Before
sharing the new digital citizenship resources that Melissa Oliver, Coordinator
of Instructional Technology, put together last week, I wanted to start with why
digital citizenship is so important for our students and staff. A digital
citizen is “a person who develops the skills and knowledge to effectively
use the Internet and other digital technology, especially to participate
responsibly in social and civic activities”. As educators, we have a
responsibility to teach the skills and knowledge to develop digital citizenship
critical to the success of our during their time in Washington Unified and
beyond. We’ve instituted several measures regarding our G Suite (formerly
Google Apps for Education – GAFE) environment that protects our students they
continuously develop their digital citizenship. One of these measures is
what is called a “walled garden” in the Google world. What this means is that
all WUSD students can only email or share Google Drive files with other
students, teachers, administrators, or staff within the district. We have also
turned off access for students to access personal Gmail accounts.
Cloudlock
As
part of our Google environment, the Technology Department uses a service called
Cloudlock to monitor all G Suite emails and files. When there is inappropriate
language or other triggers (for example, credit card numbers or social security
numbers), we receive an email from Cloudlock alerting us to take a look at what
might have triggered a notification. We have discovered students are using the
school mail system in G Suite to communicate with other students in ways that do
not meet our standards of digital citizenship. When we see this happening, the
information from the email or Google files (sometimes they do this with a
Google Doc) are shared with the school site’s Assistant Principal to follow up
with the students involved. In severe cases, we will intervene immediately. The
content that we see through Cloudlock demonstrates that digital citizenship
continues to be an area of need and educating students on appropriate online
behavior must be a focus.
Digital Citizenship Resources
The
new WUSD Digital Citizenship website was created to provide teachers with
quick access to the Common Sense Media lessons on digital citizenship. It
includes the Scope and Sequence created by DTAC and has the lessons that must
be taught at each grade level to comply with the Internet safety mandate tied
to E-Rate funding. In addition, the site includes other lessons from
Common Sense Media that you should do with your students as well as those the
you can do. If everyone taught the lessons for their grade level, our
students would be much better prepared for the digital world becoming more and
more a part of their lives. Once you’ve completed the “Must Do”
lesson, complete the online form certifying that you have done so. The
form is still under development for some grade levels, so you may need to check
back later to complete it.
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media is the
curriculum selected to teach our students about Digital Citizenship. It is a
free site that requires teachers to create an account in order
to download the materials. The lessons also include information that can be
sent home to families about the topics discussed in class. Most lessons do not
require technology, so access to devices should not be a barrier for
classrooms. Use these lessons to become a Common Sense Media Certified Educator like Sally
De La Mora and Penny Schatzel from Southport did last year!
As students learn how to become
better digital citizens, they will make mistakes which is expected. The key,
though, is to learn from these mistakes and make better choices and decisions
going forward. We have a responsibility to help our students be better citizens
online and we’ve provided some amazing resources to start these conversations
through the new WUSD Digital Citizenship website.
As
always, please let me know if you have any questions,
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