Digital Citizenship in Schools

"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:"

"Most existing scholarship that measures the impact of the Internet on civic or political engagement focuses on political uses of new media. Drawing on two large panel studies, we find that youth engagement in nonpolitical online participatory cultures may serve as a gateway to participation in important aspects of civic and political life, including volunteering, community problem-solving, protest activities, and political voice. These relationships remain statistically significant for both datasets, even with controls for prior levels of civic and political participation and a full range of demographic variables. While politically driven online participation is clearly worthy of attention, these findings indicate that it should not be seen as the only relevant bridge from online activity to civic and political engagement."

"In Digital Age, Learning Civics Means Doing Civics Traditional civic education has required students to memorize basic facts about American government, call it the what, who, and when model for civic literacy. The primary source of information has been textbooks, a source of literacy that has not always been the most accurate or inclusive. And while books (in various forms) will certainly continue to play a role in civic education emerging digital media platforms will be key in the effort to engage, invigorate, and create an informed citizenry. The rise of digital media offers a unique opportunity to add a more experiential dimension to civic education. Digital technologies can, of course, be used to teach kids basic civic facts, but they can also serve as an entry point into "doing" civics. This happened in a Minneapolis third grade class I visited earlier this year. "

The message is making all the way to NewsCorp.

An online tool that teachers can use to when you need to randomly select students for presentations or selecting partners for group projects.

Tina Barseghian is a helpful writer. She combines well-expressed observations with links and references to a range of sources and examples on digital delivery, collaborative learning, interest-driven learning and Web 2.0 skills and their effects on the classroom.

I began to read this with great anticipation but, in the end, it's s set of useful statistics and diagrams on social media use by tertiary educators and institutions for communication rather than a detailed explanation of the use of social media in learning. The information about US college applications and social media is a wake-up call as well.

I plan to do social media for my assignment but with an emphasis on learning. This, on the other hand, is a comprehensive blueprint of how schools can use a facebook page to keep in touch with its community. It's an easy-to-use addition but not a replacement for "a robust website". Worth reading as he discusses the sort of information that might be included and how schools can control the use and misuse of that information.

"It makes sense to have a policy to discourage individual teachers from posting specifics about their students to their personal profiles. But schools should counterbalance such a policy by setting up a Facebook Page to represent the school. Students, families, and faculty members are going to use Facebook regardless of whether or not schools choose to do so. By setting up a Facebook Page, schools can establish a controlled, professional presence that allows them to capitalize on this social space in many important ways, while still protecting their students. It's important to note that while a Facebook Page is an excellent opportunity for schools to supplement their web presence, it doesn't fully replace the benefits of a robust website. Here are some ways that schools can benefit from establishing an effective Facebook presence."

"Thanks to the continuing wave of school district communicators and administrators seeking ways to reach their communities, a common question gets asked: How do you set up a Facebook page for a school district? "

Links on the school web-page - an example.

"Two preteen US girls accused of hacking into a classmate's Facebook page and posting sexually explicit photos and messages have been charged with cyberstalking and first-degree computer trespassing."

This NY Times article is an entertaining way of thinking about how social media is viewed by teenagers.

This is part 2 of the Q&A on Games and Learning with James Paul Gee.

Here is the follow up article with James Paul Gee (sorry I put the wrong name in the previous note).

At the start of the year we were given the Horizon Report on the future of technology and learning to read. One of the more distant predications was the use of gaming for learning. This article is from the NY times. It is followed by a Q&A with Thomas Paul Gee.

An interesting read about social media and its use in the classroom.Thought provoking and challenging distinctions about teen use and teacher use and how to effectively combine the two

"After discussing and examining their media lives, students were asked to use a simile to explain their media lives. For example, one could say, "My media life is like a young puppy... it's full of life, friendly, hyper, and hard to calm down.""