The solutions Hobbs outlines are worth considering at the local level, as well. Is your school ready to think critically about the learning potential of social networks, games, and other popular media that many students use only outside of school? What is your community doing to close the digital divide for underserved groups such as juvenile offenders, recent immigrants, or the elderly? Are you making effective use of local technology resources -- or do you even know where to find them?
Your students may be able to update their Facebook status in a heartbeat, but can they also write a thoughtful letter to the editor, voice their opinion on a call-in radio show, or access local media to advocate for community action? How well would parents or teachers in your community do at those tasks? In Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, media literacy expert Renee Hobbs makes a strong case for deepening digital literacy -- not only for youth but for Americans of all ages.
Improving our digital and media literacy will require nothing less than a national community education effort, Hobbs argues in a position paper recently published by the Aspen Institute and Knight Foundation. Sorting through the flood of information most of us encounter daily requires new knowledge and critical-thinking skills, she says.
"This simple Video and Companion Guide (below) help parents and educators understand why digital citizenship is the essential first step to media literacy in the 21st century. If you've watched the "Cyberwise Guide to Media Literacy" at http://www.cyberwise.org/CyberWhy-s.html, then you already know that digital citizenship prepares students to use digital media safely, confidently and wisely. Fortunately there are loads of free, online resources to help you incorporate digital citizenship lessons into your classroom, after-school program or home. We've compiled this information for you and made it easy-to-access and understand."
"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."
"At the same time, numerous well-meaning nonprofits appeared, seeking to help educators communicate with parents and students, but still through a lens of fear and protection.
Many experts now believe this was very much the wrong approach. "We missed the boat by concentrating on internet predators," says Patti Agatston, a nationally recognized counselor and cofounder of Cyberbullyhelp.com. Larry Magid, codirector of ConnectSafely.org, concurs that "predation is statistically so unlikely that it's not where we should be putting our resources."
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Social networking communities are here to stay. Facebook has over 500 million users, while Twitter has over 200 million. That's not even counting blogs or YouTube video blogs. There's no doubt that students are actively engaged in online communities, but what kind of effects are these sites having and how can parents counteract the bad and bolster the positive?
The data clearly reveals that our respondents overwhelmingly agree that digital learning positively impacts students and teachers.
In short, digital learning can enhance learning experiences, save teachers time, enable teachers to better tailor learning to student needs, aid in tracking student progress, provide transparency into the learning process for all stakeholders, and much more.
we’ve identified 10 key insights from our survey that provide some clarity into the current state of digital learning.
professional development.
digital citizenship programs
helping to address internet safety issues—teacher’s #1 digital citizenship concern.
Twitter
professionally
earning management system (LMS)
Both personalized and individualized learning are considered to be the most effective types of differentiated learning.
Social Media
debate about the role of mobile devices in the classroom rages
winner
emerging
mobile devices are being incorporated into digital learning more frequently than ever
Obstacles
lack of a digitized curriculum,
ineffective professional development and a lack of parent involvement
lack of parental involvement or understanding as a challenge has jumped from the #7 challenge all the way to #3
Digital learning takes many forms—from barely blended learning to gamified, mastery learning
Schoology conducted a landmark K-12 study called The State of Digital Learning.
As you can see, their #1 challenge is providing relevant and effective PD.
Many education professionals agree that ongoing instructional coaching is one of the most effective forms of professional development.
This year, we’re excited that nearly 70% of respondents now use the same LMS for professional development as in the classroom
I
nterestingly, schools and districts in which LMS usage is mandated are the most effective at enabling collaboration.
The data that comes to mind is the fact the majority of PD isn't modeling instructional best practices and that has to change.
From personalized learning to social media and coding in the classroom, the education landscape is being fertilized by technology and will continue to grow.
In fact, the data suggests that merely providing students with access to devices doesn't necessarily lead to better outcomes. But the thoughtful integration of technology to enable students to actively engage with ideas and their peers does enhance the learning experience. It's a nuanced and strategic challenge that grapples with countless tangible and abstract variables—devices, software, classroom practices, professional development, and collaboration among the many stakeholders just to name a few.
A recent article by Lauren Davis in the Schoology (LMS) website that unpacks a survey of 16000+, mostly USA teachers, about the impact of digital learning. It includes some interesting insights into enablers and barriers for DLE. A good starting point for the 523 Assessment 3 environmental scan.
The 21st Century Citizenship Guide outlines a vision of citizenship that encompasses informed, engaged and active practices in three dimensions of citizenship-civic, global and digital. The different dimensions of citizenship will be explored, along with recommendations on actions that parents, local, and national policymakers can take to make sure that all students are able to develop into true 21st century citizens.
"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."
"Bullying is a serious issue for everyone in a school community. It can happen anywhere, anytime, and can have devastating consequences. Any child can be bullied. That is why Bully Stoppers calls on all Victorians to make a stand and lend a hand to prevent and respond to bullying behaviour. Bully Stoppers supports students, parents, teachers and principals in working together to make sure schools are safe and supportive places, where everyone is empowered to help reduce the incidence of bullying in all Victorian schools."
The Cyber Safety Lady is Leonie Smith a cyber safety expert based in Sydney Australia. She gives internet safety advice and and eSafety talks and workshops for teachers, parents, children and business.
A quarter of Australian children report they have been cyber bullied.
Finding is impossible to keep up with your kids on technology?
Do the children/students in your care have the right privacy settings on Facebook?
Are your children protected from accessing adult content online?
Are online Trolls affecting your business!
Are your employees aware of what they are sharing online?
'Teenagers, legal risks and social networking sites' [PDF], a 109 page report by Melissa de Zwart, David Lindsay, Michael Henderson & Michael Phillips, investigates the legal risks of social networking as experienced by Victorian secondary school students, teachers and parents.
"Facebook takes safety very seriously and strives to create an environment where everyone can connect and share comfortably. Find answers to a variety of safety questions here."
I have heard Susan McLean speak to year 6s from our local Primary Schools. She is a really engaging speaker and had the students admitting to putting in false ages to get a facebook account.
Overcoming the New Stereotypes: Newly created obstacles might be getting in the way of change, though. We have discussed the problems with the term “digital natives” before (see Trebor Scholz). The term—which refers to a younger generation that has grown up with technology and that supposedly processes information fundamentally differently than older generations (“digital immigrants”) who have merely adopted the technology as it has emerged—is a deceptive metaphor, according to Henry Jenkins, and a intimidating obstacle for teachers, according to Susan Zvacek, director of instructional development at the University of Kansas.
One of the key arguments we are making is that the role of educators needs to shift away from being expert in a particular area of knowledge, to becoming expert in the ability to create and shape new learning environments. In a way, that is a much more challenging, but also much more rewarding, role.
These same educators need to take on a 'leadership' mindset in order to facilitate change and development in learning. Teacher librarians can help allay anxieties of the 'new pedagogical paradigm'.
The other major part of upgrading ourselves, or at least my view of it, is to understand the macro trends and issues in our society that affect our ability to get the most out of the media we consume and create.
A new survey from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project finds that 80 percent of internet users participate in some kind of voluntary group or organization, compared to just 56 percent of non-internet users. And if you use social media, the percentages are even higher: 85 percent of Twitter users, for example, are group participants.
Approximately 32 percent of students report being bullied at school. Bullied students are more likely to take a weapon to school, get involved in physical fights, and suffer from anxiety and depression, health problems, and mental health problems. They suffer academically (especially high-achieving black and Latino students). And research suggests that schools where students report a more severe bullying climate score worse on standardized assessments than schools with a better climate.
This is all common sense to educators. They have known for decades that students need to be in safe, supportive learning environments to thrive. And the vast majority care deeply about keeping children safe.
Some educators say the social-media bans in schools are overkill and privacy
fears have overshadowed the positive educational opportunities social media can
offer students.
It is known, too, that students also access social-networking sites and post
to them during class time via mobile phones or by circumventing the network
blocks.
''Ineffective policy is to ban use; prohibition has never worked,''
doesn't matter how impoverished a young person may be, they will have access to
social networks daily, they find ways to get online through public libraries,
internet cafes, at their friend's house or on their mobile
Common advice for teachers is to be familiar with privacy settings on
social-networking sites, perhaps maintain a private and professional account
(although this is not permitted on Facebook) and to set a search-engine alert
for their own name, so adverse mentions can be detected early and dealt with.
So can, or should, a teacher be Facebook friends with a student?