I have learned how important it is to teach and incorporate digital citizenship in the classroom. I have learned all nine elements of digital citizenship and how a school can build a program to educate students about these important issues (Ribble, 2015). The nine elements can be broken down into three categories of respect, educating, and protection. In the past, I have addressed the importance of students’ thinking before they post, but had not been familiar with all specifics regarding digital citizenship. Having an opportunity to learn and reflect on all the components revolving around this issue, has brought to my attention how we need to formally teach students how to be responsible online.
This course has included a vast amount of information and has helped me to understand how to address digital citizenship, cyberbullying, plagiarizing, and copyright laws. I now have the tools needed to explain these issues and teach students how to understand appropriate online behavior through modeling. The most challenging aspect of this course has been the amount of information and assignments to keep up with. There was a large amount of content to sort through, understand, and create projects based on the content. The work I am most proud of is the final video I created. I used a new software tool I have never used, and learned how to make an animated video through PowToon. This tool will be a resource I will use in the classroom to educate students at the beginning of the year about the important issues regarding online behavior.
EDLD 5316 Digital Citizenship, has brought to my attention, the positive and negative consequences that a digital footprint can expose. It is necessary to be careful when posting online, but also to consider unintentional information that becomes a part of my digital footprint as well. When others post or include me in their post, these are also a reflection of my online presence and need to be monitored closely. This course has provided me the tools to become a better leader by being more aware of cyberbullying issues specifically to Texas. I understand that as technology continues to change and evolve the laws will too, and it is necessary to be aware of these changes. Also I have learned as a leader how to communicate to teachers how to appropriately use educational resources and how to avoid copyright infringement. I learned that there is more flexibility when using resources for educational purposes, and the benefit of Creative Common Licenses allowing teachers to share resources without copyright infringement. In conclusion, I found the content of this course necessary to use in any type of educational leadership role. Having a clear understanding of the ramifications of online behaviors has been impactful in providing relevant information. I enjoyed working with animations to make videos, and how to use a new type of software. If I could give any advice to future students, it would be to work a little each day and not to procrastinate. I don’t think this is a course that lends well to students that wait until the weekend to get through all of the assignments. I thought all of the material was necessary, but I would like to see this course in the future to have more major assignments versus several small assignments. I would tell my friends that this course was meaningful, and believe that I am better equipped to teach students and teachers how to be responsibly handle online situations.
Reference
Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools – Third edition. Eugen: International Society for Technology in Education.