In
the article “Developing Digital Citizens” by Venessa Monterosa the author gives
tips to help start a conversation in a district about what steps to take in
order to incorporate digital citizenship.
In 2013
the United States’ second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified School
District launched a Digital Citizenship Week. One of the elementary schools in
the district kicked off the event. The district felt like the event was a
success, but wanted to find a way to get everyone in the district across grade
levels talking about digital citizenship.
The
article provides tips to teachers and districts on how to develop more
awareness of being a good digital citizenship. According to the article, 90% of
teenagers from 12-17 use some type of social media daily. Because of this, students
beginning early on need to learn about what type of digital footprint they
leave every time they are on social media. The author also reiterates numerous
times that colleges now use social media as a recruiting and filtering technique
as they admit new students.
Creating
a district-wide digital citizenship curriculum should involve many parts, just
as instituting any curriculum would. Some tips to help start that process are:
-
Put together a diverse team: involve teachers, administration, and
students because they all provide a different view
-
Define social media terms:
for instance the difference between social media and social networking
-
Identify key social media topics and content: what are the most important topics to cover?
-
Create a partnership:
Involve Common Sense Education or other online community as well as community
members.
-
Connect with a variety of stakeholders: schools can showcase what they know to the community
-
Establish a digital citizenship week: helps emphasize the important of being good citizens.
Students
need to be prepared for the 21st century and part of that is learning
how to be a good digital citizen. Talks about adding it into the daily curriculum
may seem time consuming or unnecessary, but it is in today’s society.
Monterosa, V. (2015). Developing digital citizens. Leadership, 44(3), 30.
