Week Six- Digital Citizenship Cont.

How should teachers promote and model digital citizenship responsibly?

Teachers are role models for their students. If a teacher were to demonstrate irresponsible technological behavior his/her students might think that acting like that is alright. Therefore, teachers should promote and model responsible digital citizenship to their students. They could do this by first educating their students on the “dos and don’ts” of digital citizenship. This could include examples of said dos and don’ts, along with class discussions about why each is classified as being either a do or a don’t.  Teachers must remember, though, that not all students are going to respect these digital “rules” even when they are educated on them. Taking the lesson a step further, if needed, a teacher might want to educate his/her students on the repercussions or punishments associated with committing a “digital don’t”. This could include jail-time for illegal reproduction of licensed media (i.e. movies, songs, etc.) or criminal charges of harassment for cyber bullying. Maybe the teacher could mention the school-specific policies regarding these acts to bring the lesson closer to home for his/her students. 

Describe how you will incorporate digital citizenship into your regular classroom instruction and activities?

I plan to incorporate digital citizenship into my regular classroom instruction and activities through first, as previously mentioned, educating my students on the topic. Once I know my students understand the concept I will embed aspects of positive digital citizenship into any of my lessons that have to do with technology or use of the internet (which, let's face it, would be almost 100% of them). Such aspects might include a contract with my students in which they agree to follow certain rules when using the internet. I would phrase the "rules" in "I will" or "I will not" sentences, so that that student would be able to take more accountability. For example, "I will not engage in cyber bullying of any kind" or "I will remember that tone is not easily conveyed through text alone". Another think I might try, is having my students use iTunes to purchase any music needed for any project, instead of using videos on YouTube or downloading the pirated track off of Lime Wire.