During my time at Kings, I have learned a lot about digital citizenship and online safety. At Kings, they have a strong belief that Teaching Digital citizenship and Online safety is very important. In the Junior high, there is an 8th grade class that is dedicated to teaching students about what digital citizenship is and how to be safe online. That class is run by Mr. Wright. In the 21st century, children are more exposed to the internet and social medias.
As well as the Junior High Collaboratory dedicated to teaching about digital citizenship, there is also a class in the high school, to help educate the students about how to use the internet efficiently and for good. This class is run by Mrs. Parnell.
In the Elementary, students go to their tech lab and learn all sorts of things on the computers with the time they are provided with. Mrs. Mcrae teaches well, and a few days when the students have tech lab, Mrs. Mcrae educated them on how to be safe online. She tells them how to determine if a site is safe or not, and to report and bad behavior to a trusted adult.
In the King’s Junior High, and Highschool students are provided with surfaces to help enhance their learning. With these surfaces, students use them to help accomplish schoolwork efficiently and effectively.
On the surfaces provided and on the computers in the tech lab, Kings Junior High and Highschool have a filter to keep away websites with inappropriate content and other websites that wouldn’t help their students with their learning.
Another way digital citizenship and online safety is taught at Kings is through Junior high health week. The Junior High students are taught about mental health and how the internet can be a big factor in it. We learn how to be safe online and to watch our words online and in person.
Personally, I think Kings is very good at informing their students about how to stay safe online and how to be a good influencer online and not leave a negative footprint.
The Edmonds District promotes Digital Citizenship and gives their students a chance to learn about it. The Edmonds school district provides a Digital Citizenship lesson plan for all the schools in the district. The Libraries and Instructional Technology department are committed to providing Digital Citizenship education for all their students. They work with schools and teachers to make sure that there is a strong district message behind the learning of Digital Citizenship. Students can expect to receive lessons on topics such as:
Online Identity and Self Image
Information Literacy
Internet Safety
Fair Use & Copyright
Cyberbullying
How much the student learns and how deep into the lesson a student goes, depends on their grade level and age. The Edmonds School district also provides Computers in every class, and students have a take-home device that the district provides. It is Vital that their students are prepared to learn successfully in a connected world. Also, if you go to the Digital Citizenship website for Edmonds school district, they provide learning tools that include:
Parkland School district also promotes Digital Citizenship to their students. The Parkland School District makes every effort to enforce a safe computing environment for their students. As overlooked by the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), web content filtering is provided on all student computers. Chromebooks assigned to students as part of Parkland Ready 21 are filtered even when taken to their homes. Parkland school district believes that even though they block inappropriate sites, the best way to keep their students safe is knowledge and parental involvement.
If you go to the Parkland School District website for online safety and Digital citizenship, they provide the best online sources for their students so that they can continue to learn about online safety and how to be a good digital citizen.
Common Sense Media is a free digital citizenship program that includes comprehensive learning resources for students, teachers, and family members. Their content is based on the work of Dr. Howard Gardner and the Good Play Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The program addresses real challenges for students to help schools navigate cyberbullying, internet safety, and other digital dilemmas.
Parkland includes parents & guardians as part of our Parkland Learning Community through Hoonuit, an online portal where users can see clips or full courses on a wide range of topics from Google Sheets to navigating the college application process. Hoonuit has courses on internet safety, including Being Savvy Online and Digital Citizenship. They also have guides for parents on how to use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, & Snapchat.
The NetSmartz Workshop is an interactive, educational safety resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) and Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) for children aged 5 to 17, parents, guardians, educators, and law enforcement that uses age-appropriate interactive activities to teach children how to stay safer on the Internet.
Parkland School District provides many websites to help their students stay safe and provide parents with information about how to help their children stay safe.
Shoreline School District:
In the Shoreline School District, students access a wide variety of technology tools to help their learning. While at school, the shoreline school district provides web filters in place to block inappropriate websites accessed on school equipment, there is no replacement for teaching safe internet habits. As students move up the grades, the district has programs in place to teach internet safety in a developmentally appropriate way.
The Shoreline School District provides websites to help grow their students’ and their parents’ knowledge about Digital Citizenship and online safety.
NetSmartz Opens in New Window (www.netsmartz.org) is a nationally recognized internet safety program that provides the school district with curriculum materials used to teach about internet safety. Three important themes in NetSmartz are
Online Predators
Revealing Too Much Information and
Cyberbullying
NetSmartz offers age-appropriate materials, including videos, games and activities, that discuss these themes in an engaging and effective way.
Granite Falls School District:
Granite Falls School District also strongly encourages good digital citizenship and online safety. If you go to their website on digital citizenship and online safety, they provide their students’ parents with a list of things they can do to ensure safe usage of social media and other stuff online. The Granite Falls website also lists digital safety resources that both students and parents can learn from. The resources listed include:
What is Digital Citizenship and How Can You Be a Good Citizen?
Digital Citizenship– A digital citizen is a person utilizing information technology (IT) in order to engage in society, politics, and government. Digital Citizens are described as “those who use the Internet regularly and effectively.”
How to be a good digital citizen:
Treat others the way you want to be treated– We were taught this golden rule as children, and it still applies today. Make sure you only say kind words in person, as well as online. Even though you can’t see them face to face, it still hurts as much
Educate yourself– Make sure that you know what the site/social media platform’s you use are safe, and you know how to work them to your advantage. Make sure that the site doesn’t take advantage of any of your private information.
Leave a positive digital footprint– Make sure to always say kind words, post good things, and make sure you don’t do anything you may regret. Don’t say things or post things that could hurt someone, make sure you lift others up online instead of bringing them down.
Report bad behavior– When you see anything online that is upsetting, or could hurt someone else, make sure to report it to a guardian you trust, or report the user that posted those upsetting things to the app/site it is posted on. By reporting bad behavior, you could be protecting others from seeing the same thing you did. It could be taken off the site/app.
Be yourself– At the end of the day, you shouldn’t be posting things or saying things that aren’t making you happy. Don’t do things that you think make you look cool or please others, stay true to yourself and always be kind.
What is Online Safety and How Can You Be Safe Online?
Online Safety– Internet Safety, or Online Safety, is the knowledge of maximizing the user’s personal safety and security risks on private information and property associated with using the internet, and the self-protection from computer crime in general.
Ways you can be safe online include:
Keeping Personal Information Private/Professional-don’t share your home address, Professional background, how to get in touch with you, etc.
Keep Your Privacy Settings On -Marketers and hackers love to get their hands on your personal information, and they can find out a lot from your social media and browser usage. Keep your privacy settings on to protect yourself.
Choose, Strong Passwords-Passwords are very important because it protects, your personal information, people tend to use easy passwords to remember, such as 123456, but even though they are easy to remember, they are also easy for hackers to guess. Make sure to choose strong passwords that are harder for hackers to identify, you can use mixed letters and longer passwords.
Choose Different passwords– Make sure to also use different passwords for different social medias and sites, so if a hacker figures out one of your passwords, they can’t access any of your other accounts.
Be careful what you post– Remember not to post anything you may regret in the future, or something you wouldn’t want on the internet permanently. Even though you can delete a comment or a post, you cannot delete any copies that were made. Don’t past anything you wouldn’t want your mother or a boss to see.
Be careful who you meet online– People you meet through the internet, aren’t always who they claim to be. Don’t divulge any personal information you wouldn’t want shared to a stranger. Using fake profile’s and identities, are ways hackers get close to their target, and then they can use the information you give them to harm you online or in real life.
Be careful what you download– Ways cybercriminals like to get personal information, is by tricking their target into downloading a malware. Programs/apps that carry malwares can steal your passwords and personal information. Don’t download anything that looks sketchy or leads you to a sight you don’t trust.
Practice safe online browsing– When searching online, don’t wander into dangerous sites. Cyber criminals can use sites to hack into information you may not want exposed, make sure that you are aware when clicking on sites because one careless click could expose a lot of information
What I learned about Online safety/digital citizenship:
After doing all this research about digital citizenship and online safety I learned a lot. Being a good digital citizenship is basically just being kind to others online and leaving a positive digital footprint. You want you treat others the way you want to be treated and you should never be scared to report things you see online that are upsetting. For online safety I learned to make safe, secure passwords. Passwords access everything, and if you want to keep your private information private, you need to make secure and different passwords. You also shouldn’t trust everything or everyone you see/meet online. I learned a lot about digital citizenship and online safety, and you should use these tips in your everyday online life.
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