Journey to Citizenry

Since the days of AOL 2.0 I have been infatuated with technology and the world wide web! I never recall anyone ever teaching me how to act online. There were the obvious, don’t give out your information or agree to meet anyone you don’t know in real life...And now in 2019 we literally call strangers to our homes to get in their cars! The last 2 decades have been filled with so much evolution and change. Thanks to my studies in EDLD 5316 I can now visualize a future where schools can really do their part to help all children be good citizens both online and off.

Ribble (2015) offers educators, parents and adults a blueprint for how to educate our youth. The focus in K-8 on the nine elements can make for a very digestible diet of digital citizenship tailored to the needs of today’s digital world. The biggest challenge for me was to visualize how I could, in my language classroom, implement teachable moments for all 9 elements. Specifically, digital commerce may seem like a stretch. However, as I reflected on all our readings and videos I began to find easy ways to start implementing teachable moments for most elements. Recently I rolled out a Travel project for my HS Spanish students. They had to plan a vacation to a US city with a rich Latin flavor. They were given a budget and had to account for all expenses. What a great opportunity this was to talk about digital commerce and how to make smart decisions when thinking about making an online purchase. We discussed how to determine if a site is reputable and secure.

The other area where I saw students needed the most direction is in security. Often times kids stay logged into Google or on public computers without realizing the dangers. I did a demonstration for one class where I left my wallet on the table or my phone unlocked on a table. We all agreed that was a bad idea and then discussed how keeping your login information available to others by not properly signing out can leave you susceptible to hacks and identity theft. It may not seem like a big deal with you Google Drive, but when we think about our digital footprint, we are responsible to make sure we are always in control of it. If we leave our ID on a computer other can make poor choices that will appear to have been made by us. Thus, leaving us the victims of identity theft and fraud!

We live in a brave new world. The digital world is ubiquitous and in American culture is vital to success. We need to ensure we provide equity of access and knowledge on how to navigate safely in this world to ensure we are productive members who not only consume, but also contribute. The nine elements are our guide. They are principles that help us digest the world around us. We must learn to be critical thinkers and approach our digital society with a healthy fear and awareness to ensure that we are always safe and protected.


References:

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the schoolyard preventing and responding to cyberbullying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Ludwig, T., & Marble, A. (2018). My secret bully. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital Citizenship in Schools: Nine Elements All Students Should Know (3rd ed.). Washington DC: International Society for Technology in Education.

Bullying: A Rite of Passage?

As I ordered the class books for my recent course on Digital Citizenship, I balked at one of the titles on bullying, thinking that I knew all I needed to about bullying. I went to school, I was a victim and at one point an aggressor. What more can be said, could I maybe save myself a few bucks? I’m glad I purchased it because to be honest we as educators, parents or even just adults often romanticize our past or even worse we tend to forget that you never step in the same river twice.

Bullying was defined by the CDC in 2014 as “any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or groups of youths...that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social or educational harm” (Hinduja 2015).

As I read about the definitions of traditional and new age bullying I couldn’t help but have the thought that all of this is just a “rite of passage”. However, as I kept reading, Hinduja (2015) goes on to discuss the purpose of his latest book on Bullying which is to educate parents and teachers because if we can help prevent or reduce the harm to those being bullied then it is worth the effort. And that really resonated with me. I was immediately transported back to my own middle school days when I was the target of bullying by the kids a grade above me. I never understood why and often times that is unimportant, but I do recall being told I smelled. Now a lot of that stemmed from my unusual last name of Yoder which had a Dr. Suess connection to odor. That became my new name in the locker room before and after basketball practice. Then I recall one day even seeing etched in a desk “Oder is Gay”...I couldn’t beleive someone cared enough to take the time to etch that into a desk...what could I possible have done to deserve such a monument. I do recall even confronting one of the aggressors in an outside environment and he continued to tell me it was because I smelled. Thus I carried numerous amounts of deodorant at all times. Eventually it all subsided and became a distant memory. But it definitely had a lasting effect since I can recall vividly some of those issues. I do recall that it never occurred to me to tell an adult.

As I think about today’s world, I can’t use that same lens of its just a “rite of passage’ because the game has changed. With the advent of technology, bullying has evolved. As Hinduja (2015) noted it no longer needs to be about a power imbalance. And often it's about how well the aggressor can navigate technology to cover up their tracks. I can’t imagine how much more distress I would have been under if social media or anything beyond a beeper were at our fingertips. I could easily walk a different way to class or avoid the locker room, but what if the locker room and the talk had a way of reaching beyond the 20 of us on the team or in my class? I would have been mortified. I already had a disposition for depression and anxiety and that could have exacerbated it to monumental proportions.

Today’s youth deserve to be protected and we as adults need to inundated ourselves into their digital lives and better understand the social structure so that we can help them navigate these waters. They need guidance and structure and often times we consider tech just toys, but they have the potential to be weapons of social destruction that have taken lives and continue to do so. The wounds are not easily seen and the isolation can make them virtually unseen until it is too late. We as adults sometimes become the bystanders who don’t speak up...we close our eyes and adopt a don’t ask don’t tell policy inadvertently and in direct violation to what we would say is our intention. How much do you know about the youth in your life and their online interactions? How many social media apps can you name? When is the last time you had a conversation with a young person and it involved discussions on issues they face socially? Find someone in your life that can help educate you on today’s social structure. If you have kids, it may not be them. You may need to find someone with whom you are not directly responsible for. But try to make a real connection. Let them know you need an education that only they can give you. Be sure to withhold you judgements and open your ears.



Reference

Ansary, N. S., Elias, M. J., Greene, M. B., & Green, S. (2015). Best practices to address or reduce bullying in schools. Kappan, 97(2), 30-35. Ansary_Elias_Greene_Green_Bullying.pdf

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the schoolyard preventing and responding to cyberbullying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Digital Citizen's Arrest

As educators we have a very important job. We must help encourage our students to be lifelong learners so that they can create. Anderson’s taxonomy is an evolution from Bloom’s in which the highest virtue is to create and in doing that we must ensure they are creating their own work. We must hold our students accountable for digital copyright law. The goal of copyright law and policy is to foster the progress of science, the creation of culture, and the dissemination of ideas. (ARL, 2015). Thus teachers and copyright lawyers are essentially there to foster a society in which everyone wants to create.

As educators I wonder what efforts we make to this end? What have I done to help foster the creation of culture and dissemination of ideas? I would think that most teachers look for plagiarism, but this is more of a punitive action. We should be doing more to help our students understand what plagiarism and copyright infringement are and what they are not (Bailey, 2013). Often times the the 2 overlap, but not always. Ribble (2015) discusses digital law as one of the 9 elements of digital citizenship education. Plagiarism is fairly simple, it essentially asks the student to ensure the work they turn in is their own. So why do students plagiarize? Most often it is due to extreme procrastination that puts them into a corner and up against a deadline. Other times they are disengaged from the topic and could not be bothered to read and analyze so as to create their own thoughts. There seems to be a bigger issue at play. And it is the student engagement. For me the COVA approach (Harupnik, 2018) has allowed me to give up control in the classroom and allow my students to take a more active role in their own education.

Recently, I sat in a meeting where department heads were chatting about a testing incentive for our statewide assessments. I couldn’t help but think if there were better incentives aside from just exempting students from the final. What if we provided alternative options to create something. Perhaps if we are discussing Biology class, the students could focus on a real world topic from the course and give a TED talk on something they have seen in the real world where the concepts taught in class intersected with their own lives. Perhaps they can start a blog in which they discuss biological topics that matter to teens. Helping students to create new and innovative projects can actually help us get a better idea of just how proficient they are in a subject area. It also allows them to unlock their creativity; something that bubble tests will never accomplish.

Ultimately, instead of viewing copyright and plagiarism as a burden of education we need to see it as an opportunity to do what copyright was meant to do all along. We want to progress our society and encourage people to create. It starts with the lens through which we look. Students need good role models who are willing to step outside the box of what was always done and help us forge a new path in education that more efficiently gets us to our destination.




References


(2018, July 14). COVA - It's About Learning. Retrieved December 7, 2019, from http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991

Bailey, Jonathan (2013, October 7). The Difference Between Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism. Retrieved December 7, 2019, from https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/10/07/difference-copyright-infringement-plagiarism/

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital Citizenship in Schools (3rd ed). Eugene, OR: International Society in Education.