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Protect Yourself Protect Others Digital Rights Responsibilities

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Protect Yourself Protect Others Digital Rights Responsibilities

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What Should a Preschooler Know About Technology? 

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What Should a Preschooler Know About Technology? 

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Consider your everyday pair of pivoting scissors - a common tool that every young child struggles to master, but eventually learns to use with experience in your art center. We take them for granted, but when they were first introduced in 1761, they were, quite literally, cutting-edge technology.

Today, thanks to microprocessors and the Internet, there are many new types of "scissors" for a child to master - and for that matter, for us adults, too. But what specifically should a young child know about digital technologies?

The first step is to start thinking beyond the mouse and keyboard. Consider, for example, that most children growing up today have opened up a musical greeting card. This interaction involves a microprocessor that is more powerful than the first IBM PC! By using your curriculum as a template, it is easy to spot the experiences that support such common skills as language, social learning, logic and creativity.

So how do you teach a preschooler technology? You don't. By merely integrating such experiences into a child's daily routine, they can try them on for size and become more adept at using them. Technical "mysteries," such as using pull-down menus or knowing when a toy needs fresh batteries, soon become second nature. Again, use your curriculum as your guide. To promote socialization, have two chairs at a computer screen instead of one, and look for iPad apps that promote turn-taking and offer multiple challenge levels. Keep things in balance with other non-digital activities and routines.

Using and Choosing Techology for Preschoolers:

Don't try to formally "teach" technology skills and competencies. Instead, set the stage for successful experimentation by providing the materials, introducing them, and offering support.

Let children practice using technology by pretending with the types of gadgets they see their parents using, such as a smart phone, iPad, or laptop.

Use a wireless laptop so that you can bring a Web-based experience to children, in the context of their play.

Keep a digital camera at the ready to capture and document children's work.

Set the stage for social, active learning. Choose activities that involve more than one child, like playing a Web-based game such as Starfall.

Encourage children to represent what they do using digital cameras.

Introduce new technology during circle time, prior to placing it in a learning center.

Expand on your children's interests by letting them come up with search words and see the results in ways they can understand (e.g., as a set of images rather than text alone).

Technology Standards - What Should Children Know:

By the time children enter kindergarten, they should be able to navigate computers and iPads alike, launching applications, and negotiating menus. Why? Because many of their classmates will have these skills, which are required for basic computer and iPad usage. The following observable behaviors are typical of such mastery, but keep in mind that this is a suggested list designed to obtain a measure of a child's knowledge. In addition, technology is continually evolving, so it is important that you use this list as a flexible guideline only.
A child entering kindergarten may:

Use fine motor skills to use the mouse to move a cursor to a target on the screen.

Show awareness of the "power keys" on a keyboard (e.g., "enter," "esc," "delete," and the space bar).

Know the difference between the left and right mouse button (which can be helped by a small label or sticker).

Be familiar with at least five quality interactive applications, games, or activities.

Have a basic working vocabulary of common technology terms, such as "digital camera," "iPad," "computer," "Internet," "mouse," "keyboard," and "printer."

Have been exposed to common technology terms in the natural context of everyday conversation, such as "on/off," "Internet," "browser," "software," "hardware," "computer," "mouse," "monitor," "keyboard," "digital camera," "printer," "battery," and so on.

Have taken their first digital photo.

Find the numerals on a QWERTY keyboard.

Type their first name on a QWERTY keyboard.

Understand the basic functions of a browser, including how to open or close windows and use the "back" key.

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What Should a Preschooler Know About Technology? | Scholastic

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Consider your everyday pair of pivoting scissors - a common tool that every young child struggles to master, but eventually learns to use with experience in your art center. We take them for granted, but when they were first introduced in 1761, they were, quite literally, cutting-edge technology.

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Indiana University of Pennsylvania on YouTube

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Internet safety for kids is a topic getting much attention because children are being exposed to the Internet at a younger and younger age. IUP Communications Media professor Erick Lauber and his student production team at IUP's Digital Media Institute recently produced this video on Internet safety for kids for the Indiana Area School District.

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As the Internet becomes an increasingly important part of all of our lives, children are spending more time online as well. And they are doing this largely without any guidance about what is responsible or appropriate online.

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I sometimes learn more about my own practice in the classroom from the questions I am asked than I do from my own reflection. There is something about the lenses through which others see our work that helps us to see ourselves more clearly. That was the case earlier this month at the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston.

At the end of the first day of a two-day session I was leading on Building Learning Communities in elementary classrooms, I asked the participants what they specifically wanted to talk about on the second day. One of the attendees asked me to address the way I introduce the idea of digital citizenship in my classroom. What a great question! Unfortunately, I didn't have a great answer. I did though, have the evening to think about my response.

I have posted before about how and why I teach digital citizenship in my classroom. We often have discussions about the issues involved in this concept. As I thought about it, though, I realized that I had never explicitly taught the idea of digital citizenship. Every year, we talk about being safe online, about each student posting their best work on their individual blog, about building a positive image of our classroom through the tweets on our classroom Twitter account, about letting the world see what we do, about how to comment well and about the ways we learn from others outside of our classroom. Every year, I refer over and over to these ideas (although I have never specifically called it digital citizenship-that term is a bit too nebulous for six-year-olds) and the students are soon able to articulate the hows and whys of what we do in our social media spaces. But I had never taken the time to specifically introduce them to the whole concept of posting online in a way that would lay the groundwork for what we talk about throughout the year.

Clearly, this needed to be changed.

This year, I will purposefully teach that first lesson about being safe and responsible online. My goal for this lesson would not be a finished product or a specific curriculum outcome, but a foundational awareness of what it means to post online.
Showing Examples and Asking Questions
I will choose two blogs belonging to past students from my classroom- a girl and a boy who have since left our school or are old enough that none of my new children will know who they are, what they look like, etc. I will choose anonymous students because I don't want my new class to have any ideas about these students beyond what each of them has posted online. I'll project these blogs for my class to see and together, we will explore them.

After looking at each blog's tagline, "About Me" section and some of the individual posts on each blog, we'll talk about the following questions.

What things do you know about Aaliyah and Haydn?

What things don't you know about Aaliyah and Haydn?

What do you notice about the things they have posted on their blogs?

Why do you think there is no picture of Haydn or Aaliyah's face on their blog?

Would you like to be friends with Haydn or Aaliyah? Why?

Would you have felt differently if Haydn and Aaliyah had posted things that were unkind? Mean?

These questions will inevitably generate other questions from the students who are new to the whole idea of posting online and will give us a good starting point to discuss why we post online and how we can do this in not only a safe manner, but in a way that helps us to learn and others to learn from us.

Hopefully with this specific introduction as a basis for what we do, our frequent "just in time" discussions about safety, kindness and appropriate posting online will be even more meaningful as the students will all have the necessary background right from the start to understand what it means to post online. Kids do learn best from other kids (or in this case, other kids' blogs)!

If something is important, it deserves to be taught well, including a good introduction. I think that teaching digital citizenship is important. So, from now on, I'm going to do a much better job of introducing this to my students. Thanks for the great question, Caitlin!

If you have never specifically taught this concept in your classroom either, feel free to use the student blogs I linked to above. Maybe you're way ahead of me and have done this many times. If so, I'd love to hear how you have done this.

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Introducing Young Children To Digital Citizenship

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I sometimes learn more about my own practice in the classroom from the questions I am asked than I do from my own reflection. There is something about the lenses through which others see our work that helps us to see ourselves more clearly.

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Digital Citizenship in Kindergarten (1 Device Lesson)

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Digital Citizenship "means the norms of appropriate, responsible, and healthy behavior related to technology use, including digital literacy, ethics, etiquette, and security.”

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What is Digital Citizenship? | #DigCitUtah

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What is digital citizenship and why is DigCit education important? As defined by HB213, Digital Citizenship "means the norms of appropriate, responsible, and healthy behavior related to technology use, including digital literacy, ethics, etiquette, and security." Typically, as can be seen in this DigCitUtah Resources Library, many digital citizenship curricula often have a heavy focus...

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Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately.

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Welcome to the updated Digital Citizenship Website

Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool; it is a way to prepare students/technology users for a society full of technology. Digital citizenship is the continuously developing norms of appropriate, responsible, and empowered technology use. Too often we are seeing students as well as adults misusing and abusing technology but not sure what to do. The issue is more than what the users do not know but what is considered appropriate technology usage.

The new Digital Citizenship Handbook for School Leaders: Fostering Positive Interactions Online by Mike Ribble and Marty Park, is now available at ISTE.org or Amazon.com

The Knights of 17th Street​is a fiction book for Young Adults that connects with the ideas of digital citizenship in an action filled format. Check out more information here.

Order the paperback or Kindle version from Amazon.

Digital Citizenship Today

The concept of Digital Citizenship is being viewed as an important area of educational knowledge not only in the United States but around the world. Whether it is called digital citizenship, digital wellness or digital ethics the issues are the same; how should we act when we are using digital tools, interacting with others online, and what should be taught to help the next generation be better stewards of this technology.

After 15 years working on this topic there has been some updating to the nine elements of Digital Citizenship. In addition to the updates to the the Digital Citizenship definition, as well as the Nine Elements a new Framework has been created to help users to understand and organize these themes. It is the S3 Framework (Safe, Savvy and Social). Go to the Nine Elements page to learn more about these changes.

Some great materials and discussions for our 2019 Digital Citizenship week! Here are a couple of conversations on the topic: Facebook Live with Tito de Morais (Portugal) - Facebook: facebook.com/cyberbullying.pt/videos/464966610778236/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/_HbNRzyoNBc and a Podcast with LaKisha Hudson (Dr. Hudson's Counseling Corner) Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dr-hudsons-counseling-corner/id1433902401#episodeGuid=Buzzsprout-1813330
YouTube: https://youtu.be/lF71q5x5Dn8 Buzzsprout: http://www.buzzsprout.com/152176

Working with Dr. Marty Park we have released a a new, updated book on Digital Citizenship titled - The Digital Citizenship Handbook for School Leaders: Fostering Positive Interactions Online. Once again we will be partnering with ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). Don't let the title scare you off, if you are looking for information on Digital Citizenship, you are a school leader. If you have questions or comments about the material found on this website please click on the Contact Us link to send us your information. If you are interested in reading more about Digital Citizenship please go to the Resources page then scroll down to Publications and click on the link for information you are interested in. See the latest article in Tech & Learning (Spring 2019) - Digital Citizenship Framework Updated

For those who are a member of ISTE please join the Digital Citizenship PLN (Professional Learning Network) to see how you can get involved. There is also a new initiative for everyone interested in the Digital Citizenship discussion - #digcitcommit. Go to the website - https://digcitcommit.org/ to join in. We need everyone to lend their voice to this topic.

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Digital Citizenship Consulting - Education, Technology Support

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Welcome to the updated Digital Citizenship Website Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool; it is a way to prepare students/technology users for a society full of technology.