Animating Digital Citizenship

Currently, Intro to Publications has discussed a lot of new perspectives on what it means to be a good digital citizen.  Many students feel that a lot of the ideas we discussed are common sense.  Unfortunately, not a lot of people practice common sense.

We agreed that a good digital citizen:

1. Respects others' privacy online
2. Respects others' creative work by citing or asking permission 
3. Respects the diversity of others' online 
4. Is honest in his/her expression of identity
5. Acts in a safe and mature manner

7 Principals Online Learning. Available at: FlickrCC.  March 18, 2011.

Being a good digital citizen is just like being a good citizen in our communities.  We follow ethics in day-to-day physical interactions that should reflect in our digital relationships.  In order to show our beliefs in the defining characteristics of a digital citizen, we created music videos using Animoto.

Animoto is a free Web 2.0 resource that creates music videos using photos; either from the website or from outside sources.  This nifty tool is a great resource to creatively showcase concepts visually.  Students were required to create a video at least 1 minute long answering the question: What makes a good digital citizen? 

Here is my example I used to model for my students.

Knowing how to be safe and respectful online is an extremely important tool for students to use in all aspects of life.  The ethical rules for online interactions are the same when applied to face-to-face communication.  I am hopeful that these guidelines will permeate various aspects of students' lives.

Furthermore, students practiced at finding a current event that relates to technology.  There were many interesting posts this week; I definitely learned some new things.  As a good practitioner, I also posted a current event article as a model for my students.  I believe that models of good writing are important for our students.  Without good examples, how can anyone learn what to emulate?

I am encouraged by the writing skills I see every week from my students.  Although these students are freshmen, their writing has far exceeded many previous classes at this point in the school year.  I am jubilant at where I see these students' skills are heading.  It's going to be a good year.