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With technology tools being such a big part of the academic and social lives of our high school students we are looking at more ways to build responsible behavior into assignments and expectations.

In today's digital world teens are increasingly incorporating social networking into all aspects of their lives. This paper explores the topic of teen social networking and how the incorporation of social networking within the classroom can provide a valuable education on safe and constructive social networking, enabling teens to become responsible digital citizens.

"The Cybercitizen Awareness Program educates children and young adults on the danger and consequences of cyber crime. By reaching out to parents and teachers, the program is designed to establish a broad sense of responsibility and community in an effort to develop smart, ethical and socially conscious online behavior in young people."

University of NSW researcher Nina Funnell has spoken to hundreds of young people aged between 15 and 18 about their sexting habits for a book she is writing and found sexting is an accepted part of adolescent dating culture."The common idea is that young people are doing this as a response to pressure or they're brainwashed by popular culture," Ms Funnell said.

"If you are a teacher and you are responsible for educating and learning alongside of adolescents, you should absolutely have a FaceBook account. You can not teach appropriate digital citizenship if you can not model it. Period. Many schools do discourage it and of course, rightfully, discourage "friending" students. But the bottom line is this ~ we can't teach them if we can't reach them. The world is changing fast and if you want to understand how your students operate, you've got to learn the tools yourself. No one can tell you. It has to be experienced, first-hand."

"Essential Question: What are the norms of appropriate, responsible, ethical behavior with regards to technology use?"

"Our students need adults to stop being afraid, and stop hiding, so education can get out of the shadows and into the light of the world in which our children live."

"East Noble expects digital citizenship to be taught specifically during academic lab in the high school and middle school. In the elementary schools teachers will take teachable moments and short instructional times when it fits best in their day to present information. Also elementary schools may take some time in the beginning of the year to target some specific areas of digital citizenship to lay some ground rules. Digital citizenship will not be in place of social studies or any other content area. The core curriculum will continue to include math, science, reading, writing, social studies. None of that will change. All staff members will reinforce the proper use of digital media, and the citizenship to use information responsibly. Students will need to learn online ethics. They will need to learn when to communicate, how to communicate, and when not to respond or initiate communication on a public platform such as Facebook or other social network."

"The following parent's "pledge" was originally written for and posted on SafetyWeb.com. SafetyWeb is a thoughtfully designed tool that provides parents with a means and a context for ongoing family conversations about safety, friendship and how the choices we make, online and off, have consequences."

"In all my work on online child safety issues, I always try to stress how important education and media literacy efforts are. Indeed, technical parental control tools and methods, while important, should be viewed as just one part of a more holistic approach to encouraging digital literacy and digital citizenship. In recent years, many scholars and child development experts such as Nancy Willard of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, Anne Collier and Larry Magid of ConnectSafely.org, Marsali Hancock of iKeepSafe, Common Sense Media, the Family Online Safety Institute, and many others have worked to expand traditional education and media literacy strategies to place the notion of digital citizenship at the core of their lessons and recommendations."

"There are many resources available to help support schools to teach pupils to be responsible users of the Internet and to educate pupils to be as safe as possible when using online tools. Here are some resources to support teaching digital literacy:"

"The challenge? Create a video educating people about staying safe and secure online and using the Internet responsibly. The prize? $10,000 for the best overall video, and $500 to each best-in-category video for individual and school entries Meet our winners (as selected by viewers and our panel of judges) and watch their stories below. "

Practical suggestions for helping kids use the net safely, responsibly and kindly

Interesting use of Storify to share student responses about digital citizenship issues.

great blog post by Edna Sackson that shares key concepts through a PYP lens: form, function, connection, perspective, creativity, responsibility, causation, reflection, change, all

"The St. Thomas Aquinas School digital pilot project has opened the door to allow students to use personal electronic devices throughout Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools." "Before we turn the switch to allow students to access the network with their devices, schools need to take that time to work with students on responsible digital citizenship," said Mason. Teachers, as well, could need more professional development to allow for incorporating the devices in the classroom."

This site, designed by Fuel Industries, includes three main components that are meant to be explored together. Videos: Each location -- Home, School, Mall -- includes several video shorts about a modern family's experience online. You determine which path the family members take at the critical decision point. Do you text that to your boyfriend? Do you purchase that ukulele? These shorts are just snapshots of more complicated issues. But, they all attempt to address a fundamental message of taking a moment to think before acting. Interactive Objects: As you view each video, you can collect interactive objects! An object opens up a quick game about the subject of the video. Once you collect the object, you can access it at anytime during your session. Messages: When you scroll down the site, you will find complementary messages targeted for each audience -- Students, Parents, Educators. These messages intend to strike a quick educational point. If you want to find out more about the subject, just click the link below the message. This will open up a pop-up with tips, advice, and links to partner resources. Make sure to check out the resources as linked in the educators' and parents' sections of the site! These resources point to curriculum and advice provided by Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, and National Consumers League.

ThinkB4U is a "choose your own adventure" style interactive learning site designed to get everyone -- from parents to students to teachers -- thinking about how to use the Internet safely and responsibly.

The concepts of digital citizenship and citizenship 2.0 are particularly relevant in the context of globalisation and the knowledge economy. The most recent technology standards for students published by ISTE enshrine a major category for digital citizenship (ISTE, 2007). "Digital citizenship" is now being dubbed as "citizen 2.0" and in the simplest terms it refers to the ability to participate in society online and to use technology appropriately. Digital citizenship represents capacity, belonging, and the potential for political and economic engagement in society in the information age (O‟Brien, 2008). Digital citizens practice conscientious use of technology, demonstrate responsible use of information, and maintain a positive attitude to learning with technology (ISTE 2007 cited in Richards, 2010). The affordances of the recent raft of web 2.0 technologies - sharing, collaborating, networking, customising and personalization enable new forms of civic participation which are changing existing social relations (Punie & Cabrera, 2006). Social communication technologies offer new channels for political engagement, contacting officials, and discussing issues. The network effects or benefits of bringing people together online exceed the satisfaction gained by individual participants - creating what economists call "positive externalities" or spill over benefits.

"In all of our efforts to teach students safe, appropriate, and responsible technology use, are we forgetting the more important job of teaching our students empowered use?" A collection of links that aim to encourage a discussion in schools about the purpose of AUPs.