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This site will teach you how to keep students safe online.

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We've created these digital safety resources to make it easier for families to incorporate and practice good digital habits in your everyday lives.

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Digital Citizenship Course for Educators and Leaders

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Digital Citizenship Course for Educators and Leaders

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This course will teach you how to model digcit so you can help students be responsibile and active in online communities.

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Course Description:

Digital citizenship is about more than online safety. It's about creating thoughtful, empathetic digital citizens who can wrestle with the important ethical questions at the intersection of technology and humanity.

In Digital Citizenship in Action, you'll learn how to teach and model digcit so you can help students be responsible and active in online communities. The course starts with the basics and moves outward to guide you in exploring various sets of learning standards, identifying frameworks for digcit education, integrating digcit across content areas, and even sharing how students can connect online to participate in social justice and sustainability projects.

This is a 15-hour, self-paced course with ongoing instructor support.
ENROLL A GROUP

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Hide the H1 Title*/ #title { display: none!important; visibility: hidden; } article .isteu-coursename { color: #0084A9 !important; font-size: 36px !important; padding-top: 0 !important; font-weight: bold; } Course Description: Digital citizenship is about more than online safety. It's about creating thoughtful, empathetic digital citizens who can wrestle with the important ethical questions at the intersection of technology and humanity.

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This site includes various articles related to each of the five #DigCitCommit competencies.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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This article explains the dos and don'ts of incorporating digital citizenship into your instruction.

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The concept of digital citizenship has evolved and changed along with edtech. It has gone from a list of don'ts to a more proactive list of do's to a more seamless integration into the curriculum.

Marty Park, the chief digital officer for the Kentucky Department of Education and the co-author of the 2019 book, The Digital Citizenship Handbook for School Leaders: Fostering Positive Interactions Online, says the idea now is for schools to have digital citizenship so well integrated, it's evident in every digital action by teachers and students.

"The goal is to embed and integrate digital citizenship into learning," Park said. "We don't want it separated or pulled out. We don't believe that's working. Digital citizenship is the one concept that lives in every one of the ISTE Standards. It's the tie that binds."

There's a new mindset about digital citizenship

The days of digital citizenship as a one-off lesson are long gone. That mindset of treating digital citizenship lessons as an inoculation against bad online behavior has changed.

"What we want to do is get folks past the 'Here's the curriculum I'm using' conversation," he said. "That's not the end of the story. The end of the story is that there is no end to the story. There's continued development."

School districts are all over the place in their approaches to digital citizenship. Park and his co-author, longtime digital citizenship advocate Mike Ribble, developed a scale for districts to rate their digital citizenship maturity level. It ranges from zero - blocking and filtering websites and restricting devices - to four - complete digital fluency for students and teachers.

"We view level zero as really short-sighted," he said. "You're not really preparing kids when they leave at the end of the day or week or the year. They're not really taking with them a core set of skills that are going to help them be empowered."

Most districts fall somewhere in between.

"Mostly, districts are at level two," he said. "That mainly consists of exposure to skills. You do workshops and share videos but you're not gauging any kind of competency. You're not checking for any kind of understanding."

Watch the video below to hear ISTE CEO Richard Culatta explain the "do's" of digital citizenship:

District leaders need to consider the "why"

Advancing on that scale requires district commitment. In their book, Park and Ribble offer a five-year plan for implementation of a digital citizenship program. The end result is integration districtwide. The process takes districts from the "why" to something that's a natural part of digital behavior.

"When you plan your digital citizenship program, there's the why," he said. "For me personally, that's pretty clear. But you need that touchpoint at a leadership level, so that everyone is believing in the same why. When you get into implementation, you're going all the way through a program to where you can look at student action and teacher action and feel good about the fact that when somebody makes something awesome online, it's literally wrapped in being a good digital citizen."
Jerry Fingal is a freelance writer who focuses on the intersection of education and technology. This is an updated post that originally published on Feb. 7, 2020.

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Digital Citizenship: From Don'ts to Do's to Seamless Integration | ISTE

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The concept of digital citizenship has evolved and changed along with edtech. It has gone from a list of don'ts to a more proactive list of do's to a more seamless integration into the curriculum.

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Digital Citzenship Resources for Family Engagement

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Digital Citzenship Resources for Family Engagement

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This site provides schools and families with the resources to prepare kids to think critically and use technology in positive, creative, and powerful ways.

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Digital Citizenship Resources for Family Engagement | Common Sense Education

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.

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9 Lessons to Teach Children About Digital Citizenship

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9 Lessons to Teach Children About Digital Citizenship

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This site provides a digital citizenship guide to teach children how to practice safe, responsible, and legal use of technology.

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Everyone who uses electronic devices to go online and interact with others is participating in a digital world as a digital citizen. Just like good citizenship is important at school and work, so is good digital citizenship important when online.

Utilize this guide to have conversations with your children about digital citizenship and check out some of the tools listed to help you navigate this world.

1. Digital Commerce
Your children have never known a world without online shopping. Ecommerce deliveries to residential properties is the norm, and they likely have seen you make online purchases for items they need for school or sports. It is important to remind children to always ask for your permission before they hit "buy," even if the app they are using has your credit card information on file, or they have purchased from the site previously.

2. Digital Downtime
Smartphones and social media have changed the lives of your children and often serve as a false substitute for human connection. Teens need to be reminded to disconnect from the digital world and spend time with friends and family face-to-face to develop critical social skills needed for adulthood. Take advantage of apps and devices meant to help parents manage screen time and limit access to apps.

3. Digital Etiquette
It is important that children know to treat people with respect when online, just as if they were talking to them in person. Also, teach children empathy by encouraging them to think about how the messages they write online may be received by others reading those messages. Messages sent via text or through social media can be misinterpreted. Teach your children to re-read messages before hitting send. Let them know that as their parent you are a safe resource for them, and that you are willing to proofread any messages and give them feedback. Remind children that some conversations are best communicated verbally and encourage them to use the phone or video talk features on their phones.

4. Digital Health
Teaching children when to stay connected and when to turn off their devices is another key component of digital citizenship. When your child texts you to pick them up from practice, they need to know to stay connected to their phone until you arrive. They also need to know that phones should be put away at certain times. Talk to them about when you expect them to put their phone aside and be fully present. Incorporate technology boundaries into your house rules so that your children know what's expected of them, and as a parent, make sure you are modeling good digital health as well.

5. Digital Integrity
Children need to learn to examine the source of online information to determine credibility of the source. Teach your children to pay attention to a website's URL. Malicious websites and email addresses often look identical to a legitimate site with just a slight variation in spelling or domain ("Amaz0n"). Sites with .edu (educational sites) or .gov (official government sites) are most credible. Sites with .biz or .info are least credible. In addition, students can look for other clues to a website's legitimacy, such as looking for the "https" tag or checking the site's security status. Finally, teach your children to be wary of sites that have invasive advertising or use poor spelling or grammar.

6. Digital Literacy
Children need to learn to avoid suspicious emails, attachments, websites, and online advertisements. Teaching children thatif it sounds too good to be true, it's probably a scam, will help them analyze information and build intuition. The digital world is a rapidly changing environment and your children need to learn to use intuition to make good decisions. The Federal Trade Commission has several articles about talking with your children, protecting their online safety, as well as parental controls. As a parent, educate yourself on internet fraud, phishing, and other online scams so that you can protect your family's personal information and promote online safety.

7. Digital Privacy
Privacy settings exist across most devices and platforms. Expecting your children to read the fine print before logging into new apps may be unrealistic. However, you can teach your children to use privacy settings and only share their information with people they know personally. Show your children on their devices where they can manage privacy settings. Teach them which apps truly need access to location services, access to their contact list, or integration with social profiles. Regularly review their settings with them and explain why they need to change specific settings for their digital safety.

8. Digital Responsibility
Just as your children have a responsibility to report bullying and harassment at school, they have that same responsibility when online. Teach your children to report cyber-bullying, abusive behavior, and inappropriate content.

9. Digital Security
Children often default to easy passwords such as 12345 or qwert123 so they do not forget them. It is important to teach children to use strong passwords and to change them regularly. Children should also know to change passwords if they suspect someone else knows their password or has accessed their account without permission. Strong passwords usually include at least 8 characters mixed with uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters (e.g., ! @ # $).
Children should use strong passwords that are hard for others to guess, but easy for your children to remember. For example, mix letters and numbers, such as their school name (North Elementary School) and younger brother's birth month and year (2/2015) becomes n0R+h/22o!5. As a parent, your children's safety is of utmost importance to you. Teaching your children to practice safe, responsible, and legal use of technology will guide your children into being digital citizens that are positively impacting the digital world.

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9 Lessons to Teach Children About Digital Citizenship

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Utilize this guide to have conversations about digital citizenship and check out some of the tools listed to help you navigate this world.

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What Your Students Really Need to Know About Digital Literacy

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What Your Students Really Need to Know About Digital Literacy

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This article provides ideas on how to guide students to the knowledge and experience they need to act responsibly

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Fake News, Confirmation Bias, and Selective Attention: Teaching Digital Literacy 

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Fake News, Confirmation Bias, and Selective Attention: Teaching Digital Literacy 

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This article explains how educators can support digital literacy instruction in the classroom.

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How do educators support digital citizenship? Does information need singular meaning to be useful? Has cognitive dissonance grown in the digital era? These were a few of the questions tweeted at #DLNchat on Tuesday, September 11, when we debated how to best teach digital and information literacy in higher education.

What is digital literacy and how is it different from information literacy? #DLNchat-ters agreed that the two are closely intertwined. Both include the ability to critically assess digital content as information, but digital literacy includes many other skills as well. As Andrea Fuentes said, "Digital literacy includes digital citizenship, understanding digital platforms, and digital etiquette." Paul Wilson put it a bit differently: "Information literacy is broad based and may include digital, print and non-print content. Digital literacy is both the ability to utilize digital and web based resources and the ability to communicate online using digital platforms." Much of the conversation focused on how to support students in assessing digital content for validity and veracity.

Truth is... complicated, if you ask the #DLNchat community. Yin Wah Kreher may have articulated it most poetically with this quote from Anaïs Nin: "We see the world as we are, not as it is." Fuentes put it another way: "People filter the information through the lens of their past experiences; they reject contradictions to existing beliefs." There can be a bit of cognitive dissonance when taking in new information. Social media and other digital platforms also make it easier to avoid information that doesn't fit neatly into our existing narratives. "It is much easier to avoid unpleasant information in the digital era," said Richard Hornik. "More worrisome is that the algorithms of all the major platforms reinforce our confirmation bias so that we will stick around."

This is exactly why teaching digital and information literacy is so important! "We contextualize based on experience so, as educators, we need to help our students 'see' different contexts & perspectives," said Emma Zone. In other words, information is subjective. But, Evan Smith asked, "Is it the same information if interpreted differently? In any case, interpretations can be subjective, idiosyncratic, cultural." Wilson posed similar questions: "Does a text need a singular meaning? Or does a society need a singular meaning for its use and affirmation?" #DLNchat-ters debated the point. Gina Sipley argued, "Every text is open to multiple meanings, and those meanings shift over space and time." Not so fast, Hornik countered, "an observation is subjective, but the facts-the temperature, the sky-are not. The problem today is that skepticism has permitted people to deny facts they don't like."

So then, is it more important to approach information with trust in established media rather than skepticism of all media? "In the last year I have decided to put more faith in the established media," shared Jane Lally, describing it as the lesser of two dangers. Sipley agreed with that sentiment and emphasized the importance of an independent media. "The problem with too much skepticism in all forms of media is that it undermines the democratic process. The 4th Estate is a necessary check on democracy," she tweeted. However, even information from the most trusted media should be evaluated with a critical gaze. "There's a difference in blind trust and paranoia, which are the extremes we want to avoid. We should always balance trusting the source with skepticism," said Alan Kinsey.

#DLNchat-ters shared strategies for students when assessing the reliability of a media source as well as the veracity of its claims. Dorrie Cooper recommended these questions: "What serves as evidence? Critically ask does the nature of the claim appear to be a fact or opinion? Do they provide resources that are researchable? Can you find the primary research from their assertion?" Approaches described in a study from the Stanford History Education Group were referenced several times. The report says that to assess claims made online, reading laterally (where you seek context and perspective from other sites) is more effective than reading vertically (which involves deeply investigating the reliability of the source). Spencer Johnson also advised adopting more consciousness while scrolling. "The problem is that we will look at who shared the source, how many likes/comments, ignore how the information may be playing to their biases, and/or not understanding the content," he tweeted.

It seems the most important digital literacy strategy may be simply slowing down. "We need to read thoroughly through an entire piece before sharing and amplifying a message," shared Sipley. Added Hornik, "We can't slow down the flow of information, but we can slow ourselves down and we can encourage the people around us to do likewise." This can be particularly important when analyzing images and videos. As EdSurge's Renee Franzwa said, "Data visualization is so much more compelling to someone skimming content (which is everyone!) which is why this kind of literacy training is so important."

Not only is imagery more compelling, #DLNchat-ters agreed, it's more complicated. "Too often an image or a video accompanying written text is misinterpreted as a verification of the words," said Sipley. To that end, Alex Kluge shared an article about how seeing a political logo can impair a reader's understanding of facts. Adding to those complexities, said Wilson, "while text is not necessarily 'flat', images and videos lend themselves to multiple sensible interpretations. More sensible impressions result in more possibilities of emphasis." So, how do we encourage students to utilize digital literacy skills with images and other digital content in their daily lives?

More than a few #DLNchat-ters recommended that educators should ask students to use examples of digital content from their personal lives when learning information literacy skills. Leah Chuchran-Davis advised integrating the digital literacy skills employers seek into lessons for students. Kinsey wrapped up his thoughts rather instructively: "Teach them to listen before reacting. Teach them to think before responding. Teach them to question before attacking. Teach them to understand before assuming."

How do you think we can best teach digital and information literacy skills? Tweet our community with #DLNchat to share your ideas! You can also RSVP for our next chat: How Will Nontraditional Providers Influence Digital Learning Design? on Tuesday, October 9 at 1pm PT/ 4pm ET. For more topics, check out our summaries of past chats. #DLNchat is co-hosted by the Online Learning Consortium, WCET and Tyton Partners.

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Fake News, Confirmation Bias and Selective Attention: Teaching Digital Literacy #DLNchat - EdSurge News

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How do educators support digital citizenship? Does information need singular meaning to be useful? Has cognitive dissonance grown in the digital era? ...

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What Students Want Teachers and Facebook to Know about Digital Citizenship

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What Students Want Teachers and Facebook to Know about Digital Citizenship

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This article is about how education and technology leaders should give young volunteers small projects and budgets so that they see the impact of their work.

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In some hands, social media tools are blights on society, tools for bullies and misinformation campaigns. Sometimes, they're a canvas for artists, sources to build community, paths by which people find a higher calling.

Sanah Jivani has personally experienced both extremes of the spectrum. It was on Facebook where she found an account dedicated to guessing why Jivani-whose hair had fallen out by age 12 due to an autoimmune disease-wore a wig to school. That discovery, coupled with offline bullying, made her feel alone and ashamed.

But it was also on Facebook where in 2011 Jivani, then in ninth grade, posted a video of her removing the wig. In the video, she said that she sees beauty in everyone, while acknowledging that others' words about her appearance had hurt her. In the comments of her video, she saw people open up about their own experiences with bullies and self-harm. Jivani had jump started a career in self-care advocacy.

"The comments made me realize I wasn't alone," Jivani said from a stage at Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. "I was never alone."

Sanah Jivani shared her story with Good Morning America in November.

Jivani, the founder and CEO of the Love Your Natural Self Foundation, addressed a room of K-12 students and educators from across the country as part of a two-day event on digital citizenship-the idea of applying civility and civic engagement online. Facebook and The International Society for Technology in Education, or ISTE, organized the event as part of their work with DigCitCommit, a campaign to promote digital citizenship. ISTE is the parent organization of EdSurge.

The event featured speakers like Jivani, whose foundation offers K-12 self-care curriculum guides and spearheaded an "International Day of Self Love" event online and in schools and communities. There were other young activists, involved in causes like gun control and climate change to talk about online civic engagement. Educators and executives in education technology organizations also spoke on fostering digital citizenship at school.

Policing Policies in Headlines

Most of the event focused on the positives of social media's role in students' lives. Students in attendance and following live streams on YouTube and Edmodo participated in activities to encourage sharing stories about their experiences online and to develop ways to use class time to promote responsible internet use. Devoting assemblies and video projects to the topic were among the recommendations from the audience.

The event comes during a time of continued debate over how much responsibility social media networks ought to bear over what people say or share on their platforms. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has refused to moderate politicians' speech or remove false statements that are political in nature. In January, Facebook said it will remove content with "false claims or conspiracy theories" related to the coronavirus. The company has also enlisted artificial intelligence to track hate speech on the platform.

A CNBC panel discusses moderate content policing on Facebook.

In October, Twitter outlined rules for removing political posts that violate its rules, including direct threats of violence and encouraging self-harm. Both companies have also published policies around so-called "deepfakes" of manipulated and altered media on their platforms.

These current event headlines did not come up during the event, but Facebook safety policy manager Jennifer Hanley teased at changes coming to the company's digital literacy library, a series of online modules available to educators and students to learn about responsible production and sharing of content online. The company wants input from young people on how they like to learn, she said. "We really want to take young people's perspectives into account."

As adults go back and forth on what positive digital citizenship means and how it manifests, it's important to remember that young people aren't to blame for online misbehavior, nor do they solely shoulder the responsibility of creating a harmonious internet culture, said Tony Weaver Jr., founder and CEO of Weird Enough Productions, which produces educational comics featuring characters and curricula from cultures and people underrepresented in popular media.

Concerns that people now attribute to social media, like the spread of fake news, have existed in American life before, he said. Though he was about 5 at the time, he remembers the mass panic over the potential "Y2K" programming bug that could've disrupted computing systems in the year 2000, a problem that largely remained a myth.

While the internet and social media have certainly amplified the worst of human tendencies, adults also need to recognize and educate themselves on how these tools can scale student activism and creative expression in unprecedented ways.

"What we need to do is not put young people in charge of problems that society as a whole was unable to deal with before they got here," Weaver said. "Instead what we need to do is focus on leveraging the opportunities that they have that no generation has had before."

Tony Weaver Jr. speaks at the State of Young People Summit led by youth leaders ages 12 to 25.

Give Kids a Chance

The opportunities aren't just for students, but educators as well, says Ai Addyson-Zhang, an education consultant who attended the event.

Addyson-Zhang says she dedicated herself to learning the various social media platforms to better connect with her students while she was a communications professor at Stockton University in New Jersey. She blogged and developed an online brand, even landing guest speakers to talk to her students about using an online presence to help with job prospects.

Her experience has led to consulting gigs and hosting a live talk series on Facebook where she talks about entrepreneurship and education. While headlines around social media platforms can focus on bad behaviors and debates over corporate policies, Addyson-Zhang says educators still have a moral imperative to introduce digital citizenship to their students and steer them to responsible use. "Technology isn't the root of the problem," says Addyson-Zhang. "Pedagogy is."

Ai Addyson-Zhang praises mentors in this clip from Ambition in Motion.

From the stage, educators from Los Angeles Unified School District shared how their district's digital citizenship strategy began in 2014 and has included panels and parent workshops to get buy-in from various stakeholders.

In a roundtable held away from the cameras that brought the young advocates face to face with leaders from ISTE, Apple's education wing and other groups, the students implored organization leaders to reserve board positions on digital citizenship committees for young people and compensate them for their time. Jivani, of the Love Your Natural Self Foundation, said that she sometimes felt burdened with covering her own travel and lodging, which felt like "paying her dues."

Education and technology leaders should also feel comfortable giving young volunteers small projects and budgets so that they see the impact of their work and experience responsibility. "You've got to get out of the way," Weaver said.

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What Students Want Teachers-and Facebook-to Know About Digital Citizenship - EdSurge News

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In some hands, social media tools are blights on society, tools for bullies and misinformation campaigns. Sometimes, they're a canvas for artists, sources to build community, paths by which people find a higher calling. Sanah Jivani has personally experienced both extremes of the spectrum.

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How to Become a Champion of Digital Citizenship in Your Class

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How to Become a Champion of Digital Citizenship in Your Class

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This article is about preparing students for the future by teaching digital literacy.

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My students often travel with me when I lead professional development at conferences. A few weeks ago, eight-year-old Carson Griffin (pictured here to the right) was helping me lead a session for teachers on "iPads for Elementary Learners," and we were talking about our classroom Twitter account as it applies to digital citizenship. I called Carson to the front of the room to share his thoughts on Digital Citizenship, and his response gave me goosebumps.

"You should never post anything negative about a teacher, coach, or others on social media because they could find it and you will feel foolish," he said. "If my coach doesn't play me in soccer, I should not post bad stuff about them. I could be kicked off the team."

But he didn't stop there. "Even if you think it is deleted, it can always be found... Ask yourself: is it true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, and kind? If it's not, you shouldn't be posting it online. When you grow up, you use technology and your digital footprint to get you into jobs."

I'm not sure if it was the teachers' reactions, the fact that he so beautifully recited this during the summer, or that I know I helped him secure his future in second grade that made this such a powerful moment for everyone in the room. I teared up on the spot.

Our students are constantly connected with each other and the world through their devices. In fact, the students in my second grade classroom have never lived without WiFi or mobile devices. They have never felt the pain of dial-up internet or T9 texting. But... how can we ensure that what our students are doing on these devices is appropriate and meaningful?

Why Digital Citizenship is No Longer Just an "Elective"

As teachers, it is now part of our responsibility to lead by example when it comes to sound digital citizenship practices. As soon as children have devices in their hands, they should be educated about digital citizenship and their digital footprint. Think about this: even before babies are born, they have a digital shadow, because pictures and other media are shared about them via various social media outlets.

There is a startling statistic that 93 percent of employers now use social media in some way to either recruit or hire employees. That means that if I don't educate students about digital citizenship, they may end up having a poor or neutral digital footprint--which means they have a 7 percent chance of getting hired. While media specialists teach these skills, it is essential that classroom teachers are embedding it into their classroom curriculums as well as soon as students are online. We also can't assume that families are educating students about their digital footprint. In fact, this year, a mother told me that her son was teaching her about what was appropriate to post online--and she thanked me at our parent teacher conferences!

George Couros challenges teachers to make sure all students are well "Googleable" when they graduate, and I think this is a vital concept to embrace and take on. My students call me a "Digital Role Model," and I have to admit I like that title. They enjoy Googling me to check on my digital footprint, and see all of the places I've traveled to for conferences, or golf meets I competed in during college. They have full access to view my Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and blog. Knowing this reinforces my belief that I need to be a strong digital role model for them and lead by example. If I'm going to talk the talk, I better walk the walk.

Here's how you and your students can walk the walk in your own classroom, too. Let's start with resources.

Credit: George Couros

Resource Roundup

When it comes to resources to support teaching Digital Citizenship, there are several out there. A few favorites I use throughout the year include:

Planet Nutshell Videos: These are short videos that cover a variety of topics from cyberbullying to protecting personal information.

Common Sense Media: This amazing site has tons of FREE materials that are designed to empower students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world.

PBS Kids Webonauts Academy: The Webonauts Internet Academy empowers kids to make responsible and respectful decisions in their online interactions.Taking on the role of a Webonaut, kids explore a series of missions that teach key issues of web safety and digital citizenship.

But, keep in mind--I'm a huge fan of DIY when it comes to Digital Citizenship resources.

I created the main resource collection I use in my classroom to introduce Digital Citizenship and to fill the needs of my students. ( You can buy it here!) Some of the topics included in my resource center around keeping private information private, making safe and appropriate choices online, being respectful of others, reporting bullying, and citing sources.

Looking to make your own collection? Here's what I include:

Seven posters for classrooms with scripted mini-lessons and turn-and-talk discussion suggestions

A letter for parents (because the parent education piece is essential)

Student response readers

Differentiation options for intermediate learners

A "certificate of completion" for the students

After working through my resource, the work really begins. Students need to be given real world opportunities to begin building their digital footprint. My resource simply helps stir up the discussion and lay the foundation with your students.

Give Students Access--and Start Small

I'm a believer in guiding students through real world, authentic situations to teach them digital citizenship skills. If schools block students from everything, they may be "protecting" them temporarily during the school day. However, when schools teach students about their digital footprint and give them tools to use in real life situations, they protect students for a lifetime. So, for starters, allow students access to YouTube, search engines, and Twitter at school. Prepare them beforehand with extensive discussion and tools, and set them up for success.

One of my favorite ways I teach and instill Digital Citizenship in my classroom is through "Tweeter of the Day." I think it is vital to provide students with an authentic platform to show what they know and put their digital citizenship skills to the test. While having students update "tweets" on sentence strips on a bulletin board might have a purpose, it's not the same as providing them with the real thing.

Each day, a different Tweeter is assigned, and this role includes live tweeting our learning throughout the day, where the student starts with an introduction, and often will tweet learning, pictures, and sometimes videos. The Tweeter is also responsible for responding to tweets our account receives throughout the day, such as those that we received from global connections like Brad Waid and Jen Jones. All tweets are monitored by me as a teacher, but I am more of a facilitator and the account truly belongs to the students.

My challenge to teachers is always, "If it's right for kids, it's right." While jumping into technology or social media can be scary at first, the benefits of putting kids in authentic environments to hone their digital citizenship skills far outweigh those fears. Sometimes, the comfort level of teachers is less important than doing what's right for students as we prepare them for the future that waits for them when they leave school. We as teachers cannot play into those fears, or be the four walls that hold our students back.

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How You Can Become a Champion of Digital Citizenship in Your Classroom - EdSurge News

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My students often travel with me when I lead professional development at conferences. A few weeks ago, eight-year-old Carson Griffin (pictured here to the right) was helping me lead a session for teachers on "iPads for Elementary Learners," and we were talking about our classroom Twitter account as it applies to digital citizenship.

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How to Take Digital Citizenship Schoolwide

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How to Take Digital Citizenship Schoolwide

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This article explains how to teacher students to use technology responsibly.

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Since our students are using technology to play, learn, and communicate while at home and at school, they should be learning how to use that technology responsibly. Full integration of digital citizenship (or DigCit) curriculum into every class and every content area-at every grade level-should be the goal to meet this need.

Keep in mind that most teacher-prep programs do not incorporate digital citizenship alongside the other elements of teacher education. Here is how we trained all the teachers in our school-St. John's Prep in Massachusetts-as well as the lessons we learned along the way and our recommendations for what might work in your school, too.

Step 1: Clear Institution-Wide Communication

All stakeholders must have a clear understanding of both the "why" and the "how" of fully integrated digital citizenship. Start with school leadership. Administrators should agree:

1. Why is digital citizenship a necessary element in 21st century education, and why is a fully-integrated approach best?

2. How does digital citizenship fit into your school's vision, mission, and/or values statements?

3. How will each stakeholder-teachers, administrators, and parents-contribute to meeting the goal of full integration?

Once these questions have been answered, it is time to communicate clear goals and plans to everyone.

For teachers, use emails or newsletters and department/team or faculty meeting agendas. Be thorough to make sure every teacher is on board.

For parents, start talking about digital citizenship education at PTO or parent council meetings, webinars, email or paper newsletters, and announcements at events that pull in large crowds.

For students, be sure they hear that they will now be both supported and held accountable for their behavior when using technology. At school and at home, the adults who care about them will be ready to help when they are overwhelmed, and will set limits when they are struggling to find balance.

Step 2: Digital Citizenship PD Starts with Flipped Learning

Since time is precious, we designed this website specifically for our faculty to "flip" part of the professional development. There are four modules on that site:

1. What is DigCit?: Define digital citizenship and its subtopics to create a common language for your school. Mike Ribble's 9 elements of digital citizenship are an industry standard, but every school community has unique needs. For our school we narrowed digital citizenship to four topics: etiquette, communication and responsibility, identity and personal brand, and privacy and safety.

2. Learning: Next, provide models of what full-integration looks like in the classroom. With the permission of a few teachers in our school, we highlighted their lessons that were shining examples.

3. Management: Explain and provide examples of how digital citizenship can help teachers and students manage their attention and behavior in classrooms and schools.

4. Readiness: Include information on what skills colleges and employers want graduates to have. We explained how digital citizenship can help students practice and refine these skills.

Mike Ribble's 9 elements of digital citizenship. (Source: Fractus Learning)

The flipped modules took teachers one hour or less to complete and included interactive activities along the way. We used the data from these activities to shape the next phase of integration.

Step 3: In-Person PD Translates Theory into Practice

For the face-to-face component, we recommend two 2-hour sessions. Find this time during half-day professional learning days, or faculty or department meetings.

Goal 1: Debrief the content from the flipped modules. Give teachers time to talk about what they've learned from the flipped modules with their colleagues. We used real world scenarios to help spark conversations and then followed up with a few insightful direct quotes submitted by our faculty members during the flipped modules.

Goal 2: Curriculum planning. Next, teachers need digital citizenship resources to use in their classes with their students. We added a Digital Citizenship Deep Dive section to our website so teachers could click on the topic assigned to their department - etiquette, communication and responsibility, identity and personal brand, and privacy and safety - to find articles, videos, and lesson ideas. Then teachers had 90 minutes with colleagues who taught similar classes or grade levels to brainstorm ideas for integrating digital citizenship into their existing lessons and projects.

Be warned: During these meetings, challenges will pop up. For instance, many teachers feel like they don't have enough time for their existing curriculum. Where will they fit in digital citizenship? Others might struggle to see the connection between their content area and digital citizenship, or might prefer the ease of a pre-packaged lesson. We found it helpful to talk with these teachers about how they have seen technology both and help and hinder their students' learning. Many discovered they are already teaching digital citizenship and this new integrated model would just help them do it more intentionally and with our new common vocabulary.

Step 4: Follow-up

Make sure teachers feel supported as they roll out their lessons. This could mean having a second adult in the classroom the first time students and teachers are trying something new, or providing opportunities for teachers to debrief and support each other as they work through this new curriculum.

Students need to know that it is part of a larger culture shift, and not just a one-year initiative. School leaders should remind students about the importance of digital citizenship often at team or class meetings. Teachers shouldn't be the only, or even the first, people that students hear from about digital citizenship.

Include other members of the school community. Make sure that school counselors have participated in digital citizenship education like their teacher counterparts so they are prepared to talk with parents and students. Continue offering resources, webinars, and in-person presentations for parents so they feel supported and empowered to talk to their students about when and how they are using technology.

A culture shift will happen when digital citizenship concepts and terminology are just as integral to day-to-day instruction as any other aspect of a child's education. Agree on the digital citizenship goals, share your vision, train your teachers, and follow-through by continuing to support all stakeholders.

Julie Cremin (@JulieCremin) is a Digital Learning Specialist at St. John's Prep, a 1:1 iPad school serving 1500 students in grade 6-12 in Massachusetts. Kerry Gallagher (@KerryHawk02) is a Technology Integration Specialist at the same school.

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How to Take Digital Citizenship Schoolwide During the 2016-17 School Year - EdSurge News

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Since our students are using technology to play, learn, and communicate while at home and at school, they should be learning how to use that technology responsibly. Full integration of digital citizenship (or DigCit) curriculum into every class and every content area-at every grade level-should be the goal to meet this need.

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Lessons for every day of the week to teach your students about digital citizenship.

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Free Lessons for Digital Citizenship Week

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Explore free resources for Digital Citizenship Week and ideas for teaching students digital citizenship curriculum.