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.