Final Blog Post

Digital citizenship hits close to home to for librarians. Librarians aren’t just librarians anymore. They should be experts in technology. As this course has taught me, being an expert in technology means that I need to understand and teach digital citizenship. Digital access is key to keep abreast of current online trends in the library. Digital commerce is something that librarians practice every time they place orders for new technology or books. Digital communication should regularly be taking place through the library with a variety of avenues. Digital literacy is key for librarians in this day and age so that we are prepared to teach about all types of technology and are knowledgeable about technology use. Digital etiquette is what librarians should model and teach to students in their library so that students understand what is and is not appropriate online. It is the librarian’s job to teach that digital law. Digital rights and responsibilities are also something that the librarian should be teaching through the library media program. Concerning digital health and wellness the librarian needs to be aware of the placement of the computers for students and ensuring that proper ergonomics are occurring throughout the school. The librarian can start honest conversations with students about digital security. These conversations are a great way to begin empowering our students so that they can protect themselves.

The current AUP at my school is very inclusive, but it isn’t taught or talked about. I would add more information on rights and responsibilities to the current AUP, and I would actually teach a lesson on the AUP and its importance. Digital citizenship education is important for all educators. I would implement miniature digital citizenship lessons with follow-up information at our monthly staff meetings.

Digital Security

Students today assume that everything is safe on the internet. They know that there are websites that they should not go to, and in theory they understand that there are viruses that can get on their computer. However, they have the typical teenage syndrome of “that won’t happen to me.” There needs to a conversation about the potential dangers of the internet. Teachers and parents need to be discussing the importance of passwords, privacy, and sharing information. Students often go online and view all people that they meet as a potential friend. They freely give out their information. Students need to understand the significance of keeping their information private, and that information should not be given to anyone that they meet online. If honest conversations are taking place about the consequence of giving out their personal information online, then students will protect themselves when they are online.

There are some items that students can do that are common sense. They need to keep their passwords in a secure, private location where no one can get to them. Students should never give out their passwords to others, not even their friends. Students should be taught how to protect their computer and other technology with virus protection software and strong passwords. They also need to understand the possible pitfalls of the internet such as spyware or malware. Information is power. The more information that we give our children or students, the more ability that they have to be able to protect themselves and their technology in today’s digital society.

DIgital Law

After looking at both Respect Copyrights and B4UCopy, I realized that students are not using the technology and the internet in the way that it was meant to be used. Students are often not educated enough by their educational institutions on what is and is not legal on the internet. I saw a few examples of students who did not know how to appropriately use the technology that they had on their computer. They didn’t understand that they were participating in illegal activities. Illegal file-sharing, whether that is music, movies, or software, is illegal, and students do not understand that very basic concept, or if they do understand that, they don’t understand how they are sharing and accessing content illegally.

Students are absolutely violating copyright and intellectual property when they either download something without paying for it or use ideas without giving credit for it. This goes to plagiarism, and students have little to no understanding of intellectual property. They also don’t fully understand how to give credit to a person when they use those ideas.

I firmly believe that students need to be held accountable for how they use technology. However, I would also argue that there is a need for massive amounts of education for students in this area. Education of technology and digital citizenship should start in elementary. By the time these students graduate from high school, they should understand illegal practices and the nature of plagiarism. Students should also know how to avoid it by that age as well. Students committing these acts can and will be caught. They need to understand that there are consequences for breaking the law or plagiarism.

Digital Etiquette

I often think that students from the ages of 11 to 16 aren’t aware of others around them at all. This is just an age when they are very self-focused in every area. Generally, they don’t consider how their actions affect others. I also think that this extends to technology. Students don’t pay attention to how their use of technology affects others, and they are often unaware of others when they use their digital devices. I see students of this age texting each other in class, during church, and during a movie. There is a time and a place for the use of technology, but students do not understand the etiquette associated with it. I also believe that students of this age have very little understanding of how harmful their actions can be. Cyberbullying: What the Research is Telling Us does point out that online harassment is still not the primary place where students experience harassment. However, it also points out the extremely negative effects that harassment may have on students. Students don’t consider what the results of their actions may be.
The solution is to start teaching students the right way to treat and act towards other with technology. However, as Ribble & Bailey point out these technologies are developing so fast that often parents, who usually teach etiquette to their children, are learning with their child. Students see the inapprorpriate use of technology and copy that example. Schools need to fill in the gap in this area. Teaching the appropriate use of technology by modeling usage of that technology is the solution. The days of “no cell phones allowed” are gone, or they should be. Who is going to teach students how to fill in this gap if it isn’t the school?

Digital Literacy

Part of what I have learned as a teacher is that student-learning needs to be collaborative and inquiry-based. Is there are better way to have students learn and interact with each other than through the use of technology? Students are already interacting with each other online, but they don’t have a model at school for how to interact appropriately with each other. Typically, they also aren’t taught how to interact appropriately online at all. I believe that burden will inevitably fall to schools. If this is our job, then we need to step up and do it. Technology is how today’s student interacts. As teachers, we need to be communicating as they do. Technology is the future, and as educators we should be preparing students for that future.
There are several ways that students can learn through the use of technologies. My district is currently undertaking an initiative of “Bring your own Technology.” This means that students are going to have the ability to bring their electronic devices, connect to a wireless network, and use this device to participate in class. I would love to see teachers using Ipads interactively with students in a classroom. Class discussions could happen via forums that are monitored by the teacher. Wikis could be a collaborative place where students tell each other about what they have learned. I would love for students to have the opportunity to interact in a social context in a monitored setting where there are rules that they must follow.

Digital Communication

I know now that I have a little personal work to do in my digital communication. I do use email and instant messaging technologies appropriately. However, I do need to think more about what I put into emails and instant messages. Sometimes, my messages are somewhat to the point, and others can mistake that for anger. The most frequent violation that I have in cell phone etiquette would be to continue to have someone on hold on my cell phone while checking out at a store. That is showing very little consideration for the person checking me out, and I need to make certain that in those instances I’m not on my cell phone.

Students don’t always understand the import of their actions. Especially in middle school, they are often not aware of others at that age. Having a conversation with these students to make them aware of how their actions affect others is a good first step. Students need to be aware of all cell phone etiquette rules because most of them have never thought about it at all. Not having a private conversation in a public place is usually a good rule to start with for sixth graders. After discussing that, I would move on to excusing yourself before taking a call. Sixth graders don’t think about the possible ways that their actions affect or are interpreted by others. This would be a novel concept to them. However, these rules are just for cell phones. Students also communicate via social networking sites, blogs, text messages, and emails. They for the most part need to be aware of how their actions affect others. I personally think that you have to address cyber-bullying here, and they need to understand the possible consequences of their actions.

Digital Commerce

I completed a survey of students about online purchasing. I teach sixth grade, and I found that the majority of students were not purchasing items online independently yet. Out of about sixty students that I polled, thirty-one students had purchased items online prior to the survey. Out of those thirty-one students, many had purchased songs from ITunes using an account previously set up by their parents. The others had purchased items with their parent’s guidance and using their parent’s credit card. A few were not sure how they paid for the item that they purchased because their parents closely supervised and completed the process for them.

The majority of the sixth graders that I teach are completely unaware that there can be any problems with online purchases. I am not totally certain they recognize problems or advantages associated with purchasing online. It was a positive that parents are actively involving their children in online purchases and supervising them. However, it would ideal if schools would give some more education on this area of digital citizenship. Students are completely unaware of the dangers that adults already understand. I don’t think that there is any question that students should receive further education in digital commerce, but it would be nice if parents could be involved in the conversation as well. Perhaps, through structuring a course at school, the teacher could require students to talk to parents, and there could always be an after school program for students and parents to attend together in further education on digital commerce. If students aren’t made to understand the consequences of their online purchases, they could make dreadful mistakes now that would follow them for the rest of their life.