Final Thoughts

What will you do to implement or change your current AUP?

The two major changes I am making are:

1. All nine elements of digital citizenship will be intentionally included in the AUP. There will headings for each, and brief explanation of each elements.
2. For each element there will be acceptable uses and unacceptable uses in close to direct proportion. I feel strongly that an AUP should be just that. Currently, ours has plenty of unacceptable use examples, but few acceptable use examples.

Fortunately I am in a position at work, where the school looks to me for these issues. Once my AUP is completed, I will make a recommendation to accept it. While it still may be changed a bit with the school's input, it certainly will better address the issue of digital citizenship.

What will you do to educate your faculty and staff about Digital Citizenship?

My main responsibility as the campus technologist is the professional development of our faculty for technology, and I also help steer our vision for technology. This August in in-service, I will include our new stance on digital citizenship and how it pertains to our overall goals as a school. We will spend at least one session training the faculty on the issue, and examples of appropriate and inappropriate use.

Digital Security

How do students protect their technology in a digital society?

Student can take many precautions to protecting themselves in a digital society.

• They must read privacy settings carefully and choose ones that will keep them protected from the public. If they are too young to understand these settings, they should ask a parent or a teacher to help them.
• Students must all keep information password protected. It is very important that this password not be handed out to people other than their parents. It is also a good idea to change passwords from time to time.
• Students should also let their computers perform the necessary updates. I have seen a lot of students press "cancel" when the computer wants to update its software. I try to discourage this and explain why they need to let the computer complete this task.
• Students should also take precautions to protect their identity by not using a full name, or disclosing identifying information such as their address, phone numbers and/ or a combination of these.

How can students be taught to protect themselves and their equipment from harm?

My school uses a school-based social network to help them understand what needs to be posted, and what needs to be protected. There are no private parts of the network, and it gives a accurate portrayal that all activity can be seen by a lot of people. This is a more accurate representation of privacy than most student think they have when they post information on sites like Facebook.

Schools, teachers and parents also need to model and discuss these issues. Many times, students learn this behavior by observation. Sadly many adults are unaware of these issues, and it effects their kids.

Digital Law

Are students using technology the way it was intended?

Yes and no. While there are certainly many instances where students are using technology appropriately, there are still time when they are not. I think the two largest issues are stealing and cheating. Students share academic work, take tests for each other, and steal copyrighted material. While some of this activity may be done in innocent ignorance, I have to believe that the large majority of this illegal activity is knowingly done by students. It is our job as educators to teach them legal from illegal, and ethical from unethical. We also must model what we teach.

Are students infringing on others’ rights by the way they use technology?

Sometimes yes. I thing largely in this context of digital law, we are talking about the infringement of intellectual property rights. As stated above, this is sometimes unintentional, but is our job to teach them the ends and outs of digital law so that they can be informed citizens, and act appropriately as such.

Should students using digital technologies be accountable for how they use digital technologies?

Yes. However, I believe that we must take a redemptive and educational approach. We need to take these opportunities of holding students accountable to teach them the accepted norms of use. Laws exist to keep people accountable to doing the right thing in a society. Digital laws are no different. Unfortunately, online digital law has not caught up to the explosive growth in technology and the internet. It has become increasing difficult to hold students accountable, but we must persist in our efforts to do so. Students, as well as society in general, stand to benefit from that accountability.

Digital Etiquette

Are students aware of others when they use technology?

To some extent I think yes. When students are communicating with other students, they are aware of others. While cyber bullying does represent a tragic occurrence in our culture, it certainly shows us that students are aware of others when using technology, even if it is negative. Awareness is a key ingredient in online harassment and bullying.

I also think no, in a sense, that students are not necessarily aware of other's feelings and emotions. I think that students can do or say things online and be totally self absorbed and not really think about how it may affect or be perceived by others. However, this is no excuse. Students need to be empathetic to the potential readers of that content, and adjust the message or delivery to avoid unwanted negative attention being drawn to it.

Do students realize how their use of technology affects others?

Again, most of the time no. There are certainly instances where there is intention to affect others, however, I think that the majority of online activity is self centered. Due to this self-absorbed attitude that most adolescents (and adults too for that matter) demonstrate, most content is posted without any thought to how it may affect others. This is an issue offline as well, and needs to be addressed as a universal life lesson, as well as a digital one.

Digital Literacy

Should technology be used to access information to learn new concepts?

Absolutely. In education, we talk a lot about differentiated instruction as a method to teach students in different ways and at different rates. Technology makes DI easy. Students can learn based on interest, learning style, and at their own pace using various types of technology. I love this quote from Lindsay an Davis, "But meeting standardized learning outcomes does not mean you have to standardize the process." Following this thought, teachers can use technology resources as a means to allow differentiated instruction to happen, but still hold students accountable to the same standards. It allows students to be scaffolded much easier. For instance, I took my first stats class in my doctorate last semester. This was an applied stats course in which it was understood that you knew something about stats coming in. I had never taken a stats course, and thus was behind before I even started. I used technology, specifically the Kahn Academy on YouTube, to scaffold myself to the level of the class. It was great.

As teacher, I always encourage my students to use the internet as a resource to help them with content we learn in class. I have yet to see a time when that detracted from their learning.

How can students use digital technologies to take best advantage of the educational opportunities available to them?

Like Lindsay and Davis mentioned with their flat classroom projects, technology allows for enhanced collaboration, and greater potential to learn. This coupled with a vast resource of information and teaching yields a wonderful use of technology to take advantage of educational opportunities. I don't think that technology replaces school, however, I can think of no better enhancement to their learning.

Digital Communication

Do I use email, cell phones, and instant messaging technologies appropriately when communicating with others?

Yes, I do feel as though I use digital communication appropriately. I try to use appropriate language, and communicate about appropriate topics. As an educator, I think it is important to be above reproach in our online communication. You never know when something might be seen by one of your student's or their families. I never want any of my digital communication to be called into question. I also think that there is an appropriate time and place to use digital communication, and we need to model that for our students.

What rules, options, and etiquette do students need to be aware of when using digital communication technologies?

Students need to know when it appropriate to use digital communication. Students need to also know what is appropriate when it comes to their content that they are communicating, and what consequences their actions may have if the wrong person were to come across what they are saying.

Students also need to understand etiquette for certain situations (restaurants, movies, places of business, homes other than their own, with friends, with professionals, etc.) Students need to be aware of different situations, and decide for themselves how to communicate in every situation in a manner that is appropriate and models good digital citizenship.

Digital Commerce

Focus Question: What do users need to know when buying items online?

Users need to be aware of secure websites, fraudulent websites, reputable merchants, privacy settings, and agreements.

Related Question: Why should teachers be concerned with online purchasing?

With online purchasing becoming so popular, even among school aged students, teachers bear a responsibility to teach and model appropriate digital commerce. Also teachers can learn how to better protect themselves as well.

Activity: (I asked my wife... a teacher). Yes she has made online purchase...quite frequently I might add...haha. She has not had a problem, and she has not personally heard of anyone she knows having a problem either. Her parents had problems with bank fraud, but it was because someone had stolen an actual check. The only issue a friend of mine had was buying a replacement iPod from craigslist after his was stolen. He showed up to find out it was his stolen one! He went to the bathroom at the gas station, called the police and the guy was arrested. Hilarious, scary, and unbelievable.

I hear about my student's making purchases online frequently... Especially eBay, off of PlayStation network, Xbox live, iTunes and the app store. I have not heard of any of my students having issues, but I have not talked a lot to them about it.

I think that teaching students about responsible online purchasing is very good. I can't think of any real cons with teaching them about this topic. The online con I could think about would be an increased awareness about online purchasing that would lead to more online purchase and reckless spending? Is there really a con to teaching student's responsible behavior?

Extension:

Do's:

• Make sure the merchant is well known.
• Ensure the spelling of the website is correct.
• Make sure the website is secure (https, etc.)
• Read the purchasing and privacy agreement.
• Double check your order
• If using a public computer, do not allow your browser to save personal information.
• Practice self control and responsible spending habits.

Don'ts:

• Don't by a product that is suspiciously under priced, unless you have verified the company.
• Don't save credit card numbers on a computer.
• As a student, don't make purchases without consulting a parent first.
• Don't make purchases on insecure sites.

Impressions about digital commerce:

My impressions are that many people do not know safe online purchasing habits and information. Most people have spoken with do not know the difference between a secure and insecure site. I think it is our responsibility to look after friends, family and co-workers who are venturing into the digital market without the proper tools.

I think there is also something to be said about impulse control. It is much easier to click buttons than to drive to a store and physically pay for an item. People need to exercise restraint when making purchase to ensure that overspending due to convenience does not put them in financial compromising positions.