Digital Citizenship: The Modern Day Golden Rule

From the digital citizenship website, digital citizenship is defined as “a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately” (Ribble, 2017). The main point of digital citizenship, to me, is virtually the same as the traditional view of citizenship in the real world. The overwhelming theme of digital citizenship is to respect other online patrons and their creations, whether it be art, multimedia, or even just their opinions. The chart below highlights the 9 main themes of digital citizenship: 

http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/1706-infographic-characteristics-of-a-good-digital-citizen

The main similarities between citizenship and digital citizenship stem from the idea that there is advocacy for equal human rights for all. While this may not be universally true for either, both are working towards this notion of global human equality. I believe that part of human equality can best be described using the golden rule – treat others how you wish to be treated. For citizenship, this means granting rights, courtesies, allowances, and privileges equally across all demographics to ensure that each person has the same human rights that they need. For digital citizenship, this applies to the same aspects online. Nobody wants to be bullied online, and nobody wants to have their original content stolen, be it their personal identity or a work of creation. By granting other users with these basic courtesies and rights, digital citizenship can easily be attained. 

I believe that the first lesson we must teach our students about digital citizenship stems from this notion of the golden rule. Perhaps we can rebrand it as the ‘silicon rule’ to play up the technology theme? Either way, teaching students to be respectful of others online as they would in person will go a long way towards achieving the goals of digital citizenship. 

As teachers, our role is to first introduce this concept of digital citizenship and enforce the digital equality throughout all online mediums. In doing this, we must also warn students of the consequences of breaking these rules and the outcomes they may produce. Just like we would teach a lesson on how stealing and fighting are illegal activities, we must also address the consequences of digital piracy and online bullying. There are several instances of students and adults alike who have succumbed to online bullying and felt that suicide was the only way to prevent the hazing. Students must be made aware that their online actions have real-world consequences. 

Once we have established that our students are aware of the online social norms and the inherent risks of breaking those norms, we must teach our students how to prevent others from corrupting their own persona. In the article posted to Edutopia, Vicki Davis highlights several aspects that students need to know about digital citizenship here. 

Students need to be made aware of their own personal rights online. Likewise, they must be taught how to effectively protect their own private information from being compromised. Again, there are several instances of personal accounts being hacked and most of these occurrences are due to poor passwords and security questions. The teacher’s role must be to explain all of these steps and provide examples of how to avoid being an online victim. In doing this, the teacher will be creating an ideal future for digital citizenship. 

References:

Davis, V. (2017, November 24). What Your Students Really Need to Know About Digital Citizenship. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-need-to-know-vicki-davis

Editorial Team. (2014, December 13). Characteristics of a Good Digital Citizen (EdTech Review, Ed.). Retrieved from http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/1706-infographic-characteristics-of-a-good-digital-citizen

Ribble, M. (2017). Digital Citizenship Consulting - Education, Technology Support. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/home.html

Introduction to Twitter

Maybe I'm a little bit late to this trend, but I feel that social media is not really my forte. Until now, the only real social media I ever had was Facebook, and in the past 4 years, the only thing I've done is update my profile picture a few times. For me, I feel that social media is nothing but a time-wasting activity. I don't need to compare my life to my "friends" and I certainly don't need to see pictures of your vacation/dinner/daily activities to feel like I know them any better. The main reason that I haven't deleted my facebook is because my dad lives overseas and facebook messenger is primarily how we keep in touch.

Honestly, though, I feel that the real reason I don't like social media is because of the fact that it is not an accurate representation of real life. Much like a Yelp score, the only times people comment are when they are overly emotional, be it happy, sad, mad, etc. The entire notion of social media to me is one big "look at me!" in my opinion. That being said, this course on technology in education has taught be that there is another side to social media.

Twitter has found a way to connect professionals and create a dialogue around professional growth that is not limited by one's own location. By searching and filtering certain hashtags, teachers can connect with one another like never before. We no longer have to rely on our own colleagues within our school district for new ideas and helpful feedback. Just a quick search for #TeacherMyth has yielded several results for teachers who are curating a community to debunk teacher myths and provide helpful tips to other teachers:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TeacherMyth&src=tyah

Having created my own Twitter, at first I chose to look for some of my favorite artists and celebrities that always seem to be relevant to my interests, mostly musicians and athletes. Upon thinking more about how Twitter can better further my education, I then began to search for helpful organizations and people in the education business. After a short time, I had found quite a few people and organizations to follow. 

While I don't feel that I will use Twitter to send too many tweets (as evidenced by the below picture), I do feel that I will check it periodically to keep up on current educational trends. 

Overall, I am still hesitant to have too much of a digital footprint, but I am definitely intrigued by the possibility of finding new ideas to help me teach certain content standards and create innovative classroom activities. 

TPACK & SAMR

The strength of the TPACK framework is that it clearly outlines and defines the different sections of the framework. Finding out the type of lessons that incorporate technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge are the way to truly incorporate technology into the classroom. If technology is only helping support content knowledge or pedagogical knowledge, then that type of technology may not be best suited for the classroom. The framework also helps serve as a reminder that everything exists within the certain context. As the TPACK website states, “Individual teachers, grade-level, school-specific factors, demographics, culture, and other factors ensure that every situation is unique, and no single combination of content, technology, and pedagogy will apply for every teacher, every course, or every view of teaching” (http://tpack.org). Each integration of the framework is unique, meaning that there are multiple ways to correctly integrate technology into a particular classroom. 

While the TPACK framework provides definitions for each part of the model, I feel that the real weakness of this model lies within the teachers’ interpretation of what constitutes technology knowledge. While the SAMR model shows multiple levels of technology integration, TPACK tends to focus on the integration of any form of technology to suffice meeting the standard. This may lead to only surface-level incorporation of technology by resistant teachers and not offer any real enhancements to the student’s learning. 

Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org

The strength of the SAMR model stems from taking steps to utilize technology to help enhance student learning. As teachers vary in their own technological understandings, they are presented with different levels of technology that will help them teach their students. Our readings highlighted that the SAMR model is bed identified as a swimming pool. Teachers can start by dipping a proverbial toe into technology without feeling overwhelmed. Likewise, more technologically advanced teachers have the option to dive right into the deep end of technological integration if they see fit. I feel that this is a positive to this model because it allows each teacher to learn at their own comfort level before continuing to move forward with technology integration. 

Likewise, I feel that this is also a hinderance for the SAMR model as well. Being that some teachers will find a comfort in either the substitution or augmentation portion of the model will fail to grow towards a more advanced form of technology. For example, if a teacher feels comfortable having students read online texts in a PDF format or directly from a website, he/she may not see the value in using an iBook to add notes along with the text such as definitions or historical interpretations of complex text. 

CC Instructional Technology, 1 June, 2016

If given the option, I would choose to incorporate the SAMR model for technology integration into the classroom setting. This model serves to apply to teachers at any level with respect to technological aptitude. Teachers can look towards furthering their technology integration through various methods while continuing to work at their own pace without feeling overwhelmed. The true power of the SAMR model lies with its unending pursuit of changing lessons and continuing to integrate new forms of technology. As technology moves forward at a blistering pace, teachers need to continue to stay focused on newer technology trends and constantly update their lessons to incorporate the best types of technology to help enhance student learning. 

The other reason that I would opt for the SAMR model stems from the fact that there are multiple levels of technology that can be incorporated within any given lesson plan. While the TPACK model is either a yes or no with respect to technology, the SAMR model allows for technology to be used to substitute (S), augment (A), modify (M), and redefinition (R). Some forms of technology will only serve as a substitution for learning, while others will go above and beyond and actually help redefine the ways that students are able to learn. Technology should be utilized in the SAMR model to best teach students, thus if teachers are confident and comfortable, the redefinition type of technology should be preferred. 

Resources:

CC Instructional Technology. (2016, June 01). SAMR Model Infographic. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MD06Dw13n4

TPACK. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://tpack.org/