovery Education. Now students are
accessing more material at a higher level than I have seen in the past. The number of different
resources that I was able to use because students would not lose large amounts of instructional
time was extremely beneficial this year. Going through distance education was a sink-or-swim
moment for a lot of my students. Many/most of these students have come out on the other side
able to access more than what they knew pre-pandemic. Students can access more information
and determine its legitimacy.

Weaknesses:

Digital Health and Welfare- With a wide array of resources there are some difficulties when it
comes to the mental health of the students. Students are using more technology than ever
before, and it sometimes makes it hard for them to distinguish what is real and what isn’t.
Whether it is technology in the classroom where students can figure out how to communicate
with someone that they shouldn’t be or at home where constant communication with peers
creates a multitude of problems. With 1:1 devices and the addition of new tech resources,
coupled with the usage of phones, screen time is at an all-time high and has caused many
physical health issues in the school year. This area of citizenship seems like the biggest of the
pros and cons scenarios as an increased amount of tech and resources can be instrumental in
creating new educational pathways, but it can also be devastating for students' physical and
mental health.

Digital Etiquette and Digital Rights and Responsibility- I feel as though these two standards
go together. Digital Etiquette and Digital Rights and Responsibilities are major issues with
students having their own devices. Even with an understanding of what it means to be a digital
citizen students having as much power to choose what they can do has been an eye-opening
experience. Both the physical responsibility of how they treat a 1:1 device and the amount of
task distraction that goes on in the classroom is something that I would not have expected. The
number of replacement laptops that were given out this year to my 7th and 8th graders was
absurd. I think these two standards were hard for students to follow because they were used to
a year and a half where they had complete autonomy over their computers. If they did not like
an activity, they could turn their camera off and mute themselves and there were not a lot of
consequences. If they physically broke a laptop, they were given a new one even though the
electronic standards said otherwise. Overall, these were the hardest to follow. Following the
rules that were laid out and being responsible for what they were using the laptops for.

Digital Security and Privacy- Lastly, Digital Security and Privacy are ones that I have seen
over the past few years. They want to access other people’s material for fun. With my students,
I have never seen someone use someone else’s device with evil intentions, but I have often
seen students taking others' laptops and searching for weird things or trying to find out other
students' passwords. Like a student trying to find out another’s locker combination, this could
have dire consequences if the wrong student gets the wrong information. Another part of this is
students continuing to be obsessed with hacking and how to do things to their own computers or
others. These problems are risking the safety of other students' internet experiences.

Based upon your role as an educator, in what ways might you engage different
stakeholders in digital citizenship (S3).

To implement and engage the standards of Digital Citizenship I would focus on three strategies,
Fully understand the standards and consequences, use personal experiences or experiences of
others, and use media to help show why the standards are important. A lot of the time students
are not engaged in the etiquette or rules because they sit and listen to the rules and that is all.
Students need to be given the choice to create the norms as a class and the consequences that
go along with them. Creating a class etiquette for online usage could be a way for students to
have some buy-in to the process. Another way is to share stories about what can happen when
the internet is not used appropriately by using role cards. Using these cards could help the
students see the perspective and real-life examples of the problems that can happen when they
are not using their devices appropriately. Lastly, using media such as videos and games to help
students understand what the rules are and what the consequences are can help engage the
students into caring for and following the digital citizenship rules.

Review one of the lessons presented through the commonsense curriculum, adult
training or any lesson on digital citizenship and reflect on the following questions:

Share a synopsis of the lesson you chose to review (you may need to create an account
to see a lesson plan).

The lesson is called Responding to Online Hate Speech

https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/responding-to-
online-hate-speech

The learning objectives are:

Examine and respond to a piece of artwork about the power of technology.

Analyze an online hate speech dilemma using the Feelings & Options steps.
Identify specific actions to positively affect a situation involving hate speech.

This lesson addresses the issue of navigating hate speech online and in social media. I think
this lesson is extremely important for all students using the internet. The lesson starts by
creating an essential question “How should you respond to online hate speech”. It uses a
variety of materials (Handouts, media, and student responses) to understand what qualifies as
hate speech. It sets up class norms on how to talk about the issue, gives information that helps
frame the discussion and allows students to respond to prompts, and gives students information
on how they can address and stand up to hate speech online. The lesson is broken down into
three parts, a See-Think-Wonder, analyzing hate speech dilemmas, and a discussion on
responding to hate speech that wraps up with a taking action section.

Note which of the 9 elements you believe this lesson meets.

This lesson meets Digital Etiquette, Digital Health and Welfare, and Digital Rights and
Responsibility. I chose this lesson because it addresses the standards that I believe are the
students' biggest weaknesses. This lesson addresses hate speech online which I think is one of
the most damaging aspects of not following digital citizenship. It looks at the students'
responsibilities to do what is right and how to do that. It also sets up norms for the discussion of
what can be a sensitive topic. With a little tweaking, this could also easily hit the communication
and collaboration standard as well.

What do you see as the lesson's strengths and weaknesses, changes, and technology?

I think overall this lesson does a great job of using multiple strategies to address the issue of
hate speech. I like the fact that they are using plausible examples of what can happen when it
comes to hate speech. It also has extension pieces that help students dig deeper into the topic
and their own thoughts as well. It gives thought-provoking and engaging questions that set the
scene for how hate speech comes up online. There is an area that addresses how to act when
students see this that I think is very beneficial and is often left out of activities like this. The
biggest weakness I see is that it doesn’t do a lot to engage the learner in its current state. I
would probably have a role play aspect of this to get the students out of their seats to show how
these different scenarios make them feel. Going along with that another weakness is that it
doesn’t fully address the consequences of hate speech online. I would like to use some
technology like Nearpod, to make this a little more engaging and interactive, but I would make
sure that there isn’t room to go to other slides or other resources during this important lesson. I
think the online collaboration board in Nearpod would be beneficial for students to communicate
and feel like more of a community.

How might the lesson work in your instructional setting (or hypothetical class)

In my instructional setting, this would work extremely well. Every week we have a period of time
devoted to class meetings and this would be the perfect time for this lesson. Lessons like these
are important to make sure students are using technology responsibly. Too often there are
problems that occur from the use of technology that goes unnoticed and affect a student’s
mental well-being. Lessons like these are pivotal reminders to students that their actions have
consequences and there needs to be an understanding of what they can and cannot do.