August 2023 – Jenny Arch

MassCUE offered a free summer webinar series on “defining digital citizenship.” Each of the four sessions had a different theme and different presenter. Because I won’t be working in a school library this year (I’m moving back to public libraries), I won’t be applying all of these ideas and resources right away, but I want to share them here.

Week One: Defining Digital Citizenship in the Modern Classroom, Jen Thomas (MassCUE) and Casey Daigle (CES)

Resources:

ISTE Standards (“Educators inspire students to positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world”)
DigCitCommit (teaching digital citizenship)
Applying learning in multiple contexts (Edutopia)
MA Literacy and Computer Science Frameworks
Common Sense Media: Teens and the News Report
MediaWise Teen Fact-Checking Network
Bystander Revolution: Take the power out of bullying

Advice:

Conversations are going to be awkward and imperfect, but show that you care, you’re trying, you’re learning. Model and make what you do in the classroom transparent. Where do your lesson plans come from? Cite all your sources and images.
Security: acknowledge passwords. Do you use a password manager? What are the best practices around tech? How often do you shut down or restart your devices?
Transparency: Using a voice assistant lets people around you know what you’re using your device for (instead of disappearing into “phone world”). State how long you’ll be using the device. Set timers.
Normalize these conversations. Ask students what they’re watching on YouTube, what games they’re playing, who they’re talking to in these games. Use school email to communicate and model the proper format for a professional email.

Week Two: Media Literacy Playground, Jenna Meleedy (Penn State University, News Literacy Ambassador)

Main ideas:

Critical media literacy is an essential life skill.
People go to the internet/social media when they’re stressed, or for entertainment – critical thinking skills are not engaged.
Cultivation theory: long-term exposure to media shapes how we view the world and ourselves.
Social media doesn’t want to inform, it wants to engage.
Technology/media is not inherently bad. The worst thing you can do is avoid the conversation altogether. Removing access to technology will never work. Teach responsible and safe use.

Resources:

Media Literacy in Early Childhood report (Erikson Institute)
NAMLE Media Monsters (lesson plans for elementary)
Media Literacy Crash Course (YouTube)
The Sift (NLP newsletter for educators)
Webinars for K-12 educators from Penn State News Literacy initiative
RumorGuard 5 Factors (News Literacy Project)
Know Your Meme
Emojipedia

Week Three: Copyright, Fair Use, Creative Commons in the Age of AI, Suzanne Judson-Whitehouse (CES)

This week was all about “supporting students to be responsible creators and consumers.” We reviewed intellectual property, copyright, the public domain, the fair use doctrine and the four factor test, copyright and AI (biiiig mess), Creative Commons, terms of service (Can you use your personal Netflix account to show something in the classroom? No), the Internet Archive, and more.

Resources:

Emoji Kitchen (part of a fun icebreaker)
Creative Commons
Copyright and Creativity
How Fair Use Works (Learning for Justice)

Week Four: In Defense of Student Data, Ramah Hawley and Cynthia Tougas (The Education Cooperative)

Main ideas:

Educators use data to inform instructional practice. With benefits come risks: how are vendors using the student data they collect?
Schools are obligated to comply with three pieces of federal legislation: FERPA, COPPA, and PPRA to protect students’ personally identifiable information (PII). Third party vendors (e.g. educational software and apps) must also comply with this legislation.
How does each school district ensure vendor compliance with federal and state laws? There should be a Data Privacy Agreement (DPA). Student Data Privacy Agreements are legal and enforceable agreements that supercede Terms of Service (ToS).

Resources: