There is nothing here that is not covered by the new NSW DET social media guidelines but articles like this are a reminder that digital citizenship is not just for students.
Google still hasn't shed its "bad guy" clothes when it comes to the data it collects on underage students. In fact, the Electronic Frontier Foundation says the company continues to massively collect and store information on children without their consent or their parents'. Not even school administrators fully understand the extent of this operation, the EFF says.
Make something together. Create a kooky, silly film or a photo collage after a family adventure. Turn the conversation to creation instead of consumption.
Digital Citizenship is a suite of resources for students to support safe online behaviour. This resource includes game-based learning, lessons, videos, and parent and teacher support materials.
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?
This site is comparable to the Australian cybersmart.gov.au site. It supports and is explicit in its content and could easily be embedded into any curriculum or policy where digital citizenship is being explored.
In this climate of need for policy and the lack of availability of such policy, schools are left to be the initiators and implementers of internally developed policy.
The shift is not an easy one and circles back to the need for pedagogy to grow more line with digital tools
Keeping technology outside of the school doors, and creating different islands of responsibility, from parents, to educators, to kids will do little to stem incidents of cyberbullying, sexting, and other online transgressions that play out offline.
Schools have significantly different needs and ideas regarding on-line safety, much of it dependent upon their experience and comfort on the spectrum of users of digital media to promote student success. It is necessary for schools and communities to work together to demystify the potential uses and abuses of digital media within and outside the school setting. Understanding the potential for cyberbullying, sexting, or other inappropriate consumption and planning for responsible reactions to such is a priority for the community that wishes to harness the potential of the tools while also keeping children safe.