Christian Roach's List: Week 3

• Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool; it is a way to prepare students/technology users for a society full of technology. Digital citizenship is the norms of appropriate, responsible technology use.  Too often we are seeing students as well as adults misusing and abusing technology but not sure what to do. The issue is more than what the users do not know but what is considered appropriate technology usage.

• • Today's kids need new skills to behave safely and responsibly online.
  • Good digital citizenship follows the same basic rules as good citizenship in the offline world.
  • Filters only prevent some kinds of unsuitable material being accessed via your computer; parents still need to be vigilant.
  • It's important for parents to model good online behaviour – such as courtesy, obeying the law (not downloading something illegally) and protecting yourself.

• We're always reminding our kids to "pick up after yourself" and "cover your mouth when you cough", but lately many parents have had to add rules like "don't bring your mobile to the dinner table" and more importantly, "don't use my credit card to shop online".

  We're the first generation of parents responsible for equipping our children with ‘digital citizenship' skills – how to use technology safely and responsibly, and how to evaluate, manage and use the information and tools they find online.

• The UK website www.digizen.org, created by Childnet International, describes good digital citizenship as "building safe spaces and communities, understanding how to manage personal information, and about ... using your online presence to grow and shape your world in a safe, creative way, and inspiring others to do the same".

  But don't our kids know more about all this than we do? Aren't they the ‘digital natives' (a name coined by US education writer Marc Prensky)?

  While it's likely your 10-year-old may have more experience with technology than you, adults and kids tend to start using the technology long before they're taught about responsible online behaviour.

  When something that appears online makes a child feel uncomfortable, they need to know how to deal with it. 

  According to a report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in 2009, less than 18 per cent of respondents had formal training in how to use the internet. So, if you sometimes feel like you're making it up as you go along, you're not alone, it turns out most of us are.

1 more annotation...

• To be a citizen, of a country brings certain rights and responsibilities.In Rome, a citizen was exempt some taxes, protected against certain punishments, empowered with rights like voting, making contracts, marriage and standing for office. But with these rights also came responsibilities. The citizen of Rome had to speak Latin, pay taxes, serve jury duty, be registered and identified by birth certificate and census. They also had to up hold social responsibilities and be virtuous.
   Digital citizenship has similar benefits and responsibilities. A good digital citizen will experience the advantages of the digital world but like a citizen of a nation, they will be identifiable, speak using the appropriate language, serve his or her duty to judge what is appropriate within the laws of the land and ethical behavior, uphold their social responsibilities and be virtuous.
   The internet is a little like the proverbial elephant that never forgets. Our digital footprints are not like the footprints on the beach, washed away by the next wave or rising tide. Rather they are like footprints left to dry in the wet concrete of the footpath. They are a permanent reminder of our actions, inactions and interactions. To navigate and to survive in this dynamic digital world requires some basic rules and guidelines, we call these tenets of digital citizenship.
   
   The Digital Citizen will follow six tenets of citizenship.
   
  1. Respect yourself
  2. Protect yourself
  3. Respect others
  4. Protect others
  5. Respect intellectual property
  6. Protect intellectual property
• The principles of digital citizenship are the same principles that we would want our students to apply to their day to day interactions in the real world. In both the virtual and real worlds, we expect our students to respectful and protective of themselves, their peers and others they interact with and the environment. By implementing these tenets in the digital world we can draw parallels to our physical world.
   
   Digital citizenship is an age dependent. As a result of this there are three versions of this agreement which suit the level of ethical and moral development of the students and have a suitable level of complexitiy for the age of the Students. The concept has been simplified for the Middle school students and further simplified for younger students.
                                    

  Senior Students	Middle School Students	Junior School Students
  Respect yourself  Protect yourself	Looking after yourself	Looking after me
  Respect others  Protect others	Looking after others	Looking after others
  Respect Intellectual Property  Protect Intellectual Property	Looking after property	Looking after stuff