# data[].attributes.headline
18 Digital Tools & Strategies That Support Student's Reading & Writing

# data[].attributes.subject
18 Digital Tools & Strategies That Support Student's Reading & Writing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
18 Digital Tools and Strategies That Support Students' Reading and Writing | KQED

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Marissa Broyles taught English and social studies to a class or sixth graders who needed extra support last year. She experimented with many of the tools Levesque has compiled and saw how her willingness to be flexible as a teacher made her students feel supported.

# data[].attributes.headline
25 Easy Ways To Use Technology In The Classroom

# data[].attributes.subject
25 Easy Ways To Use Technology In The Classroom

# data[].attributes.headline
Common Sense Education: Digital Citizenship

# data[].attributes.subject
Common Sense Education: Digital Citizenship

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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.

# data[].attributes.headline
How to teach Digital Literacy in the Classroom 

# data[].attributes.subject
How to teach Digital Literacy in the Classroom 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Steps to Teaching Digital Literacy in the Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Struggling to teach digital literacy in the classroom? Learn what topics to teach and where to find resources to easily teach digital literacy.

# data[].attributes.body
Digital & Civic Literacy Skills

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content

The internet is an amazing tool for teaching and learning. But, before we can teach students to harness its power and become good citizens of the web, we need to understand the intricacies of how it works and how it can be manipulated to mislead and even harm users.
Learning the Landscape of Digital Literacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Digital and Civic Literacy Skills The internet is an amazing tool for teaching and learning. But, before we can teach students to harness its power and become good citizens of the web, we need to understand the intricacies of how it works and how it can be manipulated to mislead and even harm users.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Web search can be a remarkable tool for students, and a bit of instruction in how to search for academic sources will help your students become critical thinkers and independent learners.

With the materials on this site, you can help your students become skilled searchers- whether they're just starting out with search, or ready for more advanced training.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Web search can be a remarkable tool for students, and a bit of instruction in how to search for academic sources will help your students become critical thinkers and independent learners. With the materials on this site, you can help your students become skilled searchers- whether they're just starting out with search, or ready for more advanced training.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Internet Keep Safe Coalition is dedicated to protecting children, families, and schools by assessing, advising, and certifying organizations that collect, use, and share personal information and data that is protected by law.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Be Internet Awesome is a multifaceted program that includes a fun and free web-based game called Interland and an educational curriculum to teach kids how to be safe and responsible explorers of the online world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Have you ever spent hours searching Google (or any other search engine for that matter) for documents, articles, or information you desperately needed for that research paper you have due soon? With thousands of results in a matter of seconds, trying to find worthy, citable information can be a challenge. And if you're anything like me, you waited until the last minute to start your paper and since it's now crunch time, that precious hour should not be spent looking through search engines.

The secret to a good Google search lies in the wording. I must admit that I am guilty of typing questions into Google all the time. It's my go-to method for getting the information I want. Naturally, this handy infographic tells me that phrasing searches as questions is not the best method. Awesome. Another really useful tip? The unit converter. I use that function a lot. It's a huge lifesaver if you don't know the conversions off the top of your head.

Although this infographic shows tips and tricks for students conducting online research, you don't have to be a student to take advantage of the help it offers. Anybody who uses Google - the most popular search engine as of Feb. 1 - can utilize this information to help them with their daily searches. [ via]

36.6k

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Get More Out of Google [Infographic] | Daily Infographic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have you ever spent hours searching Google (or any other search engine for that matter) for documents, articles, or information you desperately needed for that research paper you have due soon? With thousands of results in a matter of seconds, trying to find worthy, citable information can be a challenge.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Changing Face of Literacy: What is Digital Literacy? 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Changing Face of Literacy: What is Digital Literacy? 

# data[].attributes.body
Education Week

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
While the word "literacy" alone generally refers to reading and writing skills, when you tack on the word "digital" before it, the term encompasses much, much more.

Sure, reading and writing are still very much at the heart of digital literacy. But given the new and ever-changing ways we use technology to receive and communicate information, digital literacy also encompasses a broader range of skills-everything from reading on a Kindle to gauging the validity of a website or creating and sharing YouTube videos.

The term is so broad that some experts even stay away from it, preferring to speak more specifically about particular skills at the intersection of technology and literacy.

The American Library Association's digital-literacy task force offers this definition: "Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills."

More simply, Hiller Spires, a professor of literacy and technology at North Carolina State University, views digital literacy as having three buckets: 1) finding and consuming digital content; 2) creating digital content; and 3) communicating or sharing it.

Finding and Consuming

In some formats, "consuming" digital content looks pretty much the same as reading print. Reading a novel on a basic e-reader requires knowing how to turn the device on and flip pages back and forth, but other than that, it isn't so different from reading a book. A PDF of a New York Times article looks a lot like the page of a print newspaper, except that it appears on a screen.

Donald Leu, an education professor at the University of Connecticut and a recognized authority on literacy and technology, describes this sort of digital reading as "offline reading."

"It's not interactive, ... there's one screen, and you just have to read it," he explained. "It's the same as reading a [paper] page."

The added skills needed for this kind of reading take just a few minutes to teach.

In comparison, what Leu calls "online reading," in which a digital text is read through the internet, requires a host of additional skills. For instance, a New York Times piece viewed on the web may contain hyperlinks, videos, audio clips, images, interactive graphics, share buttons, or a comments section-features that force the reader to stop and make decisions rather than simply reading from top to bottom.

"The text is designed so that no two readers experience it in the exact same way," said Troy Hicks, a professor of literacy and technology at Central Michigan University.

The reader determines, among other things, when to click on videos or hyperlinks, how long to stray from the initial text, and whether and how to pass the information along to others.

The process of finding digital content to read also necessitates different skills than finding print texts. In seeking print materials, students might flip through magazines or head to the library and search through stacks of books. They learn to use a table of contents and an index to locate information within a book.

But part of digital literacy is learning to search for content in an online space. Students have to query a search engine using keywords and navigate those results, including assessing the reliability of particular authors and websites.

Creating Content

Digital literacy also refers to content creation. That includes writing in digital formats such as email, blogs, and Tweets, as well as creating other forms of media, such as videos and podcasts.

Renee Hobbs, a professor of communication studies at the University of Rhode Island, talks about digital authorship as "a form of social power." At a weeklong professional-development institute on digital literacy held at URI this past summer, she showed examples of student activists sharing their messages about the Black Lives Matter movement through YouTube videos.

Creating digital content is a "creative and collaborative process that involves experimentation and risk-taking," she said. There's more risk-taking than in print writing because digital writing is so often meant to be shared.

Sharing and Communicating

While traditional writing can be a personal endeavor, digital writing is generally intended to be communicated with others. And digital-writing tools are designed to make that easy to do.

As North Carolina State's Spires and her co-author, Melissa Bartlett, wrote in a 2012 white paper about digital literacy and learning, "Web 2.0 tools are social, participatory, collaborative, easy to use, and are facilitative in creating online communities."

That makes digital writing a potentially powerful lever for social good, allowing students to "actively participate in civic society and contribute to a vibrant, informed, and engaged community," as the ALA notes.

It also makes digital writing a potentially dangerous tool-decisions about when and what to share online can have repercussions for a student's safety, privacy, and reputation.

For that reason, learning about appropriate internet behavior is also a part of digital literacy, many say.

"We need to help kids see they can use digital tools to create things and put things out into the world, but there's responsibility that comes with that," said Lisa Maucione, who attended the URI institute and who is a reading specialist for the Dartmouth public schools in Massachusetts.

Evolving Technology

Because the term "digital literacy" is so wide-ranging, it can cause confusion. What exactly is someone talking about when he or she refers to digital literacy? Is it the consumption, creation, or communication of digital material? Or is that person discussing a particular digital tool? Do technology skills like computer coding fall under the digital-literacy umbrella as well?

Some experts prefer the term "digital literacies," to convey the many facets of what reading and writing in the modern era entails.

"The concept should instead be considered plural-digital literacies-because the term implies multiple opportunities to leverage digital texts, tools, and multimodal representations for design, creation, play, and problem solving," Jill Castek, a research assistant professor with the Literacy, Language, and Technology Research Group at Portland State University, wrote in an email.

Leu of UConn avoids the term altogether.

"Is someone who is 'digitally literate' equally literate when searching for information, when critically evaluating information, when using Snapchat, when using email, when using text messaging, when using Facebook, or when using any one of many different technologies for literacy and learning?" asked Leu in an email. "I think not."

He prefers the term "new literacies," which he said better conveys how rapidly technology is changing. Other experts have used terms like "literacy and technology," "multiliteracies," and "21st century literacies."

But for now, digital literacy seems to be the prevailing term among educators. "I understand this is the term that is popular today," Leu said, "just as I understand a newer term will appear in the future that will replace it."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
While the word "literacy" alone generally refers to reading and writing skills, when you tack on the word "digital" before it, the term encompasses much, much more. Sure, reading and writing are still very much at the heart of digital literacy.

# data[].attributes.headline
7 Reasons Why Digital Literacy is Important For Teachers 

# data[].attributes.subject
7 Reasons Why Digital Literacy is Important For Teachers 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The meaning of "digital literacy" has shifted over the years. While there was a time when job candidates were encouraged to list "Proficient at Microsoft Word" on their resume, now such skills are considered standard. This shift toward a technologically savvy workforce has permeated the classroom as well.

It makes sense to assume that the more digitally literate our teachers are, the more they'll employ these skills in the classroom, which will in turn foster a strong sense of digital citizenship in our students. However, the importance and scope of digital literacy extends beyond this simple theory. Here, we've laid out seven reasons why digital literacy skills are important for today's teachers.

1. Moving Beyond Google

Google is a powerful tool. Students with access to a computer and the Internet are able to find the answers to not only simple questions, but also incredibly complex problems. However, there is a significant difference between Googling an answer and understanding why. Looking at Bloom's Taxonomy, we want students to gain the deepest level of understanding when faced with a problem.

Create: Produce new or original work; Evaluate: Justify a stand or decision; Analyze: Draw connections among ideas; Apply: Use information in new situations; Understand: Explain ideas or concepts; Remember: Recall facts and basic concepts

Simply Googling an answer does not provide students with true, deep learning. And while most students understand how to use a search engine, it is up to teachers to provide students with the additional skills to bring the answers to the next level.

There are several ways teachers can embed digital literacy skills into Internet searches:

Teach students to evaluate and question their sources. Students need to know the difference between a trustworthy and untrustworthy source.

Teach students how to draw a strong conclusion. Sure, students might find the right answer to a problem, but what use is that search if they've only memorized the logic to get them there? It's up to teachers to teach that logic and to contextualize the answer.

Push students to new levels of creativity. Once students have a deeper understanding of the answers they've found, push for creative application of that knowledge. This could be anything from challenging students to pose related questions to having students use other digital platforms to create something new. Examples include:

Again, digital literacy does not mean knowing how to use every piece of software students will encounter. Teachers should encourage students to seek out and learn the software they need to know in order to do what's required.

2. Teaching Digital Citizenship

Being a good digital citizen means understanding and applying appropriate and responsible uses of internet and technology. Two issues top the list when it comes to digital citizenship: academic plagiarism and cyberbullying.

Academic Plagarism

In a culture where students are constantly sharing content, they may not know what plagiarism is, let alone when they're doing it. Teachers should set clear anti-plagiarism policies at the beginning of each year.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place through the use of electronic technology, and is a pervasive issue in schools and online communities. And while today's students may be digital natives, they still need to be taught that social norms apply to online behavior. Resources should be in place to prevent cyberbullying and to help students who are being bullied.

3. Closing the Digital Divide

According to a 2014 report by the Federal Communications Commission, 31 percent of urban schools and 41 percent of rural schools do not have an Internet connection. Students in these schools struggle to take advantage of the tools, platforms, apps and resources available to their connected peers. But this digital divide isn't just in schools - there is also a lack of access to devices and broadband at home. The divide is pervasive and accentuates already destructive achievement gaps. Digitally literate teachers advocate for change and seek innovative solutions.

4. Expanding Conceptions of the Digital World

While students may be adept at using digital tools, their understanding of what these tools can do is often limited.

For example, students use Instagram to post photos but don't think to use the platform for art or history projects. They record themselves with a voice memo app but do not realize those apps could also be used for journalism projects or a historical narrative piece. Digitally literate teachers know how to inspire students to use today's technology as a powerful toolset to expand their learning opportunities.

5. Enabling Differentiation

Differentiation in the classroom is essential to meeting the needs of all learners, but it is time-consuming, especially for new teachers. Technology, when used creatively and correctly, can be used to mitigate those differences, such as in one-to-one classrooms. Teachers can lead the class through a lecture, while visual learners follow along with illustrations on their tablets and audio learners record the lecture for later review. Technology like this enables teachers to give their students choice in the kind of work they create for projects, such as a video, podcast or written story. Digital literacy is required in order to set the standards and boundaries for this kind of differentiation.

Digitally literate teachers also understand that it is less about the technology itself than it is about the tailored experience the technology can provide to each student. This is what drives differentiation and can make it powerful and highly targeted to students' individual needs.

6. Making Thoughtful Cultural and Platform Decisions

Teachers often receive mandates from administrations to use a particular technology product or app even though it doesn't make sense for their students. Good teachers know how their students engage and learn and can use that knowledge to push for technology that will unlock new teaching potential. This makes digitally literate teachers great advocates for the appropriate technologies. These skills become increasingly important in diverse classrooms in which students are bringing different cultural contexts into the mix. Both the content and the technologies chosen may vary in effectiveness given a student's familiarity with the tools and the various norms within their culture. A sensitive teacher will make digital choices that reflect these varied cultural contexts.

7. Improving the Technology

Teachers can offer important pedagogical and practical insights for edtech companies developing learning technology for students. Today "teacherpreneurs" are sparking teacher-based technological innovation - and they're drawn largely from the ranks of the digitally literate. Teacherpreneurs are teachers who see the need for digital solutions in their classrooms, and some take on roles where they coach other teachers on using technology as a powerful differentiation tool. As teachers master digital literacy with their lessons, they can collaborate with peers to share technology and work toward improving learning outcomes for their students.

Moving Forward

It is crucial that school and district administrators emphasize teacher digital literacy to avoid policies that simply mandate placing technology into the hands of students without thought for how that technology will be used.

Digitally literate teachers see technology for all of its creative potential, rather than something they are mandated to do in a step-by-step fashion. Digital literacy doesn't require that teachers become experts, but it does require that they understand the digital tools that can unlock their deeper teaching potential.
Graduate Degree Programs From USC Rossier School of Education
USC Rossier offers a range of online graduate degrees for aspiring teachers and experiences educators. Request information to speak with an admissions counselor.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Reasons Why Digital Literacy is Important for Teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our shift towards a tech-savvy workforce has permeated the classroom. Here's your crash course in the importance of digitally-literate teachers.

# data[].attributes.headline
Why Digital Literacy Is Important For Kids

# data[].attributes.subject
Why Digital Literacy Is Important For Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Why is digital literacy important?

With the advancement in technology over the years, we now live in a world that is both enriched and burdened by computers and gadgets. The domination of technology in our everyday lives highlights the importance of digital literacy not just for adults but also children. The digital world offers enormous benefits and advantages to everyone, however, without proper use and understanding of technology, the digital world can be overwhelming, and even dangerous.

Teaching kids digital literacy skills is very important. Kids need to be able to understand the technology that they use so they can use it safely and effectively. Digital literacy is not just about knowing how to take a selfie or update facebook. Digital literacy means understanding technology and using it appropriately.

So what is digital literacy and why is it important?

We all know what traditional literacy means. Literacy is the ability to read and write. But in today's digital world, being literate isn't enough anymore. It is important for children to become digitally literate as well.

Digital literacy means being able to understand and use technology. It relates to the ability to find, use and create information online in a beneficial and useful way. Digital literacy also means knowing the limitations of technology and understanding the dangers and precautions that the use of technology requires. It is different from being computer literate. Sure, being able to use a computer is a part of it. But digital literacy goes more in-depth than the simple use of a computer.

Digital Literacy Examples

Digital literacy can be simple or complex. In the simplest terms, Digital literacy means things such as the ability to navigate a website, send an email or use social media. However, digital literacy also refers to a deeper understanding of the technology that surrounds us. It can also refer to practical software skills such as creating a blog, coding a website or an app.

Digital literacy is not just knowing how to check SnapChat or Instagram. Several important topics within digital literacy include understanding:

Internet Safety

Digital Footprints

Cyberbullying

Ethics of using online resources (avoiding plagiarism)

The benefits of digital literacy for kids

Children are at a great advantage with an understanding of digital literacy. In a world which is so connected, kids learn digital skills from an early age. Many of these tech skills are essential in the classroom and in the workforce. Almost any industry children move into when they start their career will require some form of digital literacy.

And with most schools now requiring projects and assignments being submitted online, children are expected to have basic skills such as being able to type up a document, research using a search engine, and send an email as well as being able to use the internet safely.

Now more than ever, a digital literacy curriculum is imperative. Where we run into trouble is with the use of technology without a clear understanding of its purpose. Kids who use social media should understand how it works, who can see it, and what digital footprint they are leaving behind.

Quick Tips to encourage digital literacy in the classroom and at home

Talk about what digital literacy means in your classroom

Talking about what digital literacy means, and why it is important will give kids a simple understanding of the digital world. We can start by talking about how things were in the past, and how our future is heading. We live in a digital world, and being able to navigate technology these days is a vital part of it.

Start by asking students how they use technology in the classroom or for learning. Ask them to give examples of how they learn with technology. Whether it be using specific apps, online notebooks, youtube tutorials or others, we learn more and more using technology.

However, it is equally important that children know that technology doesn't replace learning, it simply enhances it. Children need to know that it is possible for them to learn without technology.

For an overview of digital literacy, check out this awesome resource from Cornell University

Talk to kids about the digital world and internet safety

Children need to be taught how the internet works and how to use it properly to their advantage. They should know the basics about navigating the internet and also evaluating the information they find online.

It is also important they know that not everything they find online is correct. Fake news and information is everywhere so when using information found on the internet it really needs to be evaluated to be assured that it is real.

Google has an awesome curriculum developed for kids entitled, Be Internet Awesome

In Google's curriculum, they address 5 areas that are important for internet users, especially kids:

Share with Care (Be Internet Smart)

Don't Fall for Fake (Be Internet Alert)

Secure Your Secrets (Be Internet Strong)

It's Cool to Be Kind (Be Internet Kind)

When in Doubt, Talk It Out (Be Internet Brave)

Google offers a Be Internet Awesome Curriculum for teachers and also offers an interactive game to teach kids the principles of internet safety called Interland. These are great resources to have in your classroom.

Talk about cyberbullying

Although there are many benefits of digital literacy, there are also many things you should be aware of as technology becomes more a part of your child's life. It is important to understand the potential challenges.

Cyberbullying is, unfortunately, a more and more commonly recognized event for young children and teenagers. Children are particularly vulnerable to cyberbully as they may not fully recognize the limitations of the internet.

Connect Safely offers a set of tips and tricks for parents and students regarding cyberbully. This includes tips like talking to an adult, capturing the evidence, and avoiding retaliating online. Check out their resource for an excellent list of resources and tips.

Encourage the use of digital products

When trying to build children's digital skills, the use of digital products is essential. Although we may feel the need to exclude technology from the classroom, embracing technology with a focus on responsibility will likely result in a more responsible use of technology for adults.

Just as we would teach your kids how to swim, or how to ride a bike, we need to teach them how to appropriately use their digital tools. Many kids learn computer and app-based skills on their own, but parents and teachers should use these programs and apps with their kids so that they can understand what they are doing and help teach kids the purpose and goals of these programs.

There are so many ways that teachers can integrate technology in the classroom. It's even possible to use the apps and programs that kids are using every day. How about a classroom tweet to end every lesson? Kids will be challenged to summarize what they learned in 140 characters. From facetime or skyping with experts to delivering classroom content via youtube, you'll want to check out these 25 easy ways to use technology in the classroom.

Make lessons digital

Creating a lesson where children need to use these digital products can help encourage digital thinking.

Taking photos is a great example. Using the camera to take photos, then learning how to transfer the photos onto the computer and save them in a folder. Then perhaps editing that photo with an editing program and printing it out. Or sending that photo via email or messenger.

Set Technology Limitations

One way to encourage conversations about our use of digital products and understand the importance of setting limitations is to consider a product like Circle with Disney. Circle with Disney is a very cool device that helps to control and monitor your family's internet use. Using the app and plug-in device you can monitor how much each family member is using the internet, and where they are spending their time. You can set limitations and pause the internet for certain members of the family when they have exceeded their daily limit. This product is a must-have for any household!

We live in a digital world, Kids need to have digital literacy skills

With the world heading in this direction, digital literacy is only going to become more important as time goes on. The online world is nothing to be feared. It should be seen as a great opportunity for the kids of today, making life easier in many ways as they move through life.

Parents and teachers need to be encouraging digital literacy at home and in the classroom from the start in order to establish these skills and build a solid foundation to build upon from the very start.

Pin for Later!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why digital literacy is important for kids - Teach Your Kids Code

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With the advancement in technology over the years, we now live in a world that is both enriched and burdened by computers and gadgets. The domination of technology in our everyday lives highlights the importance of digital literacy not just for adults but also children.

# data[].attributes.headline
From Written to Digital: The New Literacy 

# data[].attributes.subject
From Written to Digital: The New Literacy 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
From Written to Digital: The New Literacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Both the 21st-century economy and the careers needed to fuel it are changing at an unprecedented rate. Students must be prepared for nonlinear careers

# data[].attributes.headline
Common Sense Education: Protect Your Students' Data and Privacy

# data[].attributes.subject
Common Sense Education: Protect Your Students' Data and Privacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Protect Your Students' Data and Privacy | Common Sense Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Quick Privacy Checks Anyone Can Do: Tutorial Video and Student Worksheet Do you want to be more mindful about privacy and security but don't know where to start? Our tutorial video and student worksheet show you and your students a few quick, key privacy risk factors to look for on websites.

# data[].attributes.headline
Walking Safely Along the Digital Highway

# data[].attributes.subject
Walking Safely Along the Digital Highway

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
ICT for Teaching & Learning in Falkirk Primary Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There are many resources available to help support schools to teach pupils to be responsible users of the Internet and to educate pupils to be as safe as possible when using online tools. Helping learners learn in a global, connected classroom is not something which is just nice to do, it's essential. In an ever-changing technological arena it's important that supporting learning in digital citizenship is accepted as the responsibility of everyone, and an onging process, not an "event" to just happen once, like a vaccination. And of course that then requires a range of resources for supporting teaching digital citizenship, to help learners be citizens in a connected world, so that the resources are age-appropriate, reinforce and build on prior learning and experience, and support differing audiences and contexts. So here are some resources to support teaching digital literacy:

Even Our Youngest Students Need Digital Citizenship Skills - a blogpost by Kathy Cassidy setting out why even the youngest learners nead to be supported in learning about how to be safe online, and guidance about what that support might look like in the context of young learners.

Who should teach kids internet safety? - this is an article by Katie Kenny reporting on a survey in July 2014 by AVG technologies of school internet use in New Zealand. This provides a picture of the current state of play in one education system to help highlight where support and resources may be directed.

Social Media websites of which every parent should be aware, listed and described along with a guide to issues each site may present.

15 apps and sites kids are heading to beyond Facebook - a post by Kelly Schryver on the Common Sense media site which lists online tools or mobile apps which children and young people may be using in addition to, or instead of, Facebook. Each tool is described and pointers for parents and educators about the issues which may need to be borne in mind in relation to each tool or app.

PrivEazy is a comprehensive series of presentations and quizzes all devoted to keeping you safe online. You can choose from categories of tools and applications (including web browsing, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, home wi-fi, Windows, mobile locational services, Android, and much more). Each category then has a presentation on-screen, as well as a quiz, and checklists of prompts to then undertake the steps described in the presentation to put the tips into practice. You can use the resource without signing up but if you do sign up then you can see your own progress through the various categories and come back time and again to use what you need when you need it.
Power to the Parent from Common Sense Media is a series of videos aimed at dealing with online issues relating to children's use of online spaces, including media awareness, sexting, and celebrity culture.
Edutopia Cyberbullying & Internet Digital Citizenship a range of resources to support teaching about how to deal with issues around using social media by pupils.

Guide to Internet Filtering in School by Alan Mackenzie (the E-safety Advisor) is a description of the reasons for school internet filtering, the mechanics of how decisions are taken as to what is filtered and in what ways, and the decision-making processes employed by staff at various levels.

National Glow Group on Internet Safety and Responsible Use - a Glow username log-in and password is required to access this Glow Group. It is a place to access resources shared between Scottish schools and local authorities and to discuss and comment on what has been found to be useful for different situations. Glow username required.

Using Facebook Safely - A Guide for Professionals Working With Young People - Yorkshire & Humber Grid for Learning guidance document on using Facebook, which will be useful for staff working in schools.

CommonSense Media Videos Keeping Kids Safe Online - videos which provide useful tips and advice for learners, parents/caresr and education professionals in helping keep learners safe online.

Privacy Playground is a game aimed at 8-10 year olds designed to teach about online advertising, spam and keeping private details private.

Safer Internet Posters from SaferInternet are printable posters for use in schools. There are two versions of these, one aimed at younger pupils (6-11 year olds) and another for older pupils (11-16 year olds). The posters highlight, in a positive way, how children and young people should behave online as well as identifying some of the benefits of being online. They are available in 3 different sizes including A3 as a classroom poster and A5 for use in books.

Do I share a photograph of my friend.....? is a poster (from Common Sense Media) aimed at pupils to help them consider the issues involved before sharing online any photographs they take
Teaching Themes - Staying Safe Online - ideas for online and offline activities 11 E-safety resources for pupils, teachers and parents 360 degree esafety audit - document version with all levels with descriptions 360 degree E-Safety School Review Tool - from SWGfL
29 Steps to Internet Safety for Kids is a post byDeb Ng on steps to take for all online.

The audit considers Roles and Responsibilities and E-Safeguarding Procedures, including; Risk Assessment, Data Classification, Access Control, Use of Systems, Password Policies, Incident Reporting, Remote Access, Technical Security. Simply click on the E-Safeguarding Tool and answer each question as it is presented to you. As you answer each question the system will suggest the next steps for improving your schools E-Safeguarding procedures and where appropriate direct you to further sources of information and help. You can stop the audit at any point, save your answers and resume the audit later on. When you have completed the audit you can print out your answers along with the recommended next steps.

Words NOT to live by - a post by Anthony Salcito of Microsoft in which is shared a visual infographic poster (from Gaggle.net) illustrating the words which are entered by learners which are highlighted as concerning by filters. This provides gives statistical information about frequency of such words and times of occurrence related to times of year and day. This provides food for thought for educators and the poster thus encourages and provides pointers for need for specific digital citizenship teaching.

Microsoft's comprehensive guide to security, privacy and safety online for policy-makers can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/about/twc/en/us/policymakers.aspx. This deals with issues relating to security, privacy and safety for policymakers and individuals, provide background information on current issues, guidance, and information about Microsoft tools.

Purple Mash E-Safety To support teaching and learning around E-safety there are 7 Safer Internet activities. These are targeted at upper primary children who may be beginning to venture that bit further into the online world.

Norton Online Family is a free online tool to help parents to monitor the Internet activities of their children, from anywhere, in real time. Sign up for a free parent account and then it guides you through setting up house rules for your family in collaboration with your children, setting the agreed boundaries. And these can be changed by the parent as children grow in age and responsibility.

Alternatively from the iLearn Blog http://t.co/nXhLLC3 comes the links to use online fake social media pages Fakebook and Twister created by @russeltarr to teach about the use of Facebook and Twitter. Use them by getting the pupils to create fictional pages for historical characters or create fictional characters in creative writing. While there is then the curricular purpose with a creative tool there is also the opportunity to reinforce the message about safe use of social networking tools.

Further tools for teaching about safer use of social networking tools like Facebook while also teaching about historical figures can be found on Richard Byrne's blogpost here

Social Media Policies - Ryan McDonough produced a visual infographic poster of guidelines for learners in their use of online spaces. As well as the ideas in the poster Ryan included an online survey tool for learners to add their own comments on what appeared in the poster so that his pupils could help shape the guidelines and engender an ownership of the guidelines.

4 Ways the Internet Makes Kids Smarter - an infographic poster which presents information from various research sources about the impact of children using online tools, as well as a section on e-safety tips.

FaceMoods' Online Safety Little Red Riding Mood - this is a series of videos aimed at children to alert them to how to be safer users of online social media sites.

Webonauts Internet Academy - about the rules of web safety and digital citizenship where children have to complete a series of missions in order to graduate from the Webonauts Internet Academy. The lessons follow the motto - Observe, Respect, and Contribute.

Safety Land - is a game about battling a villain who is spamming people with messages.

Internet Safety Hangman - where the clues all relate to cyber rules you should remember and follow.

Iggey and Rasper's Internet Safety Game - is about net etiquette for kids.

Anti-Phishing Phil - is a game about phishing scames on the internet.

OnGuard Online - covers spyware detection to wireless security.

From David Andrade's blog "Educational Technology Guy" http://goo.gl/fb/Udlkg came the following link to the NorthWest Learning Grid Digital Literacy interactive tool - http://www.nwlg.org/digitalliteracy/ pupils select what they do online then follow a series of interactive activities which help them become aware of issues and suggested behaviours in each environment.

The European Union Safer Internet competition site lists entries from around the EU - all designed to teach online safety, some created by children and some by companies
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/events/competition/winners/index_en.htm

In a choice of language from the Council of Europe comes Through the Wild Web Woods at http://www.wildwebwoods.org/ - game aimed at 7-10 year olds to support children in becoming digitally literate.
Raising Digital Kids - parenting guide wiki http://raisingdigitalkids.wikispaces.com/

The Digital Citizenship Wiki created by Dr Alec Couros on keeping safe online by educating children to be digitally literate while using online tools creatively has a wide range of links to resources designed to help everyone stay safe while online:
http://couros.wikispaces.com/digitalcitizenship

Digital Citizenship teaching resources collected by Kyle Pace can be found at http://www.sophia.org/packets/digital-citizenship - these resources and activities help support teaching pupils to use online resources productively and in a safe and responsible way.
In order to keep be kept aware of how you or your school are mentioned online a free tool which can be used to send automated e-mails to you is Google Alert. Setting up a Google Alert for the school's name and for individuals to consider doing the same for themselves at http://www.google.com/alerts means an email (or a feed) can provide information of when the name is mentioned online.

That's Not Cool http://www.thatsnotcool.com/ - this US site is aimed at teenagers specifically to help them work out what's acceptable to them and what is not, and courses of action for when someone pressures or disrespects them online or via mobile 'phone. That's Not Cool uses digital examples of controlling, pressuring and threatening behaviour and provides strategies for dealing with them.
Shambles Internet safety links> a host of links to resources on keeping safe online
USA Today - Education - Staying Safe Online - provides resources and links to sources of additional resources to support teachers in teaching about safety online.

ThinkB4U is a website which comprises a series of videos of family scenarios involving a variety of online situations. Each is designed to help give pause for thought about what anyone should do before they click! As more of our life happens online, Internet skills are crucial to living responsibly. ThinkB4U is a collaboration between Google, Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, and the National Consumers League with the joint aim to tackle digital literacy in a fun and interactive way. Topics covered include identity protection, fraud detection, and digital citizenship. Each scenario location includes several video shorts about a modern family's experience online. The viewer has to determine which path the family members take at the critical decision point. Do you send that text? Do you make that purchase? Or many more decisions where you are encouraged to take a moment to think before acting and consider the issues involved. The site incorporates some techniques of games-based learning - as users view each video, they can collect interactive objects, each of which opens up a quick game about the subject of the video. Throughout the site there are linked resources and more information on any topic for each user whatever their role, whether pupil, parent or teacher.

Should you post a selfie - slightly light-hearted flowchart visual infographic poster which leads learners through a thinking process before considering posting a selfie (a photograph in which the photographer themselves appear) online anywhere. It may be helpful as a discussion starter for a class to consider what their actions would be.

E-Safety Live are events bringing online safety providers, experts and industry leaders together to share information and resources on the latest online safety topics with education practitioners in the UK to better help safeguard children, as well as professionals, when online. Workshops by organisations such as Facebook, Vodafone, Xbox (Microsoft) and CEOP can be attended throughout the day as well as opportunities to get those burning questions answered by knowledgeable professionals.

Budd:e Cybersecurity Education package consists of two activity-based learning modules, one for primary school pupils, and one for secondary school pupils. Both modules contain media-rich activities and resources. There are also comprehensive Teacher Resources for Budd:e including background and contextual information, a video demonstration of the modules, lesson plans with learning outcomes for each activity, and curriculum maps.

Ask a Tech teacher - Teaching e-safety - this post is a description of the resources used at each year stage of primary school in one school, explaining what concepts are introduced at specific age-groups and resources they use to support them.

Wildcat Web Safety Wiki is a great collection of e-safety videos created by pupils themselves, each showing an example of an issues pupils may meet online, and the advice for safeguarding themselves. There is an extensive menu of e-safety topics. Each topic page is presented with an introuductory voki providing a spoken explanation of the issue. Then there is a summary of the vidoe, and the video itself. Each video features pupils talking about that issue and giving advice on what to do in response to keep safe. A useful resource in itself for use by pupils both in providing advice, and in providing providing a model which could be an activity which could be replicated by other school, or used as the inspiration to prompt alternative ideas for engaging pupils in e-safety.

TES - Connect - lesson plan on e-safety interactive activities requiring no technology to take pupils thorugh several issues around using online spaces in a safe and responsible way. Includes a Powerpoint presentation/quiz/assessment as well as response sheet (and explanatory lesson plan).

Gift Cards for Parents to Share with their child when giving them a gift of a device - these cards have safety messages about what the child receiving the gift (there are cards specific to smartphone, tablet, gaming device or computer) would be expected to consider and expected behaviours. The cards contain spaces with each statement where the parent can fill in expectations they have of their specific child in relation to that statement. And in addition the card also has a statement of expectations the child can expect of the parent in relation to the use of the device. Everything is able to be adapted to any specific family situation, but provides a useful template for parents to think about their child's behaviours and the parent's responses.

From England's Department for Education comes Advice on child internet safety Universal guidelines for providers. This document - compiled by members of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) - draws together the most effective messages for keeping children safe online.

Teaching Digital Literacy without Technology - a post by Andrew Marcinek describing classroom activities which help pupils to understand using online tools, but which themselves do not require anyone to use the technology to get across the points about considering what and whether to post, etiquette, conversations without face-to-face signals/clues, and brevity while conveying the intended message.

10 Great Digital Citizenship lessons from Google - 10 interactive lessons based on the use of YouTube along with accompanying lesson plans for teachers. These videos present different issues related to the use of YouTube (but which could equally apply to the use of many other online tools or social media tools). These videos and teacher notes cover the following areas: Detecting Lies; Safety Mode; Online Reputation and Cyberbullying; Policy - The Community Guidelines; Reporting content - Flagging; Privacy; and Copyright.

An e-safety-wise school - an article by RM esafety consultant Hilary Wright about steps schools can take to ensure the school community is as e-safety-wise as possible. This includes the filtering and reporting but more importantly about education of everyone, staff, pupils and parents.

DigiDan - Police Scotland's online resource aimed at helping learners stay safe online. Includes top 10 tips, a quiz and an iBook.

Digital Literacy Resources collated by Mark Anderson - a Pinterest board which educator Mark Anderson uses to collate and share resources to support teaching digital literacy.

Hoax or No Hoax - a series of resources linked with pupil classroom activities on the Read, Write, Think site which set the task to pupils of using various techniques to determine whether a range of online sites are providing reliable information or are spoof sites.

Why Does Cyberbully Care? a visual infographic poster setting out what cyberbullying is, how it can affect others, how it can be recognised and what can be done to counter it.

Oversharing - think before you post - a rap-style video by Flocabulary taking learners through the pitfalls of posting something on social media or elsewhere online without thinking about consequences. The video is accompanied by the full text of the rap, as well as interactive activities for use with a class (fill in the gaps and a quiz).

Six-year-olds understand digital technology better than adults - a controversial headline for a survey which was carried out about the use of technology by young children and adults. More importantly thank any conclusion that younger children are better equipped to use technology than adults there is a condensed version of the survey which anyone can use which lets anyone look at the questions and crucially see support for how to be better informed about areas where knowledge, skills or experience are not as good as educators or parents/carers would want for themselves.

Joan Walker has used Scoop.it to collate resources as they becomae available on the topic of E-safety and e-safeguarding. This therefore can be handy to see new materials appear which have been tagged with either term.

Parenting Across Scotland: Children and teenagers' Online Safety - advice, tips, guidance and resources for parents to support their children using online spaces and tools.

What do pupils need to know about digital citizenship - an article by Vicki Davis which sets out the essential categories of skills and information learners need to know in order to keep themselves, and those around them, safe and and to be able to make best use of online tools and resources.

E-Safety - a New Curriculum? - an example from Rebecca Stacey, a headteacher in a primary school in Cumbria, of how e-safety is tackled at each stage in her primary school, with resources and activities matched to each stage, and suggestions for incorporating e-safety teaching into other areas of the curriculum. As well as the description there is a downloadable document here: http://www.digitalclassrooms.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Internet-Safety-through-the-Year-Groups.pdf

Protecting Children's Privacy - A Guide for Parents, Carers and Educators - a post by Paul Bischoff on the Comparitech site which sets out the concerns expressed by many parents and carers about the safety of their children online, and provides guidance, tips and advice about what parents can carers can do, including the nature of conversations with their children and practical steps which children and their parents and carers can take to adjust privacy settings in commonly used social media tools such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. It also describes the steps to take on settings in mobile devices, as well as Internet browsers, and more, all designed to help children and their parents and carers be more in control of the information they share.

Categories: Citizenship, Digital Literacy, E-Safety, Glow, Information Literacy, Teaching Tools, Technologies | Tags: Citizenship, Digital Literacy, e-safeguarding, E-Safety, esafety, online, responsible use, safety, social networking, web 2.0 | Permalink

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Walking Safely Along the Digital Highway - resources to help teach Digital Literacy and e-Safety

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are many resources available to help support schools to teach pupils to be responsible users of the Internet and to educate pupils to be as safe as possible when using online tools. Helping learners learn in a global, connected classroom is not something which is just nice to do, it's essential.

# data[].attributes.headline
Teaching Digital Literacy In A New Era Of Skepticism 

# data[].attributes.subject
Teaching Digital Literacy In A New Era Of Skepticism 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Surfing the web lately can be like stepping through the looking glass, where right is left and up is down. Fabricated news stories are going viral. Elected officials are declaring legitimate news stories fake.

Helping students separate fact from fiction is no longer a matter of pointing them toward credible news sources such as CNN, the New York Times, The Guardian and other world media outlets. That's because credulity isn't the issue anymore, says philosophy professor Michael Lynch.

Or at least, it's not the whole issue, he says. The wider problem is that fake news is causing people to disbelieve real things.

"Fake news, and the proliferation of raw opinion that passes for news, is creating confusion, punching holes in what is true, causing a kind of fun-house effect that leaves the reader doubting everything, including real news," says New York Times writer Sabrina Tavernise.

Traditional news outlets are losing credibility among students, whose trust in the national news media has dropped 13 percent since 2010. One study found that teens and young adults are "widely skeptical" of the news and concerned that even the national media are inaccurate or biased.

"The default used to be 'I believe' and is shifting to 'I don't believe anything,' " says medial literacy expert Erik Palmer. "When our top elected officials describe news from our most credentialed media outlets as fake, all sources of information are undermined."

It's not just students who are confused. Two in three U.S. adults say fabricated news stories cause a lot of confusion over the basic facts of current events, and trust in the media is at an all-time low. Even educators and academics with multiple degrees admit they have a hard time recognizing fake news.

"How much harder, then, would it be for a 10-year-old, or even a 17-year-old high school senior, to identify whether or not a website is credible or factually accurate?" says instructional technology specialist Nancy Watson.

It's no wonder three in four students can't tell the difference between real and fake news on social media.

Fake news itself is nothing new, of course, and it certainly predates the internet. What is new, however, is today's hyper partisan political climate in which decision makers cast doubt on traditional news sources they perceive as hostile to their agenda.

Many educators agree that this climate, "in which elected leaders and senior government officials seem to lie with impunity, makes the teaching of digital and media literacy even more challenging," says ed tech writer Dennis Pierce.

The ISTE Standards for Students expect students to be able to evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information and the media. To achieve that goal in this new era of skepticism, today's media literacy programs should address the following concepts.

Fact and fiction are on a continuum. Telling real news from fake isn't necessarily an either-or proposition. There are many shades of gray between, and kids can take a long time to grasp the subtleties. Whether students lean toward credulity or skepticism, the key is to get them in the habit of questioning their immediate reaction and checking with multiple sources to get the whole story.

Fake news and bias aren't the same. Public conversation about the media often conflates bias with falsehood, but students need to understand that they're two different things. For example, a news outlet can publish images that portray someone in either a flattering or unflattering light. "Both images are true - the photos exist," Palmer says. "Choosing one image over the other displays your bias."

Strong emotional reactions are a warning sign. If a story seems too outrageous to believe, it's wise to be skeptical. On the other hand, if it's so outrageous students want to believe it, that's also a red flag. "Many stories play on your existing beliefs," says NPR's Steve Inskeep. "If the story perfectly confirms your worst suspicions, look for more information."

Social media creates echo chambers. By delivering highly personalized news content, social media can have an isolating effect, causing people to "increasingly live online - and perhaps in real life-in closed systems of political consensus and like-minded thinking," says middle school history teacher Jonathan Gold. Students can break free of the echo chamber by seeking out news that presents a different perspective.

All the confusion over fake versus real news makes teaching media literacy more complex, but it also makes it more necessary than ever.

"Digital literacy is a crucial set of skills and attitudes that are necessary now more than ever before to impart to today's learners," Watson says. "And it takes a huge amount of pretty sophisticated critical thinking, digital skills and an understanding of our online behavior to even start to understand how complex the action of website evaluation is."
Can your students tell real news from fake? Download and print this infographic and share with your class.
Nicole Krueger is a freelance writer and journalist with a passion for finding out what makes learners tick.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teaching digital literacy in a new era of skepticism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Surfing the web lately can be like stepping through the looking glass, where right is left and up is down. Fabricated news stories are going viral. Elected officials are declaring legitimate news stories fake. Helping students separate fact from fiction is no longer a matter of pointing them toward credible news sources such as CNN, the New York Times, The Guardian and other world media outlets.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Overview

The internet is an amazing tool for teaching and learning, but one that works differently from other media. In a digital world, we're bombarded by information arriving at warp speed. All of us-our students and ourselves-need to know how to quickly sort, evaluate and make decisions about the incoming words, images and memes we encounter, as well as how to create online content effectively and efficiently.

This module offers a series of activities designed to help educators brush up their digital literacy knowledge. It also introduces the Teaching Tolerance Digital Literacy Framework: seven key areas in which students need support developing digital and civic literacy skills.

Materials

Vocabulary

Cornell University describes digital literacy as the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share and create content using information technologies and the internet. The Teaching Tolerance definition of digital literacy is the ability to participate safely, critically, meaningfully and justly in the production and consumption of content online. To see a full list of terms related to the topic of digital literacy, see the handout Speaking of Digital Literacy...

Procedure

Opening Activity

Reflect on these questions and discuss as a group:

Why is digital literacy important?

What comes to mind when you think of digital literacy?

Does digital media inspire or worry you? Why?

Webinar Activity

1. Take the Digital Literacy Vocabulary Quiz individually, or explore it as a group. If in a group, pick several words from the quiz that seem appropriate to your instructional context and a few that you don't know.

Write each word on a large piece of paper by itself and display the pieces of paper around the room.

Break into small groups and rotate to each word.

Ask each group to write down their best guess at the definition for each word.

After all small groups have visited each word and written their definitions, share out as a whole group.

2. As a group, watch and discuss the webinar Teaching Digital Literacy. Reflect on the following questions:

What terms or definitions did you learn while watching the webinar that you can apply to your work with students? To your own media consumption?

Discuss your reaction or thoughts about the Gorman & Gorman quote: "The issue is not merely providing an explanation that makes people understand but rather an explanation that makes them feel in control."

What did you find most helpful in the webinar in terms of deepening your understanding of how to improve your own digital literacy?

3. Close the activity by distributing and reviewing the full definitions on the Speaking of Digital Literacy... handout.

"Fake" News Activity

Watch the video "How Does 'Fake' News Become News?" Discuss observations as a group. Individually, reflect on or write down the answers to these questions:

Do I live in an echo chamber? What perspectives are recycled in that chamber?

Where do I get my news?

Who or what do I trust? Who or what don't I trust?

How often do I use social media?

Do I create or share a lot of digital content?

Share out in small groups, and then discuss how your reflections relate to your students and what you do in the classroom.

Media Diet Activity

1. For homework, review the handout Five Steps to a Balanced Media Diet and complete it for next week.

2. Once everyone comes back together after a week apart, share your thoughts and reflections on the Five Steps to a Balanced Media Diet sheet. Discuss:

What changes will I make to my media diet based on this exercise?

How can I leverage this material with students?

Planning Activity

Divide into groups based on the grade levels you teach. Review the appropriate lessons in the Digital Literacy Framework, and plan how you will use the materials with students.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The internet is an amazing tool for teaching and learning, but one that works differently from other media. In a digital world, we're bombarded by information arriving at warp speed. All of us-our students and ourselves-need to know how to quickly sort, evaluate and make decisions about the incoming words, images and memes we encounter, as well as how to create online content effectively and efficiently.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
60 Smarter Ways To Use Google Classroom
by Terry Heick

Google Classroom is quietly becoming the most powerful tool in education technology.

It may lack the visual appeal of iPads or the student credibility of a BYOD program. It may not be as forward-thinking as we'd like here at TeachThought, but Google Classroom excels in providing solutions for a broad swath of teachers who have a variety of expertise and comfort levels with education technology. It also uses Google's familiar template that many teachers have used for years. As such, it scratches the itch for many teachers in many classrooms right here, right now.

So below are (at least) 60 things you can do with Google Classroom. We'll be updating this list as new ideas come in, the platform changes, and we learn more about its subtleties on our own.
60 Smarter Ways To Use Google Classroom

1. When an assignment, lesson, or unit doesn't work, add your own comments-or have students add their own feedback), then tag it or save it to a different folder for revision.

2. Align curriculum with other teachers.

3. Share data with your professional learning community.

4. Keep samples of exemplar writing for planning.

5. Tag your curriculum.

6. Solicit daily, weekly, by-semester, or annual feedback from students and parents using Google Forms.

7. Share anonymous writing samples with students.

8. See what your assignments look like from the students' point-of-view.

9. Flip your classroom. The tools to publish videos and share assignments are core to Google Apps for Education.

10. Communicate assignment criteria with students.

11. Let students ask questions privately.

12. Let students create their own digital portfolios of their favorite work.

13. Create a list of approved research sources. You can also differentiate this by student, group, reading level, and more.

14. Post an announcement for students, or students and parents.

15. Design more mobile learning experiences for your students-in higher ed, for example.

16. Have students chart their own growth over time using Google Sheets.

17. Share due dates with mentors outside the classroom with a public calendar.

18. Email students individually, or as groups. Better yet, watch as they communicate with one another.

19. Create a test that grades itself using Google Forms.

20. Control file rights (view, edit, copy, download) on a file-by-file basis.

21. Have students curate project-based learning artifacts.

22. As a teacher, you can collaborate with other teachers (same grade by team, same content across grade level).

23. Encourage digital citizenship via peer-to-peer interaction that is documented.

24. Use Google Calendar for due dates, events outside the classroom, and other important "'chronological data.'

25. Communicate digitally with students who may be hesitant to 'talk' with you in person.

26. Streamline cross-curricular projects with other teachers.

27. Aggregate and publish commonly-accessed websites to make sure everyone has the same access, same documents, same links, and same information.

28. Vertically-align student learning by curating and sharing 'landmark' student assignments that reflect mastery of specific standards.

29. Encourage a common language by unpacking standards and share district-wide.

30. Encourage students to use their smartphones for formal learning. By accessing documents, YouTube channels, group communication, digital portfolio pieces and more on a BYOD device, students will have a chance to see their phone as something other than a purely for-entertainment device.

31. Create and publish 'power standards' (with students, other teachers, and other schools) for transparency and collaboration.

32. Promote peer-to-peer and/or school-to-school interactions-students with other students, students with other teachers, and teachers with other teachers.

33. Create 'by-need' groups as classes-based on reading level, for example.

34. Check which students have accessed which assignments.

35. Provide student with feedback.

36. Add voice comments to student writing (this requires a third-party app to do so).

37. Help students create content-specific YouTube channels.

38. 'Closed-circuit publish' annotated research papers according to specific styles (MLA, APA, etc.) or other otherwise 'confusing' work.

39. Share presentations.

40. Create a digital parking lot"' for questions.

41. Administer digital exit slips.

42. Instead of homework, assign voluntary 'lesson extensions' for students. When questions arise about mastery or grades, refer to who accessed and completed what, when.

43. Create folders of miscellaneous lesson materials. digital versions of texts, etc.

44. Enjoy smarter conferencing with students and parents with easy-to-access work, data, writing, feedback, access data, and so on.

45. Save pdfs or other snapshots of digital resources in universally accessed folders.

46. Create a data wall but with spreadsheets and color-coding.

47. Make substitute teacher work or make-up work easy to access.

48. Collect data. This can happen in a variety of ways, from using Google Forms, extraction to Google Sheets, or your own in-house method.

49. Give prompt feedback for learning.

50. See who's completed what-and when-at-a-glance.

51. Track when students turn in work.

52. Since access is tracked, look for patterns in student habits-those that access assignments immediately, those that consistently return to work, and so on-and communicate those trends (anonymously) to students as a way of communicating 'best practices in learning' for students who may not otherwise think

53. Differentiate instruction through tiering, grouping, or Bloom's spiraling.

54. Create groups based on readiness, interest, reading level, or other factors for teaching and learning.

55. Use Google Forms to poll students, create reader interest surveys, and more.

56. Model a 'works cited' page.

57. Create reference sheets.

58. Design digital team-building activities.

59. Create a paperless classroom.

60. Share universal and frequently-accessed assignments-project guidelines, year-long due dates, math formulas, content-area facts, historical timelines, etc.

60 Smarter Ways To Use Google Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
60 Smarter Ways To Use Google Classroom by Terry Heick Google Classroom is quietly becoming the most powerful tool in education technology. It may lack the visual appeal of iPads or the student credibility of a BYOD program.

# data[].attributes.headline
MediaSmarts: Digital Literacy Framework - Grades 4-6

# data[].attributes.subject
MediaSmarts: Digital Literacy Framework - Grades 4-6

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Because they are spending more unsupervised time online, these students need guidance about Internet safety and protection of privacy, and they also need to be taught about good citizenship and responsible Internet use.

As more of their school work requires Internet research, this is also a good time to teach students skills for conducting effective research and for authenticating online content including recognizing marketing messages, bias and stereotyping.

Students at this age are highly active in games and virtual environments, where they need to learn to apply empathy to their online interactions and to resist "upselling" techniques in those environments as well as to manage the amount of time they spend online.

Children this age are also increasingly sensitive to messages about body image and gender norms that they get from media, including digital media, and need help in engaging with these. Despite their growing awareness that media is constructed, they may still be frightened by realistic portrayals of violence, threats or danger - whether on the news or in television dramas.

FRAMEWORK ICON LEGEND

A Day in the Life of the Jos
Grades: 6-8

In this licensed educational game, students help the brother and sister team Jo and Josie with situations they encounter online as they go about a typical day in their lives. The modules are represented as five days in the lives of Jo and Josie, covering topics that research has identified as being important for youth: defusing drama (cyberbullying), data privacy, privacy and reputation, privacy ethics and authenticating online information.

Advertising All Around Us
Grades: 5-6

This lesson helps students to become more aware of the language and techniques used in print advertising, as well as the impact of advertising on their daily lives.

Avatars and Body Image
Grades: 4-6

In this lesson students are introduced to the concept of "avatars" and share their experiences creating and playing avatars in video games and virtual worlds.

Behaving Ethically Online: Ethics and Empathy
Grades: 4-6

In this lesson students are introduced to the idea that "hot" emotional states such as anger or excitement can make it harder for them to control how they act. They also discuss the concept of empathy and look at the ways in which digital communication can make it harder to feel empathy for other people.

Break the Fake: What's Real Online?
Grades: 3-5

In this lesson, students are introduced to the challenges of identifying what is real and what is fake online. After learning some simple steps to verify online information they create a poster that communicates the importance of questioning and double-checking online content.

Break the Fake Lesson Plan: Verifying Information Online
Grades: 6-9

In this lesson, students participate in a workshop that teaches them four quick, easy steps to verify online information. After practicing these four steps they create a public service announcement aimed at teaching one of these steps and spreading the message that it is necessary for everyone to fact-check information we see online every time we are going to share it or act on it.

Calling Out versus Calling In: Helping youth respond to casual prejudice online
Grades: 6-8

This lesson introduces students to the idea of "calling in" - reaching out to someone privately with the assumption that they didn't mean to do any harm - and explores how this idea can be applied both to casual prejudice online and when responding to stereotyping and other negative representations in media. Finally, students explore the different benefits of "calling out" and "calling in", and consider when the two strategies would be most appropriate.

Cyber Choices
Grades: 3-5

Cyber Choices is an interactive game designed to help students in grades 3 to 5 develop the skills and habits they need to make safe and responsible choices online. Delivered in an engaging online comic-book format (with accompanying audio to support developing readers), Cyber Choices lets students explore four different stories that cover key issues such as making good choices about their own and others' personal information, dealing with cyberbullying (as both a target and a witness) and managing online conflict.

Earth Day: Maps as Media
Grades: 4-6

In this lesson, students analyze maps as a medium and discuss how they are created, things they can and can't show, and their effectiveness at communicating environmental information.

Editing Emotions
Grades: 5-9

In this lesson, students learn about the history of film editing and how shot composition, juxtaposition of images and the use of rhythm and repetition in film editing can affect the emotional impact of a film.

Facing Media Violence: Rewriting the Story
Grades: 1-4

In this lesson, students explore how characters in media texts resolve conflict, then brainstorm alternative non-violent solutions to conflicts represented in media.

Game Time
Grades: 4-6

In this lesson students consider the positive aspects of video games as well as the ways in which games may take time away from other activities they enjoy. Students are introduced to the idea of balancing game and screen time with other parts of their lives and learn about the reasons why they may be tempted to spend more time playing games or find it difficult to stop playing.

Gender Stereotypes and Body Image
Grades: 6-7

This lesson makes students aware of the dangers of gender stereotyping and the media's role in perpetuating gender stereotypes.

Getting the Toothpaste Back into the Tube: A Lesson on Online Information
Grades: 6-8

In this lesson, students watch a short video that compares getting rid of personal information online to getting toothpaste back into a tube. After a short discussion of how visual analogies like this work, students discuss the meaning of the video (that information online is permanent.) They then read a series of short scenarios that help them identify four further principles of information online: that it can be copied, that it can be seen by unintended audiences, that it can be seen by larger audiences than intended, and that it becomes searchable.

Just a joke? Helping youth respond to casual prejudice
Grades: 6-8

One of the barriers to youth pushing back against prejudice is not wanting to over-react, particularly if they feel their peers were just 'joking around.' Humour, however, can often be a cover for intentional bullying and prejudice. In this lesson, students analyze media representations of relational aggression, such as sarcasm and put-down humour, then consider the ways in which digital communication may make it harder to recognize irony or satire and easier to hurt someone's feelings without knowing it. Students then consider how humour may be used to excuse prejudice and discuss ways of responding to it.

Media Literacy Key Concepts Lesson 5: Media Have Social and Political Implications
Grades: 5-8

In this lesson, students watch a video introducing the media literacy key concept that media have social and political implications. They discuss the idea of explicit messages in media products and then, after watching the video "It's Not Easy Being Green," discuss the idea that media products may have less obvious implicit messages. Students apply this analysis to another media work familiar to the class and then, in an optional final task, identify how a favourite media work has influenced them.

Online Marketing to Kids: Protecting Your Privacy
Grades: 6-9

This two lesson unit on online marketing explores the various ways companies use the Internet to target young people. The first lesson introduces students to the ways in which commercial websites collect personal information from kids and to the issues surrounding children and privacy on the Internet.

Prejudice and Body Image
Grades: 3-7

Through class discussion and activities, students begin to recognize how the media pressure us to achieve a certain looks and how media images may lead to prejudice against those who don't conform to their standards of attractiveness.

Social Smarts: Nothing Personal!
Grades: 3-6

A new smartphone is a big responsibility for kids, who have a lot to learn about using them safely, especially when it comes to protecting their privacy.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has created a graphic novel, Social Smarts: Nothing Personal! to help young Canadians to better understand and navigate privacy issues in the online world. The 12-page graphic novel is designed to appeal to kids aged 8-10.

Stay on the Path Lesson Two: All That Glitters is Not Gold
Grades: 5-6

In the second lesson in the Stay on the Path lesson unit, students learn how to authenticate online information by comparing "facts" from the website www.allaboutexplorers.com with more authoritative sources.

Stay on the Path Lesson Three: Treasure Maps
Grades: 5-6

In the third lesson in the Stay on the Path unit, students apply what they have learned in the first two lessons to find and verify information online.

Stay on the Path Lesson Four: Scavenger Hunt
Grades: 5-6

In the fourth lesson in the Stay on the Path unit, students apply their searching and critical thinking skills to learn how to find legitimate online sources for downloading and streaming movies, music and videos.

The Hero Project: Authenticating Online Information
Grades: 4-8

In this lesson students are introduced to Internet search skills through researching a personal hero. By focusing on the early parts of the research process, students learn to select well-defined topics, ask relevant research questions and select effective keywords.

Understanding the Internet Lesson 2: Pathways and Addresses
Grades: 4-6

In the second lesson in the Understanding the Internet unit, students gain a greater understanding of how messages are sent and received over the Internet.

Understanding the Internet Lesson 3: Build Understanding
Grades: 4-6

In the third lesson in the Understanding the Internet unit students identify and classify their own interactions with the Internet and will engage in a collaborative critical thinking activity that will have them examine the Internet from a variety of perspectives.

Understanding the Internet Lesson 4: Communication and Social Media
Grades: 4-6

In the fourth lesson in the Understanding the Internet unit, students compare and contrast a variety of online social networking platforms and build an understanding of how they work to share messages. They will reflect on basic online rules and explore concepts of safety and privacy when accessing and sharing information online.

Winning the Cyber Security Game
Grades: 5-8

In this lesson students discuss their online experiences and learn how to minimize the potential risks that may be associated with them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Digital Media Literacy Framework - Grades 4-6

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Students in the junior grades lack sufficient critical thinking skills to surf the Web alone, but MediaSmarts' Young Canadians in a Wireless World research shows that almost a third never or rarely use the Internet with an adult nearby.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Look At 4th & 5th Grade Students' Digital Literacy Skills

# data[].attributes.subject
A Look At 4th & 5th Grade Students' Digital Literacy Skills

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A survey of how 4th and 5th grade students read online finds that girls significantly outperform boys on a test of digital skills such as searching for and communicating information. That's despite the fact that boys seem to engage in more digital activities than girls, and that they have more confidence in their online skills than girls do.

The survey also found, in contrast to previous research, that students are doing more of their digital activities in school than out of school.

About 1,300 students from five schools in a surburban school district took the survey in the fall of 2014. According to the researchers, the district was chosen because it had a 1-to-1 laptop program, which, in this case, meant all students had access to Chromebooks both in and out of school. The unnamed district was located in the Midwest and made up of largely white and middle-class students.

As the researchers note, many previous studies on students' technology use have focused on teenagers. This study looked only at 4th and 5th graders.

Students answered questions designed to measure their ability to do an Internet search, evaluate sources, and communicate online, among other skills. Of a possible composite score of 27, the average digital skills score for all students was 13.61. "This score indicates that the students in this sample are moderately skilled at navigating, reading, and writing online," says the report, "What Are Preadolescent Readers Doing Online?," which was recently published in the International Literacy Association's Reading Research Quarterly

When viewed by gender, girls scored an average of 14.43, and boys scored an average of 12.69.

"I was actually somewhat surprised because previous studies done with older students have shown that females perceive themselves as less skilled but there's no difference [in their skills,]" Amy Hutchinson, an a ssociate professor at Iowa State University and one of the lead researchers, said in an interview. "B ut in this case, females actually scored significantly higher than males, but in reports asking how they felt about their skills, males perceived themselves as more skilled."

Other research has also shown that boys have more confidence in their abilities than girls, in particular when it comes to technology.

Boys also reported engaging in online activities more often than girls, both in school and out of school.

Hutchinson said it's not quite clear why girls performed better than boys on digital literacy skills, but it may be in part because girls tend to have stronger print-based literacy skills than boys. "We d o know that females are often higher achievers in reading, which transfers into this," she said. "I f you already are strong in traditional literacy skills, you have much more to build on."

Another possible explanation, she said, is that girls are more motivated to do online reading because they've been successful with print-based reading.

A recent national test on technology literacy (and engineering) also found that girls outperformed boys.

Both boys and girls reported that using the Internet is more difficult than reading a print book, though they preferred the Internet.

In Class vs. at Home

The survey also showed that 4th and 5th graders are doing the bulk of their digital activities in the classroom rather than at home.

"The research we have from previous studies, including my own, show students doing more outside school than in school," said Hutchinson. The difference in these findings could be because the students being studied in this case are younger (and using the Internet less overall) or because teachers are using more technology in the classroom, she said. "It's ha rd to know the cause."

The kinds of activities students reported doing in school were more about consuming information than creating it. "F or example, the most frequent in-school activities were searching for information online, creating documents, watching videos online, submitting work online, and using reference websites," the report says. Students were not creating videos or other media very often in school. (Though they weren't doing that much out of school either.)

The findings speak to how important it is for teachers to do direct instruction on digital skills, rather than assuming students are "digital natives," Hutchinson said. " Teachers have a tremendous responsibility in this area already, but knowing this is the primary place [students] are doing this activity reinforces the idea that teachers need to think carefully about how they introduce these skills."

Hutchinson also offered the caveat that the findings should be viewed in context and are not likely generalizable to all districts. "This could look very different if done in a different area of the country or in a district with less technology available in classrooms," she said.

For more news and information on reading, math, and STEM instruction: Follow @LianaHeitin
And sign up here to get alerts in your email inbox when stories are published on Curriculum Matters.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Look at 4th and 5th Grade Students' Digital Literacy Skills

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A survey of how 4th and 5th grade students read online finds that girls significantly outperform boys on a test of digital skills such as searching for and communicating information. That's despite the fact that boys seem to engage in more digital activities than girls, and that they have more confidence in their online skills than girls do.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Internet Keep Safe Coalition is dedicated to protecting children, families, and schools by assessing, advising, and certifying organizations that collect, use, and share personal information and data that is protected by law.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Be Internet Awesome is a multifaceted program that includes a fun and free web-based game called Interland and an educational curriculum to teach kids how to be safe and responsible explorers of the online world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Guidance for parents and young people on cyberbullying, including advice for ending (or preventing) the cycle of aggression. For a more comprehensive look, see A Parents' Guide to Cyberbullying .
For kids and teens

Know that it's not your fault. What people call "bullying" is sometimes an argument between two people. But if someone is repeatedly cruel to you, that's bullying and you mustn't blame yourself. No one deserves to be treated cruelly.

Don't respond or retaliate. Sometimes a reaction is exactly what aggressors are looking for because they think it gives them power over you, and you don't want to empower a bully. As for retaliating, getting back at a bully turns you into one - and can turn one mean act into a chain reaction. If you can, remove yourself from the situation. If you can't, sometimes humor disarms or distracts a person from bullying.

Save the evidence. The only good news about bullying online or on phones is that it can usually be captured, saved, and shown to someone who can help. You can save that evidence in case things escalate.

Tell the person to stop. This is completely up to you - don't do it if you don't feel totally comfortable doing it, because you need to make your position completely clear that you will not stand for this treatment any more. You may need to practice beforehand with someone you trust, like a parent or good friend.

Reach out for help - especially if the behavior's really getting to you. You deserve backup. See if there's someone who can listen, help you process what's going on and work through it - a friend, relative or maybe an adult you trust.

Use available tech tools. Most social media apps and services allow you to block the person. Whether the harassment's in an app, texting, comments or tagged photos, do yourself a favor and block the person. You can also report the problem to the service. That probably won't end it, but you don't need the harassment in your face, and you'll be less tempted to respond. If you're getting threats of physical harm, you should call your local police (with a parent or guardian's help) and consider reporting it to school authorities.

Protect your accounts. Don't share your passwords with anyone - even your closest friends, who may not be close forever - and password-protect your phone so no one can use it to impersonate you. You'll find advice at passwords.connectsafely.org .
If someone you know is being bullied, take action. Just standing by can empower an aggressor and does nothing to help. The best thing you can do is try to stop the bullying by taking a stand against it. If you can't stop it, support the person being bullied. If the person's a friend, you can listen and see how to help. Consider together whether you should report the bullying. If you're not already friends, even a kind word can help reduce the pain. At the very least, help by not passing along a mean message and not giving positive attention to the person doing the bullying.

Additional advice for parents

Know that you're lucky if your child asks for help. Most young people don't tell their parents about bullying online or offline. So if your child's losing sleep or doesn't want to go to school or seems agitated when on his or her computer or phone, ask why as calmly and open-heartedly as possible. Feel free to ask if it has anything to do with mean behavior or social issues. But even if it does, don't assume it's bullying. You won't know until you get the full story, starting with your child's perspective.

Work with your child. There are two reasons why you'll want to keep your child involved. Bullying and cyberbullying usually involve a loss of dignity or control over a social situation, and involving your child in finding solutions helps him or her regain that. The second reason is about context. Because the bullying is almost always related to school life and our kids understand the situation and context better than parents ever can, their perspective is key to getting to the bottom of the situation and working out a solution. You may need to have private conversations with others, but let your child know if you do, and report back. This is about your child's life, so your child needs to be part of the solution.

Respond thoughtfully, not fast. What parents don't always know is that they can make things worse for their kids if they act rashly. A lot of cyberbullying involves somebody getting marginalized (put down and excluded), which the bully thinks increases his or her power or status. If you respond publicly or if your child's peers find out about even a discreet meeting with school authorities, the marginalization can get worse, which is why any response needs to be well thought out.

More than one perspective needed. Your child's account of what happened is likely completely sincere, but remember that one person's truth isn't necessarily everybody's. You'll need to get other perspectives and be open-minded about what they are. Sometimes kids let themselves get pulled into chain reactions, and often what we see online is only one side of or part of the story.
What victims say helps most is to be heard - really listened to - either by a friend or an adult who cares. That's why, if your kids come to you for help, it's so important to respond thoughtfully and involve them. Just by being heard respectfully, a child is often well on the way to healing.
The ultimate goal is restored self-respect and greater resilience in your child. This, not getting someone punished, is the best focus for resolving the problem and helping your child heal. What your child needs most is to regain a sense of dignity. Sometimes that means standing up to the bully, sometimes not. Together, you and your child can figure out how to get there.

One positive outcome we don't often think about (or hear in the news) is resilience. We know the human race will never completely eradicate meanness or cruelty, and we also know that bullying is not, as heard in past generations, "normal" or a rite of passage. We need to keep working to eradicate it. But when it does happen and we overcome it - our resilience grows. It's not something that can be "downloaded" or taught. We grow it through exposure to challenges and figuring out how to deal with them. So sometimes it's important to give them space to do that and let them know we have their back.

If you'd like to print these tips out, here's a PDF version. Please contact [email protected] for permission to reprint or post.
© 2020 ConnectSafely.org
For more info:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tips to Help Stop Cyberbullying - ConnectSafely

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Guidance for parents and young people on cyberbullying, including advice for ending (or preventing) the cycle of aggression.

# data[].attributes.headline
Fake Websites To Teach Students About Digital Literacy 

# data[].attributes.subject
Fake Websites To Teach Students About Digital Literacy 

# data[].attributes.headline
What is the SAMR Model and What Does It Look Like In Schools?

# data[].attributes.subject
What is the SAMR Model and What Does It Look Like In Schools?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is the SAMR Model and what does it look like in schools?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The essential elements of digital literacies: Doug Belshaw at TEDxWarwick

# data[].attributes.headline
Fun Projects and Increased Digital Literacy with GoAnimate 

# data[].attributes.subject
Fun Projects and Increased Digital Literacy with GoAnimate 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Cool Apps Like GoAnimate can be a Powerful aid in Developing Digital Literacy for Today's Students

[ED NOTE: The GoAnimate for Schools site now has this message: "On June 30, 2019 support and services will end for GoAnimate for Schools. All sales, for both new subscriptions and renewals, ended on May 6, 2018." However, the parent operation has been renamed to Vyond.com and is still in business. - KW, 7/26/18]

Today, digital literacy is a requirement, not only in the workplace, but also in the classroom.

By incorporating a variety of tools into their lesson plans, teachers like Lynn Weeks can better prepare students to use digital devices in everyday life, and eventually, in their chosen professions. When Bourne Middle School, where Weeks teaches, introduced a new digital literacy program in 2013, she was able to use and evaluate her students' understanding of digital literacy with the help of GoAnimate for Schools.

Defining Digital Literacy

Projects like the one Weeks uses in her classroom are becoming more common, and they can address a variety of topics, including Internet safety and cyberbullying. With animation tools, students are limited only by their imaginations - and their levels of digital literacy.

This is important, because although most kids know how to use social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, many of them are still not truly digitally literate. Tweeting is an easy concept to grasp, but students must also be able to properly use search engines to gather reliable research materials, and know how to recognize legitimate sources online.

This GoAnimate clip provides a glimpse of how the tool can be used to promote digital literacy and Internet safety awareness.

Research is a large part of one's education, and as students explore better ways to gather information, they also need better training on how to organize that information.

Why It Matters

Although almost half of the world is able to access the Internet, studies have shown that only four percent of 13 year olds were able to determine whether or not a website was a credible resource. "Teens view Google as the center of the digital information universe ... they uncritically trust Google," author Danah Boyd said in her book, It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens.

Students are adept at using YouTube, playing video games and social networking, but the Internet offers a wealth of information that may seem incomprehensible without digital literacy.

This is apparent in a study from Michigan State University psychologist Linda Jackson, PhD (2006 Developmental Psychology (Vol. 42, No. 3, pages 429-435)), which found that those children that used the Internet more had higher scores on standardized reading tests after six months, and their grade point averages were also higher than those children who used it less.

Closing the Gap

In order to prepare students for life beyond school, digital literacy should be given the same priority as Math and English courses. However, the development of digital literacy guidelines is lagging behind both in terms of technology and the needs of students.

Common Core, a new set of educational standards is intended to help address issues like digital literacy, but there is debate as to whether it's adequate. It has often been assumed that kids who've grown up with technology are experts by default, which is why the phrase 'digital natives' can be damaging. Experts are encouraging a shift toward focusing more attention on digital literacy.

Teachers like Lynn Weeks can make digital literacy both fun and educational. She notes that "students who finish their videos early are invited to create additional videos to introduce the class to next term's students." And judging from the reactions of her students, the strategy is effective.

Students on GoAnimate:

"I have learned things about my topic (social media) and about this site (GoAnimate). I learned about social media and the risks from it through my research & then I created a video to explain this topic."- Kerstin, Grade 7

"GoAnimate can be used for school projects, online videos, and pretty much anything."
- Logan, Grade 7

"I really enjoyed GoAnimate because it's fun to see your ideas come to life online."
- Amanda, Grade 7

Teachers Share Their Experiences with GoAnimate for Education

To learn and read about teacher's experiences with GoAnimate in their own words, check out the blog posts they've written on the Educator Experiences Blog.

Come Check Out GoAnimate today!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fun Projects and Increased Digital Literacy With GoAnimate for Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ED NOTE: The GoAnimate for Schools site now has this message: "On June 30, 2019 support and services will end for GoAnimate for Schools. All sales, for both new subscriptions and renewals, ended on May 6, 2018." However, the parent operation has been renamed to Vyond.com and is still in business.

# data[].attributes.headline
10 Resources to Boost Student Media Literacy 

# data[].attributes.subject
10 Resources to Boost Student Media Literacy 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Whether it's recognizing fake news, media bias or just information overload, media literacy has never been more important.

While librarians, media specialists and writing teachers have traditionally taken the lead in teaching research skills and media literacy, it's increasingly up to teachers of all subjects and grade levels to make sure students are responsible producers and consumers of media content.

If media isn't your background as a teacher, the task can feel daunting.

"In order to have a democracy and a free society, we have to rely on the discernment and judgment of each and every citizen and that can only happen through education," says the Center for Media Literacy's president and CEO, Tessa Jolls. "They must have a methodology to rely on that's evidence-based and is, frankly, scientific."

Reading carefully and thinking critically have always been the basic tenets of media literacy, but those skills become more vital in the age of social media, citizen journalists, circular reporting and, yes, fake news. Those skills are the hallmarks of the Knowledge Constructor standard, which is part of the Standards for Students. The organizations below offer tips, videos, curricula and lesson plans to help educators guide students in navigating the media landscape.

The Center for Media Literacy. This nonprofit organization develops resources for teachers using evidence-based, peer-reviewed longitudinal studies.

The Center for News Literacy. Stony Brook University's School of Journalism offers a curriculum toolbox for teachers with information on teaching media literacy.

Common Sense Education. This independent nonprofit organization offers a toolkit for educators on news and media literacy, geared by grade level, that includes lesson plans, videos, interactive games and professional development.

CRAAP Test. A classic, the CRAAP Test was developed by librarians at California State University, Chico, and reminds us to assess articles based on the Currency, Relevance, Authority (or source of the information), Accuracy and Purpose (meaning does the author have a particular intent). The American Association of Librarians has recently updated the CRAAP test to reflect added scrutiny to the authority component. For instance, authority shouldn't be assumed based on a person's title, but only in conjunction with the other factors, such as accuracy.

Cyber Civics. An off-shoot of Cyber Wise, the digital citizenship program, Cyber Civics is a media literacy curriculum developed for middle-schoolers that progresses from digital citizenship to information literacy and concludes with media literacy for positive participation.

The Library Voice. ISTE member Shannon McClintock Miller has created a Padlet dedicated to media literacy resources and lesson planning ideas. You'll find everything from the basics of media literacy to teaching students to spot fake news.

Media Literacy Clearinghouse. ISTE author and media education consultant Frank W. Baker offers links to recommended books and other resources for educators. He recommends teachers post basic media literacy questions on their walls so that students can always refer to them.

Baker also recommends students use a Google news aggregator to ensure they see a variety of resources. To ensure news sources are from across the full political spectrum, use a site such as AllSides to choose news from left, right and center.

Media Literacy Now. This national organization for media literacy education provides policy and advocacy information, expertise and resources to to implement media literacy education in schools.

News Literacy Project. This project has been offering "drop-in" units focused on news matters, the First Amendment, the standards of quality journalism and current news and information landscape since 2008. Now, the News Literacy Project is making the lessons more widely available through its program, checkology virtual classroom. With the free basic version, teachers can offer the interactive lessons to an entire class, while a premium version provides individual student licenses for a 1:1 or blended learning model.

NPR's Breaking News Handbooks. New York City's WNYC-FM's "On the Media" program published its first handbook in 2013. Each handbook, intended to be clipped and posted near your computer or TV, includes tips such as: "Check the domain! Fake sites often add '.co' to trusted brands to steal their luster. (Think: 'abcnews.com.co')," which came from their Fake News Edition. Other editions include "Election Polls" and "Islamophobia." This is a great tool to discuss current events with students.
Jennifer Snelling is a freelance writer based in Eugene, Oregon, and mother of two digital natives. This is an updated version of an article that originally published on April 11, 2016.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 resources to boost student media literacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whether it's recognizing fake news, media bias or just information overload, media literacy has never been more important. While librarians, media specialists and writing teachers have traditionally taken the lead in teaching research skills and media literacy, it's increasingly up to teachers of all subjects and grade levels to make sure students are responsible producers and consumers of media content.

# data[].attributes.headline
32 Videos To Get Going In Google Classroom 

# data[].attributes.subject
32 Videos To Get Going In Google Classroom 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
CLOSE

Joanna Allhands: Google Classroom isn't just a place to upload homework. It's changing how teachers interact with students.

Few products have dominated K-12 schools as quickly as Google Classroom.

The free web service has spread like wildfire in classrooms across the nation, as teachers clamor to move their lessons and students' work online.

But what is it, and what does its heavy dominance mean for the future of education? Here's a look at the pros and cons:

What is Google Classroom?

Google Classroom is one of the components of Google for Education, a suite of productivity programs such as Drive, Docs and Gmail that is meant for educational use. All of the apps work together and are free for anyone with a Google account.

How many schools are using it?

Perhaps the more appropriate question is who isn't using it. According to an EdWeek MarketBrief published earlier this year, 68 percent of districts nationwide use Google Classroom and related G-suite products. Microsoft Classroom and its related apps are the next most popular competitor, and they are only used in 17 percent of classrooms.

That's pretty heavy market dominance.

It's less clear in Arizona how many districts have rolled out Google Classroom because no statewide group tracks it. The Arizona Department of Education said it was unaware of any districts that use it. Google also did not respond to a request for comment.

But according to the Arizona Technology in Education Association, many of the state's largest districts use the app, including early adopters such as Paradise Valley Unified School District and more recent converts such as Glendale Elementary School District. Some charter schools, including Horizon Community Learning Center in Phoenix and Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, also are using Google Classroom.

What are Google Classroom's advantages?

A middle-school student works on an assignment in Google Classroom at Sevilla West School in Phoenix. (Photo: Mandi Bilyou/Alhambra Elementary School District)

Students can work on and turn in assignments, even from their cellphones. And teachers can grade them online - no red pens needed. That's a valuable time-saver.

Teachers also can email reminders and announcements directly to parents, decreasing the likelihood that important permission slips get lost in backpacks on the way home.

But the app's greatest potential to change how education works lies in how it allows teachers and students to collaborate.

Teachers can customize assignments based on students' needs and interests. Multiple students can work on an assignment at once, and teachers can watch remotely as students collaborate - making them more like guides for where to find information than the ultimate sources of it.

Why is that so game-changing?

Consider how the education landscape is changing: Book publishers are increasingly offering textbooks and supporting materials online - some exclusively so. Many high schools and colleges also require students to turn in their homework electronically.

They are making the switch, in part, because they recognize employers increasingly need people who can work online and in groups, perhaps with members hundreds of miles away. As a result, many schools are using Google Classroom in third grade and before to introduce students to this online, collaborative world.

How do I get the most out of it?

Google Classroom's great potential for change underlines the need for robust digital citizenship programs, educators say.

Using Google Classroom to its full potential requires accompanying lessons about appropriate online behavior - such as keeping personal information safe, not bullying other students and knowing when it's a good idea to unplug.

These are real issues, and they're only going to grow as more schools embrace online learning.

Are there options besides Google?

Yes. Microsoft and Apple have similar apps, and if you ask the few districts that have chosen them or their hardware over Google, the debate is sort of like the Mac vs. PC wars of several years ago - more about personal preference and brand loyalty than superior functionality.

Alhambra Elementary School District in Phoenix uses Google apps on Apple products - and has for years - while Peoria Unified School District has rejected Google altogether.

"Google is fine technology. There's nothing wrong with it," said John Gay, Peoria's chief technology officer. "One reason we're still using Microsoft is it's enormously expensive to change."

But far more districts are making the switch to Google completely, buying the company's low-cost Chromebooks because its apps are fully integrated and updates are pushed out automatically.

That makes Chromebooks easier to use and support, a plus for cash-strapped, short-staffed districts that are increasingly expected to issue every student his or her own electronic device.

Google has made that marketing pitch far more effectively than its competitors, which may explain why 90 percent of districts expect to buy more Chromebooks in the next two years, according to EdWeek.

What are Google Classroom's disadvantages?

Depends on whom you ask. Some educators are concerned about what might happen to sensitive student data when one company so thoroughly dominates the education-technology market. Could Google be hacked? Might ads one day creep in?

Others have said that while Google Classroom may be easy to learn and set up, it can take some finagling to integrate it with third-party learning and assessment apps. That can be a barrier to learning.

Google Classroom also isn't widely used in universities. Some educators say it lacks the bells and whistles needed to manage tens of thousands of students in more complex higher education settings.

Still others note that while it's possible to work offline, uploading assignments and collaborating with others in Google Classroom ultimately requires a reliable internet connection. That can be a stumbling block for rural districts that don't have access to fast Wi-Fi. It also can hamper use outside of school if students don't have access to an internet connection at home.

That's a particular challenge in Arizona, which despite valiant efforts to improve access, still ranks near the bottom nationwide for school broadband connectivity and affordability.
Reach Allhands at joanna.allhands@arizonarepublic.com.
4 things every Arizona student needs to know

Rewarding excelling schools won't work (even if it should)

Arizona's school letter grades are meaningless. Ditch them

Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/2kAb4Ye

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Allhands: Why use Google Classroom? Here's what you need to know

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CLOSE Joanna Allhands: Google Classroom isn't just a place to upload homework. It's changing how teachers interact with students. Few products have dominated K-12 schools as quickly as Google Classroom. The free web service has spread like wildfire in classrooms across the nation, as teachers clamor to move their lessons and students' work online.

# data[].attributes.headline
16 Ideas for Student Projects Using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms 

# data[].attributes.subject
16 Ideas for Student Projects Using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As you probably know, Google Drive is far more than a place to store files online. It also includes a suite of versatile creation tools, many of which perform the same functions as the ones we use in other spaces. These include Google Docs, a word processing program that behaves similarly to Microsoft Word, Google Slides, a presentation program similar to PowerPoint, and Google Forms, a survey-creation tool similar to Survey Monkey. Although Drive also includes other tools, these three are particularly useful for creating rigorous, academically robust projects. If your school uses Google Classroom or at least gives students access to Google Drive, your students are probably already using these tools to write papers or create slideshow presentations, but there are other projects they could be doing that you may not have thought of.

Below I have listed 16 great ideas for projects using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms.

Docs

Annotated Bibliography
By the time a student reaches the later years of high school, and certainly by the time she's gotten to college, it's likely that she'll be required to write an annotated bibliography, a list of resources that not only includes the bibliographical information of each source, but also a short paragraph summarizing the resource and reflecting on its usefulness for a given project. Usually an annotated bibliography is required as a part of a larger research paper, but it could stand alone as an assignment that tasks students with seeking out and evaluating sources just for the practice of doing so. And the research tools in Google Docs allow students to locate, read, and cite their sources all in one place. To learn more, see this guide from Cornell University Library on How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography .

Book Review
Instead of a book report, have students write a book review instead. This is certainly not a new idea, but publishing the work electronically allows students to enhance the final product with the book's cover image, a link to the book's page on Amazon, and even links to other titles the author has written or articles on related topics. For models and inspiration, elementary and middle school students can read student-written reviews on sites like Spaghetti Book Club . Older or advanced students might work toward more sophisticated, nuanced review styles like book reviews written on Oprah.com .

Book Review

Any kind of research paper can be given a big boost when done in a Google Doc, because students can insert images, drawings, and links to other relevant resources, like articles and videos. Using the Media-Rich Research Paper
research tools built into Docs, students can research their topics and include in-text citations with footnotes.

"Blog Posts" without the fuss, written in Google Docs.

Instead of creating a job chart yourself, have students build it from scratch.

Slides

These could take a variety of forms: mini-textbooks, children's books, cookbooks or how-to manuals, personal art or writing portfolios, even yearbook-style memory books. To learn more about the possibilities, see my post from earlier this year on E-book
Student E-Books.

Click the image above to watch a sample Museum Kiosk in action.

Students can upload their own images and add text boxes to a slideshow to create an animated story, then record the slideshow with a Google extension called Short Film
Screencastify. They can either record their own voice as narration, add background music, or both. There are so many different kinds of films students could produce: illustrated stories or poems, final reflections for a 20 Time or Genius Hour project, video textbooks on content-related topics, or news-like feature stories of school or community events. In this quick sample, I added music from YouTube's library of royalty-free music that anyone can use to enhance their recordings:

Using the same screencasting software mentioned above, students could also create their own video tutorials by creating a Slides presentation on their topic (such as "How to Open a Combination Lock"), then recording the slideshow with narration. This would make a nice final product for a unit on informational writing or a way for students to demonstrate their learning at the end of a unit in science ("How to Take Care of Lab Equipment"), social studies ("How to Measure Distance on a Map"), or math ("How to Multiply Fractions"). Student-made tutorials could even be created to teach classroom procedures. And any tutorials students make could be stored for later, so other students can also benefit from them. Video Tutorial
Learn more about how Screencastify works right inside Chrome.

Forms

Whenever students need to gather data to support an Peer Survey
argumentative essay or speech, let them gather data quickly and easily by creating a survey with Google Forms. Links to the survey can be sent out via email, QR codes, or through a post in a learning management system like Edmodo or Google Classroom. When results come in, students can use them to support whatever claim they are trying to make in their argument, or make adjustments based on what they discover in their research.

Way Beyond Worksheets

Just this morning on Twitter, someone posted a comment along these lines: "A worksheet on a Google Doc is STILL a worksheet. Students should be using tech to create!" I've heard this sentiment over and over, and it's exactly why I've put this list together. Google offers some incredibly powerful tools if we know how to use them. I hope this list has given you a few new ideas to put into your students' hands. ♦

There's a lot more where this came from.
Join the Cult of Pedagogy mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloadable resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading. If you are already a subscriber and want this resource, just check your most recent email for a link to the Members-Only Library-it's in there!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
16 Ideas for Student Projects Using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Your students probably already use these tools to write papers or create presentations, but they could be doing other projects you may not have thought of.