Group items tagged

"This emergence of video as a high-stakes media form requires a rethinking of what we mean by digital citizenship. We need to move from a conflation of digital citizenship with internet safety and protectionism to a view of digital citizenship that's pro-active and prioritizes media literacy and savvy. A good digital citizen doesn't just dodge safety and privacy pitfalls, but works to remake the world, aided by digital technology like video, so it's more thoughtful, inclusive and just."

Somewhere between kids' intuitive social savvy and their online behavior lies an opportunity for both parents and educators to teach responsible digital citizenship, and there are plenty of organizations dedicated to this task alone. Define the Line, a project of McGill University in Canada, was recently awarded a digital citizenship grant by Facebook to help further its work in creating materials to open dialogue about finding the line where joking crosses into negative or criminal behavior. The site includes videos and scenarios designed to enhance discussion of real-world digital topics. Common Sense Media recently launched a free digital citizenship curriculum categorized by age. The curriculum includes both paper-based and digital activities and teaches online safety and Internet research skills in combination with ethics.

Free e-book download:  "Silvia Tolisano, author of the excellent Langwitches blog, has an awesome free ebook about digital storytelling. Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators is a 120 page guide to using digital storytelling tools in your classroom. The guide offers clear directions for using tools like Audacity, Google Maps, Photo Story, VoiceThread, and other digital media creation tools. Silvia's directions are aided by clearly annotated screenshots of each digital storytelling tool."

Kids are growing up in a digital world. They connect, share, learn, explore, and play in way unimaginable just a  generation ago. This is the only world they know and their parents, teachers, political leaders and even the media  are all doing what they can to catch up. The emergence of social media, in all its extraordinary forms, is pushing the  boundaries of what we think of as private while giving us all, and our children, a platform to express ourselves anytime,  anywhere.  It can be an unnerving prospect to a parent or teacher to see their kids pack so much processing power in their  pockets. The media have played on these fears with screaming headlines and nightly news leads about cases of  online predators, pornography, cyberbullying and sexting. Some lawmakers have proposed online safety legislation  based on a single event, such as a suicide that had an online component to it. At least RQHVtate Dttorney  Jeneral suggested raising the age limit for kids accessing social media to 16 years.  While understandable, these reactions are not always helpful or healthy

Rep. Bob Morris said he was disturbed by what he learned when he did a "small amount of web-based research" on the Girl Scouts. I'm not going to debate Morris's conservative positions, but I am going to call into question his digital literacy skills. The new media literacies we often discuss involve applying skepticism to information, learning how to review sources and look for bias, and the importance of fact-checking.

"A survey of teachers who instruct American middle and high school students finds that digital technologies are impacting student writing in myriad ways and there are significant advantages from tech-based learning. Some 78% of the 2,462 advanced placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers surveyed by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project say digital tools such as the internet, social media, and cell phones "encourage student creativity and personal expression." In addition: 96% agree digital technologies "allow students to share their work with a wider and more varied audience" 79% agree that these tools "encourage greater collaboration among students" According to teachers, students' exposure to a broader audience for their work and more feedback from peers encourages greater student investment in what they write and in the writing process as a whole. At the same time, these teachers give their students modest marks when it comes to writing and highlight some areas needing attention. Asked to assess their students' performance on nine specific writing skills, teachers tended to rate their students "good" or "fair" as opposed to "excellent" or "very good." Students received the best ratings on their ability to "effectively organize and structure writing assignments" and their ability to "understand and consider multiple viewpoints on a particular topic or issue." Teachers gave students the lowest ratings when it comes to "navigating issues of fair use and copyright in composition" and "reading and digesting long or complicated texts.""

As for her advice for parents, Takeuchi suggests that they make screen time into family time by watching TV or playing video games with their kids. That would help inform parents about how much digital media their kids are consuming and make it a more enriching experience.

My argument is that new media and new opportunities for learning through digital technologies require new literacies.

Interesting interview regarding the potential future of Digital Media Literacy

This past week, my first-born became legal. Not to drive, vote or drink, though; that comes later. My son turned 13 years old, making him eligible under terms of service to have his own social media account. That isn't to say he hasn't been on those sites for years, though. His social media cred is older than our daughter, who turns four in a couple months. He has had moments where he used Facebook too much, only to self-censor like a boss when he found it was cutting into his reading time. These days, his activity is largely limited to liking Doctor Who content on my geeky Pinterest board and collaborating with peers on Google (despite his original account there being deleted due to age restrictions). He has never had much interest in tweeting, but he got a video camera yesterday that may signal the beginning of a new vlog.

"McLeod, S., & Lehmann, C. (Eds.). (in press). What school administrators need to know about digital technologies and social media."

In a world where "screen time" is becoming simply "time," our policies must evolve or become obsolete. 

New look at screentime from American Association of Paediatrics - finally.

Good article illustrating the need for students to develop a positive digital presence.

ABSTRACT This article outlines a learning intervention which the authors call Learning by Design. The goal of this intervention is classroom and curriculum transformation, and the professional learning of teachers. The experiment involves the practical application of the learning theory to everyday classroom practice. Its ideas are grounded in pedagogical principles originally articulated in the Multiliteracies project, an approach to teaching and learning that addresses literacy and learning in the context of new media and the globalizing knowledge economy. The need for a new approach to learning arises from a complex range of factors - among them, changes in society and the economy; the potential for new forms of communication made possible by emerging technologies; and rising expectations amongst learners that education will maximize their potential for personal fulfillment, civic participation and access to work. The authors first brought together the Learning by Design team of researchers and teachers in 2003 in order to reflect upon and create new and dynamic learning environments. A series of research and development activities were embarked upon in Australia and, more recently, in the United States, exploring the potentials of new pedagogical approaches, assisted by digital technologies, to transform today's learning environments and create learning for the future - learning environments which could be more relevant to a changing world, more effective in meeting community expectations and which manage educational resources more efficiently. One of the key challenges was to create learning environments which engaged the sensibilities of learners who are increasingly immersed in digital and global lifestyles - from the entertainment sources they choose to the way they work and learn. It was also about enabling teachers to explicitly track and be aware of the relationship between their pedagogical choices and their students' learning outcomes.

Canad's Centre for Digital and Media Literacy

Some great entry points for teachers wanting to use digital media in their classroom by Wes Fryer

"Flipping Parenting: My Family's Media and Tech Agreement "