Digital Citizenship and Creative Content

 

I think that many people would like to address the topics of Digital Citizenship and Creative Content and they absolutely should.  I know that we had worked on the concept at my old board and I would provide a link to the resource but it has been taken down.  Working with colleagues, we worked towards what we thought would be the attitudes, skills, knowledge, and understandings that we felt were important.

By its nature, I think that a document of this type would be a never-ending product.  Just when you think that you have it nailed, something new comes along.  But, if you believe this is important (and I personally do), it’s an exercise worth pursuing.  Every spring, the document would be revised.  It was a task but certainly an important one.

Now, we started working our document from scratch but if you’re just starting out, Microsoft has you covered at their digitalcitizenship website.

Here you’ll find four curriculum units:

• Creative What?
• By Rule of Law
• Calling All Digital Citizens
• Protect Your Work; Respect Your Work

The units are incredibly complete.  Written with an American perspective, you’ll want to work your way through it before going live with your class.  For example, there is a part to a unit that talks about “fair use”, a very important concept in the US.  You’d want to do some research about “fair dealing” because there are significant differences between the two.  Microsoft recognizes that there will be differences from country to country and give a feedback mechanism for that purpose.

However, for the most part, the lessons, assessments, and activities would serve very nicely in anyone’s classroom.  Designed for Grades 8-10 but it’s indicated that, with modification, they could be used 6-12.  You wouldn’t use all the resources in any one grade but spread it out through the years so that students get the whole effect.

I know that many teachers already address these issues.  For them, these would be wonderful resources to confirm you’re on the right track and perhaps inspire some new activities or discussions.  If you have students from a Faculty of Education, make them aware of what’s available.  They’ll definitely thank you.

Registration is required but what you get is totally worth the exercise.   Do it, get access to the four PDF files and start addressing these important concepts with you students.

Related articles

• The Teacher’s Guide To Digital Citizenship (edudemic.com)
• A Digital Citizenship Guide from Edmodo and Common Sense Media (freetech4teachers.com)
• Teaching Digital Citizenship – Edmodocon2012 (fishingforedtech.com)
• A Simple Guide to All That Teachers Need to Know about Digital Citizenship (educatorstechnology.com)
• A Must See Guide on Digital Citizenship (educatorstechnology.com)
• A Must See Guide on Digital Citizenship (teacherlingo.com)
• A Simple Guide to All That Teachers Need to Know about Digital Citizenship (saudiassistivetechnology.wordpress.com)
• Digital Citizen Starter Kit (digitaldivideandconquer.wordpress.com)