Technology Awareness
The Foundation to the Enlightened Digital Citizenship Model
According to a 2011 Pew Internet Report, 95% of 12 - 17 year-olds are on the Internet and 8 in 10 of them frequent social media sites. However Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis point out in their book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds, that just having access to technology, does not a good digital citizen make. Their Enlightened Digital Citizenship (EDC) model below acts as a lens for viewing digital citizenship. Once access to technology is obtained the journey through technical, individual, social, cultural and global awareness can begin.
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Figure 5.1, p100, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging MInds, Julie Lindsay, Vicki A. Davis
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According to Molinari the EDC model applies to roughly 30% of the population. After poverty, lack of know-how is the second reason for exclusion from technology. So, as technology access is the core, technical awareness is the foundation to EDC model. Improving technical awareness is the first step to developing users who create a supportive and collaborative community.
Technical awareness is the how to layer of the EDC model. It includes the user’s knowledge of how to
Technical awareness is the how to layer of the EDC model. It includes the user’s knowledge of how to
- use tools
- select the right tool for a specific task
- connect to others
- harness technology so it just does not replace traditional tools but enhances learning
Lindsay and Davis propose that just as babies do not know how to walk when they are born, our ‘digital native’ generation who are born ‘attached’ to the Internet, need to be educated on how to be positive digital citizens. Our school created a class for all 6th graders and incoming middle schoolers called Global Connections whose aim is to allow students to recognize the plethora of choices they make when using technology and develop skills that lead to good decision making. Teachers of students who have been through this fairly new course note a few areas of strength that their other students do not display:
It would be interesting before starting a Global Community Project to find out where your students feel their strengths and weaknesses lie. Here are the results of my student surveys.
I decided to ask teachers to fill out a similar survey (results here). Their responses are interesting to those of us providing Professional Development and important as our Global Citizenship curriculum depends on certain skills will be taught through classes and not directly from a computer class (such as creating PLNs or using copyright free images).
- staying on task
- willingness to help others with new technologies
- selecting appropriate tools
- offering teachers other resources and ideas that they themselves have discovered
- transfer of technology skills between subjects
I decided to ask teachers to fill out a similar survey (results here). Their responses are interesting to those of us providing Professional Development and important as our Global Citizenship curriculum depends on certain skills will be taught through classes and not directly from a computer class (such as creating PLNs or using copyright free images).
Feel free to check out the student and teacher surveys I used.
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| cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo by Sheba_Also: http://flickr.com/photos/shebalso/8434192841/ |
There are four “rays” of understanding that enlighten the areas of awareness, giving educators and students concrete topics that lead toward a stronger grasp of the practice of digital citizenship.
1. Safety, Privacy, Copyright, Legal
Perhaps the most pertinent to technology awareness and the one constantly changing ray is this one. Arming students and teachers with enough information to question and protect the safety and privacy of themselves and others must be done before tackling online projects.
Example topics include blocking people from online interactions, finding terms and conditions of site usage, generating and respecting media licenses and reporting activity online that is suspicious, abusive or illegal.
CommonSenseMedia - advocates for children and families with regards to online media; extensive library of materials for educators and parents
Creative Commons - free licensing for photos, videos, blog posts, songs allowing for sharing and creative control of online media
Teaching Copyright - lesson plans and supporting materials for HS students (can be easily adapted for MS students)
Creative Commons, Fair Use - a librarian's Netvibes page full of links and ideas
Free Technology for Teachers - 17 videos on cybersafety for kids
5 Steps to Internet safety - blog post by Vicki Davis with concrete tips on what to do at that crucial moment when students feel unsafe online
2. Etiquette and Respect
As a teacher I expect good manners in my classroom which we define together at the start of a school year. Online communities should do the same and not be afraid to address individuals or groups who might be forgetting the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have done to you. Students are connected 24/7 as adults are and we need to model polite behavior when it comes to the actual use of devices. Being aware that some cultures find connections to devices while in face-to-face contact rude and disrespectful can help form a solid foundation for future collaboration. By far the most misunderstood area of respect for my students is the use of material that does not belong to them. They often passionately express disagreement to the fact that just because something is on the internet, you ethically should not use it. For example, in my movie making class students feel if they purchased a song, they should be able to use it in its entirety for their own project. Furthermore, my digital art students feel they should be able to use images from the Internet because people who put them there should know better if they don't want them used.
Discovering the Internet: Netiquette - video that touches on many areas such as blogs, SMS, email but a bit boring for the kids
Creative Commons - free licensing for photos, videos, blog posts, songs allowing for sharing and creative control of online media
Teaching Copyright - lesson plans and supporting materials for HS students (can be easily adapted for MS students)
Creative Commons, Fair Use - a librarian's Netvibes page full of links and ideas
Free Technology for Teachers - 17 videos on cybersafety for kids
5 Steps to Internet safety - blog post by Vicki Davis with concrete tips on what to do at that crucial moment when students feel unsafe online
2. Etiquette and Respect
As a teacher I expect good manners in my classroom which we define together at the start of a school year. Online communities should do the same and not be afraid to address individuals or groups who might be forgetting the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have done to you. Students are connected 24/7 as adults are and we need to model polite behavior when it comes to the actual use of devices. Being aware that some cultures find connections to devices while in face-to-face contact rude and disrespectful can help form a solid foundation for future collaboration. By far the most misunderstood area of respect for my students is the use of material that does not belong to them. They often passionately express disagreement to the fact that just because something is on the internet, you ethically should not use it. For example, in my movie making class students feel if they purchased a song, they should be able to use it in its entirety for their own project. Furthermore, my digital art students feel they should be able to use images from the Internet because people who put them there should know better if they don't want them used.
Discovering the Internet: Netiquette - video that touches on many areas such as blogs, SMS, email but a bit boring for the kids
Netiqutte - video with catchy tune and nice visuals
Netsmartz - for parents, educators, tweens, teens and kids
3. Habits of learningKnowing what they don't know and being able to find out how to learn has been identified as an essential tool for 21st century learning. I use myself as an example in my digital art, movie making and technology classes. How do they think I am learning all these new tools? At the risk of throwing out the tired 'when I was your age' speech, I make it clear that I didn't even have a personal computer until I was a senior in college. They must understand the source of their information and software: open vs. free sourcing and eventually understand the power of a PLN.Netsmartz - for parents, educators, tweens, teens and kids
Richard Burne - Free Tech for Teachers
Edutopia - PLNs are Virtual lockers for Students
Forbes - Free Versus Open: Does Open Source Software Matter In The Cloud Era?
Edutopia - PLNs are Virtual lockers for Students
Forbes - Free Versus Open: Does Open Source Software Matter In The Cloud Era?
4. Literacy and fluency
When it comes to technological awareness, the ability to decide which tools to use when and how to find support and alternatives is what literacy refers to while fluency alludes to the actual knowledge of how to use tools. Our students love to discover new tools but when asked to use tools in the classroom, tend to fall back on the less collaborative tools. If presented with options they will investigate them but they are averse to taking time to learn new software to become fluent enough to produce high quality products. Having said that, they do learn quickly and easily recognize similarities between tools (ie similar keyboard shortcuts).
IDEA: This is an opportunity for students to build a community resource. I did this with my math students who added their own resources for the topic we were studying to a Google Doc. They added the link, the type of resource (pdf, site, video) and why they thought it was worth watching.
NETS for Students - ISTE
NETS for Students - ISTE
