Digital Citizenship is important to teach to students as many do not understand how the pictures they post or things they say via digital media can adversely affect them in the future. Many of us have seen or heard of someone being judged by their Facebook or twitter posts or even by text messages they gave sent to a friend or coworker. While we have now learned form our own mistakes or the mistakes of other concerning digital citizenship many of our students have not. It is our job as educators to make them aware of the consequences they may face based on what they post online and provide them real world examples that they can relate to.
I value the ability to see how people interact online when they feel safe behind a keyboard. Many people are completely different when you converse with them than what you may see in their online lives. George Corous wrote a very informational and eye opening blog concerning digital citizenship. He showed teachers the posts of two students that went to their school who teachers said were model students. The things the teachers seen were far from what they expected from those students. It shows the many faces that people can display and the importance of teaching students the importance of digital citizenship.
I think that we can implement social media in some form in our classrooms to introduce them to proper uses and acceptable practices. If we can reach students early enough and open their eyes to the affects social media can have on their lives we may be able to set students up for success in terms of digital citizenship and their on line lives.
| Photo Credit:Thomas Galvez |
 |
| Photo Credit: http://www.teachthought.com/technology/the-definition-of-digital-citzenship/ |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCkTmZ0bF5Q
I really agree with what you said about having a responsibility as educators to teach children how to properly represent themselves online. My generation experienced a technology explosion later in our teenage years, but children these days have grown up with the latest technology, and are far more knowledgeable than most adults around them. It's very easy to get swept up in current trends and do what your friends are doing, and it's just as easy to make a mistake, or post something regrettable about yourself. Children need to be taught the positive and negative consequences of being a digital citizen, or else the technology we give them is going to waste.
ReplyDelete