Digital Citizenship the Key to Safe and Sound School Technology

"Children are handed powerful, connected devices by parents and schools at younger and younger ages. The messages and media that children are consuming, creating, and sending connect them to their friends and the world, and allow new opportunities for self-expression, but can also have negative and sometimes life-changing consequences." - Erin McNeill, founder and president, Media Literacy Now.

Safe schools are always a priority for any administrator. However, when one thinks of a safe school, one tends to only consider the physical environment itself, and the physical harm that can come within. As technology continues to grow and evolve in our schools, it is of utmost importance for school leaders to become, or remain, vigilant in safe technology practices within their school communities. 

Too often, society immediately jumps to labeling when it comes to safe practices in school technology. The term "cyber-bullying" is one such label. 

As Erin McNeill states in her commentary on educating Digital Natives (and wiredsafety.com supports), sometimes what appears to be cyber-bullying is really just children demonstrating poor digital citizenship. Sometimes a shared picture or post may be done out of malice, but more often it is simply a poor judgment call, a poorly devised prank, or a misunderstanding gone horribly wrong. 

Children will make mistakes. It is up to us as educators to instruct them on how to avoid such mistakes, or how to ensure the same mistake will not be repeated. This requires the education of digital citizenship, an effort we are putting forth in our school right now. Just this year, the state of Utah enacted a bill 

that requires schools to provide opportunities to learn safe technology use and digital citizenship. The legislation builds on laws requiring internet safety and social-media instruction in Illinois and New Jersey. Lessons on digital citizenship help youths learn norms of appropriate, responsible, and healthy behavior, such as: what's appropriate to share online and why privacy matters; how comments on anonymous social-media apps may hurt others; and what message youths are sending to a potentially worldwide audience when they post videos of bad behavior (McNeill 2015).

 There are great lesson plans through wonderful resources to educate elementary students (How to Teach Internet Safety to Younger Elementary Students) and high school students (Learn NC) on safe practices.

As students are given more and more access to different educational tools through technology, it has become our responsibility to make sure they are able to utilize these tools responsibly. The only way to ascertain student accountability is through  consistent and timely education on the topic and then the proper instruction of it. It is our obligation, to our students and the community at large, to provide such an opportunity for lifelong learning in a safe and sound technological world. This blog will serve as another resource in that endeavor.

Similar blog links:
http://safetechforschoolsmaryland.blogspot.com/
http://schoolsafetytechnology.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/
http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration