Digital Citizenship, Ethics, and Netiquette 2

Digital Citizenship, Ethics, and Netiquette 2

Last week, I learned two technologies related to digital citizenship, ethics and netiquette from my colleagues, which I want to share in this week’s blog post. One is Digital Citizenship (http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/), which I learned from Hiraman Byrd’s blog (http://hiramanbyrd.blogspot.com/) and the other technology is Media Smarts (http://mediasmarts.ca/), which I learned from Seher Balkaya Bulat’s blog post (http://seherb.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/digital-citizenship-technologies/).     

Digital Citizenship is a site that aims at helping educators and parents teach learners and children how to use technology in an appropriate way. There are links to resources, publications, and nine elements on the site. The resources link may be beneficial for adult educators to raise their learners’ awareness of the new technologies and how to use them. I chose this technology because it is easy to use, up-to-date, and provides many links that can give practical ideas to an educator.

In my professional practice, I could use this technology to make my learners better digital citizens. The first way I would benefit from this technology is to adapt an activity described on the site, which you can reach through http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/GuideAct2.pdf. This activity focuses on the use of

cell phones. Instead of asking my learners to mock a phone conversation, as suggested in the activity, I would get them to watch short videos showing how people can interrupt others with their mobile phones. Then, in small groups, I would ask my learners to come up with some appropriate and inappropriate places and ways of using the mobile phone. Then, I would ask the groups to refer to the nine elements on the website and relate at least one element to the issue of disruption caused by mobile phones. Finally, I would turn this into a whole class discussion where each group reports what they have discussed. We would end the lesson by deciding on some rules for mobile phone use in our classroom. The second way I would use this site is to have my learners reflect on their use of technology, and, referring to the nine elements, to write a list of the things they are doing right and a list of things they should be more careful about as digital citizens.

Media Smarts is a Canadian site that focuses on digital and media literacy. It has a wide coverage – from teacher resources to detailed information about problems like cyberbullying. I chose this technology because it offers a lot of resources that can easily be adapted to cater for the needs of learners at all ages.

This technology can help my learners become better digital citizens. There are lesson plans under the resources tab that I can use with my learners. One example of how I would use this technology is that I would ask my learners to study the Cyber Security Consumer Tip Sheet (http://mediasmarts.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/tipsheet/CyberSecurityConsumerTipsheetv4.pdf), choose one potential risk of being online that they have experienced from the list, and present to class a detailed description of the experience, ways they used to avoid it, and ways offered by the site to avoid such experiences. Another way I would use this technology is by preparing a questionnaire using the information on Cyber Security Consumer Tip Sheet about

Safe Surfing (http://mediasmarts.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/tipsheet/Cyber%20Security%20Tip%20Sheet%20-%20Safe%20Surfing-EN.pdf).  Then, I would go over the results of the questionnaire with each learner, determine their weak areas and ask them to visit this link to learn how they can improve their surfing skills. They will be asked to report this in written form and submit it to me. 

Digital Citizenship, Ethics, and Netiquette

This week, I want to introduce A Thin Line (http://www.athinline.org/), which aims at teaching young adult learners how to become digital citizens and Digital Passport (http://digitalpassport.org), which is a tool for educators to prepare their learners to become good digital citizens.

A Thin Line has a colorful opening page, from which learners can reach five links: Get the Facts, Take Control, Your Stories, Draw Your Line, and Blog. Clicking on “Get the Facts” takes the learner to a page that gives information about sexting, constant messaging, spying, digital disrespect, and cruelty. Once the learner reads this information, s/he can post this action to “Draw Your Line” to show their stance against digital abuse. “Take Control” allows a learner to get help or help others for problems they face with people in the digital world. “Your Stories” gives them access to videos where users describe their personal experiences. They can post their actions on “Draw Your Line”, and “Blog” takes them to people’s blog entries related to abuse stories in the digital world and digital citizenship. I chose this technology because it is full of up-to-date, real stories that my learners can learn a lesson from. In addition, its target population is the age group of my learners, who are young adults.

In my professional practice, I would use this technology to help my learners become better digital citizens. For instance, I can choose a video for them to watch under “Your Stories” and get them to write their comments below the video. I would then ask them to read one another’s comments so that everyone sees how people may react differently to the same situation. I would then turn this to a whole-class discussion, where we talk about the problem and the best ways to deal with it. I can also ask my learners to follow blogs and respond to them on a weekly basis. At the end of the term, I would ask them to write a reflection paper where they express what they have learned from these blog posts.

Digital Passport is actually a tool designed for kids, but it can also be adapted to suit adult learners’ needs. Using it, an educator can easily create a group by adding her students, choose activities for them to do, and keep track of their performance. There are five modules to complete, and once a learner completes all, s/he receives a digital passport certificate. By clicking “Educator Materials”, the educator can learn about the aim and content of each module and reach the supporting materials. There is also an Educator Guide, a Student Workbook, and a Student Progress Chart available. I chose this technology because it is user-friendly for an educator. The objectives of each module are clearly stated, and there is a detailed lesson plan for each supporting material. In addition, the materials are up-to-date, with links to videos on YouTube, so the learners are likely to find them interesting.

I can use this technology to make my learners’ better digital citizens. I would not cover all the modules with them; I would choose some resources, adapt them, and use them in class. I would, however, encourage my learners that need extra assistance to take responsibility and complete all the modules. Most of my learners are cell phone addicts, so in my professional practice,  I can focus on the module “Communication: Twalkers” and get my learners watch a video on SchoolTube, where Amaya, an eleven-year old learner talks about the use of cell phone use among elementary school learners. Then, I will turn this video into a whole-class discussion about the use of mobile phones in general, and ask my learners to work in groups to come up with a list of “Dos and Don’ts” when using mobile phones. This will be turned into a poster presentation; each group will hang their poster on the classroom walls and get feedback from the other groups. I would also use this tool to help my learners become better searchers of information. In the module, “Search: Search Shark”, after watching the video of Solomon, who talks about the importance of using keywords to find information online, I can ask my learners to brainstorm other ways of refining the search results. Then, as homework, each learner can find a good search site and present it in class, explaining why it is a good one. Although this technology cannot be used directly with adults, there are a lot of ideas it offers that can inspire us. 

Distance and Open Education Technologies

Distance and Open Education Technologies

This week, I want to introduce Moodle (https://moodle.org/), which is a distance education technology and Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/about/), which is an open education technology.

Moodle is a learning management system (LMS). By using it, it is possible to create fully online courses, but it can also be used for blended learning, to support classroom learning. It has activity modules (i.e. forums and wikis) that can be used to enhance collaborative learning, but it is also possible to deliver content and assess learners’ performances using Moodle. I chose this technology due to this flexibility it offers. It can serve different purposes and it can be used with learners of all ages.

In my professional practice, I would use this technology for blended learning purposes, to support my classroom teaching. For instance, after teaching the past tenses in class, I would use the wikis to encourage my learners to work collaboratively in groups to create a story, using these tenses. By using a wiki, learners will be able to add, edit, and give and receive feedback easily. It encourages collaborative learning. I can also use this technology for my professional development. By following the registered sites link, I can reach the links of the educational institutions and follow their news, upcoming conferences, reach their resources if they are available, and the like. So, in addition to being beneficial for the learners, Moodle can help the professional growth of an adult educator.

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization. By using it, people can share their creativity and knowledge legally. A person who publishes his work under a Creative Commons license accepts that others can share, use, and adapt it. By joining Creative Commons, people can have access to a big pool of free materials they can use. I have chosen this technology because it aims at providing people free access to research and education, but while doing this, it does not disregard copyright issues; it respects copyright laws.

I can use this technology in my professional practice to encourage my learners to share their work with others on an online platform and to introduce them to this alternative research method. For example, after learning about how to write a short biography of a person in class, I can ask my learners to choose a prominent figure in history and write a short biography of this person. Then, they can share it on Creative Commons so that others can have access to it. I would ask my learners to read one another’s work and give one another feedback. I can also use it as a research tool. I can ask my learners to choose a topic of interest and prepare a PowerPoint presentation by using the information they find on this site. My aim here would be to encourage my learners to give credit to the work of others, even if it is shared freely on the Internet.