Digital Citizenship Technologies

Su- Digital Citizenship Technologies

This week I will be introducing a website and a wiki related to digital citizenship and netiquette.

The URL for the first one is http://vtisp.org/

          The site offers numerous information and sources on topics like cyber bullying, internet safety in terms of email, texting and social media, Web 2.0 applications in terms of student and educator safety, anti-virus soft wares and basic security measures and the like. Under each topic, one can find a list of questions that need to be addressed, and/or tutorials, videos or lesson plans for teachers to use. I would use this website with trainings with English language teachers. I would ask them to answer the questions given on the site on issues like student safety, advertisements and the like by exploring their favorite Web 2.0 applications and then share their findings in our next training session.  Finally, they can be asked to write what needs to be taken into consideration when choosing a Web 2.0 application and share the most secure ones with the department along with their rationale. I would also ask the teachers to explore the website to discuss issues like use of social media with learners, using school emails for personal life and come up with dos and don’ts.

The URL for the second one is: http://misterpeters.pbworks.com/w/page/26782232/Cybercitizenship

           The second one is from Micheal Peters's ( a high school teacher) wiki. It’s called Cybercitizenship: Professional Development Module.  The module has three sections: Safety and Security, Digital Life, and Research and Information Literacy.  Each section includes a set of questions that need to be addressed related to the issue, excellent integration ideas, and resources. It highly encourages educators to use the materials with their colleagues and learners. After I finish the module, I would have three training sessions with educators in my setting focusing on each aspect given in the module. Then I would ask what integration idea they favor and would like to use with their learners. For instance, under the safety issue there are a few integration ideas, two of which are developing an online safety and privacy policy and creating media products promoting safe and responsible internet use (Peters, M., 2010). There could also be other ideas suggested by the teachers or learners. A competition can be organized and the best one gets a prize. I would also organize a panel with language learners after the issues under digital citizenship have been discusses in class. Learners would be asked to come up with their safety and privacy policies, show their videos on cyber bullying and how to educate the youth.