Digital Citizenship in Schools

This article discusses the stereotype of the teacher librarian, and some of the issues that have led to it.

Let's not fit with the stereotype!

This was shared on the OZTLNET so most of you have probbaly seeen it but just in case. It's about using Twitter as a discussion tool in class.

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This may prove a more effective regulating system than filtering. It certainly demonstrates that Facebook is conscious of its public image and the possibility of illegal behaviour on its site.

I'm really excited about this article. Although the American laws may seem foreign, we have similar privacy and child protection laws. What caught my attention was the strategies to encourage and monitor the use of social media by learning groups and the inclusion of three elements of my own social media policy, namely alternative work options, the use of real names and initial rather than avatar and the recording of the effectiveness of using social media.

"Last week my wife and I told our 13-year-old daughter she could join Facebook. Within a few hours she had accumulated 171 friends, and I felt a little as if I had passed my child a pipe of crystal meth. I don't mean to be a spoilsport, and I don't think I'm a Luddite. I edit a newspaper that has embraced new media with creative, prizewinning gusto. I get that the Web reaches and engages a vast, global audience, that it invites participation and facilitates - up to a point - newsgathering. But before we succumb to digital idolatry, we should consider that innovation often comes at a price. And sometimes I wonder if the price is a piece of ourselves. "

"Connect.ed is an innovative, self-paced cybersafety education program offered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) as part of Cybersmart. Connect.ed provides teachers with the flexibility of a self paced environment to learn about current online behaviours of students, potential risks involved in these activities, a teacher's and school's duty of care and the appropriate tools, resources and strategies to help students to have safe and positive experiences online."

The Connect.ed program covers: cyberbullying; sexting; excessive internet use; mobile use; e-security; managing your digital reputation; and digital profiling. It also "advises teachers on what young people of all ages are doing online and draws on Australian experts in the cybersafety field, as well as on teachers and students themselves," ACMA says.

Public opinion on Internet use and civil society Dr Juliet Pietsch Professor Ian McAllister Australian National Institute for Public Policy and ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences April 2011

From Andrew Churches - of EdOrigami

"You may wonder how the Facebook for Educators guide came about … A few months ago, Facebook recognized that a guide like this was needed. They asked me to write it. I accepted the offer on the condition that I could write without filtering or restrictions from Facebook. Facebook saw the value of a candid third-party opinion and agreed."

"Furthermore, the global average piracy rate for PC software in 2010 was 42 percent, the second-highest figure in the eight years the BSA has been conducting its worldwide study. Piracy rates are considerably higher in some developing markets, including averages of 60 percent in the Asia Pacific region, and 64 percent in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. And the BSA believes one of the reasons piracy is so widespread is that many users of pirated software don't actually understand that they're stealing."

Wasn't it just the other day that teachers confiscated cellphones and principals warned about oversharing on MySpace? "Now, Erin Olson, an English teacher in Sioux Rapids, Iowa, is among a small but growing cadre of educators trying to exploit Twitter-like technology to enhance classroom discussion. Last Friday, as some of her 11th graders read aloud from a poem called "To the Lady," which ponders why bystanders do not intervene to stop injustice, others kept up a running commentary on their laptops. "

"Facts and statistics about online safety."

'The Connected Classrooms Program is a NSW Government initiative to provide the department's staff and students with new opportunities to connect with each other across enhanced technology facilities for sharing resources and data collaboration.' TLs applying for jobs in NSW will need to know about this, and will be at an advantage if they have some experience with it, it seems.