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""Research demonstrates that many youth are disengaged from traditional forms of civic and political life but are very engaged with new media," said Mills College Professor of Education Joseph Kahne, the author of the study. "Our study findings strongly suggest that there are ways to build on their engagement with digital media to foster engagement in civic life." The study debunks the notion that young people, because they are growing up with technology, are so-called "digital natives", who naturally learn to use the Internet for information and discourse. Most young people, in fact, have a lot to learn about using online information and social media resources to better understand their role in society and politics. The research indicates that Literacy 2.0 education can directly influence young people toward civic involvement and political participation. Teaching new literacies, such as credibility assessment, is essential for supporting a healthy democracy, the report concludes. The findings make a strong case for increased digital literacy programs for both students and parents."

"I set out to answer these questions through a study of attitudes, which compared digitally literate students' to digitally-challenged teachers and visa versa. In this study being undertaken at Swinburne University and sponsored by the Wesley College Institute for Innovation in Education, 321 students in years 9 and 10 and 100 educators were surveyed about their attitudes to digital literacy and the use of digital technologies. The schools were co-educational independent schools with laptop programs and significant differences were observed in student and educator attitudes towards each other's digital literacy. The hypothesis, "that there is a disconnect between the digitally capable students and digitally challenged educators in schools with laptop programs, limiting effective use of digital technology in the classroom" was supported in the findings. This has repercussions for educating "net generation" students and implications for the implementation of the National Secondary Computer Fund and National Broadband Network. The disconnect was revealed in terms of attitudes towards technology in the classroom, teaching pedagogy, internet use, adoption of cutting-edge technologies and limitations placed on school laptops and networks. In this study 57 statements were provided to research participants, who were then grouped into four groups: digitally capable students, digitally challenged students, digitally capable educators and digitally challenged educators."

"Bullying online is only half as common as traditional forms of bullying, according to a two-year study of research around the world. Kathryn Modecki from Murdoch University in Perth and colleagues looked at all existing studies measuring traditional and cyberbullying among adolescents. "We found that despite popular thought, cyberbullying was only half as common as traditional forms of bullying with about 15 per cent of adolescents reporting either cyber perpetration or victimisation compared to around 30 per cent for traditional bullying," Dr Modecki said."

This is not so much about digital citizenship but I thought that it might be useful resource for digital resourcers to have in their bookmarks.

Interested to Study in Canada? Know more details on Colleges & Universities, Cost of Study, Cost of Living, Student Visa Requirements in Canada and more.

"A new study by Millennial Branding, of 4 million Gen-Y Facebook profiles from Identified.com's database of 50 million, uncovers that Gen-Y (ages 18 to 29) is inadvertently using their profiles as an extension of their professional personality, even though they are socializing with family and friends. 64% of Gen-Y fails to list their employer on their profiles, yet they add an average of 16 co-workers each to their 'friend' group."

A study into parents' need for cybersafety information, including what topics they would like more information on, and the format that they would like to receive it in. The study is based on research undertaken by the ACMA in 2009. Research consisted of a brief qualitative phase, followed by a national telephone survey of 600 parents of children in the 4 to 17 age range.

"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."

n a recent Teacher article, two schools discussed their differing policies on mobile phone use during school hours. Here, we look at a range of studies that have explored the positives and negatives of allowing mobile phones to be used in class. As Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs become more widespread, questions are being raised about the benefits of allowing students to actively use mobile phones as learning devices in school. Over the past decade, several studies have taken a closer look at student and educator perspectives on the issue.

"This paper deploys notions of emergence, connections, and designs for learning to conceptualize high school students' interactions when using online social media as a learning environment. It makes links to chaos and complexity theories and to fractal patterns as it reports on a part of the first author's action research study, conducted while she was a teacher working in an Australian public high school and completing her PhD. The study investigates the use of a Ning online social network as a learning environment shared by seven classes, and it examines students' reactions and online activity while using a range of social media and Web 2.0 tools. The authors use Graham Nuthall's (2007) "lens on learning" to explore the social processes and culture of this shared online classroom. The paper uses his extensive body of research and analyses of classroom learning processes to conceptualize and analyze data throughout the action research cycle. It discusses the pedagogical implications that arise from the use of social media and, in so doing, challenges traditional models of teaching and learning."

This paper reviews the definitions of digital and ICT literacy that have been adopted in cross-national studies, investigates the approaches to the assessment of digital and ICT literacy that have been employed in those studies and articulates the criteria that should guide the development of a global measure of digital and ICT literacy skills. Furthermore, the paper includes an appraisal of prospects for such a development.

"Ever wondered how students really act online? What they're actually sharing with their friends? Heck, if they're even using their real name and other information? Chances are good about 1 of every 4 teens seem to have a 'fake' social media account with false information. There's a lot more to this new privacy study on what teens actually share by the Pew Research Center that you should check out too."

BYOD/ BYOT case study of Forsyth County Schools in the USA. Effective implementation of a BYOD program with improved student engagement and technology integration into lessons.

BYOD/ BYOT case study of Forsyth County Schools in the USA. Effective implementation of a BYOD program with improved student engagement and technology integration into lessons.

Interesting examination of different learning spaces, including case studies and pictures. Great inspiration!

Interesting examination of different learning spaces, including case studies and pictures. Great inspiration!

"This website is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The Safe Schools Toolkit explores the detailed characteristics of the National Safe Schools Framework, providing case studies and an online audit tool to pinpoint the areas of priority."

Part of a series of case studies produced by Digital Promise examining the work of members in our League of Innovative Schools. Click here for more info on the League. To stay up to date on future case studies, sign up for our email newsletter.

"WeChat is just the latest platform that intermediates interactions between teachers, parents, students," says Danah Boyd, a Microsoft researcher who studies social media and the author of It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. "No intervention around the technology will make any difference if the pressure-cooker culture doesn't change."

HERE'S a scene in my house: My almost 9-year-old is on the internet doing something or other, and I am not standing over her shoulder or otherwise monitoring her. Is this negligent? Am I throwing her to the wolves? I have no idea how to approach these thorny questions, so I have lunch with the academic and Microsoft researcher, danah boyd (she spells her name in lowercase letters for complicated philosophical and aesthetic reasons), who has studied this cluster of issues in an original and challenging way.