digital Citizenship: Our collective responsibility

image from European Commission

Our students are not like us. They have never lived in a world where almost everyone has a device in their hands almost all of the time. They are digital natives, but that does not mean they inherently know how to use a device in a healthy and productive manner. It is a collective responsibility to teach digital citizenship. It cannot be left to parents or the digital teacher librarian. Just like we are all trying to help students live in a social society properly, we all have to collectively show them how to navigate the digital world too. ​

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you are off to a good start

​Fear not! It is not something that has to be added to curriculum as a burden. As a teacher, you are probably already teaching some aspects of digital citizenship. For example, classes involving research and writing typically include how to evaluate a website’s credibility and writing proper citations. Any time students need to search the internet, direct and explicit instruction on the credibility and reliability of information, as well as research tips, are helpful to steer students toward useful information while disregarding inaccurate or unnecessary information. This is organically digital citizenship. But we also need to be intentional.

be intentional

Did you know our district has monthly topics? Take some time to familiarize yourself with these topics so that you can support the systemic message in Jeffco. ​

image from SchoolEducationGateway

It is our collective responsibility to teach digital citizenship. These skills are essential to ensure students' safety and protection. While kids today may have no problem navigating the web, they're less likely to know how to vet sources, understand the sensitivity of the information they're sharing and take in the gravity of conversations they're having online. It's up to us and families to reinforce these concepts. There are several distinct resources available. JEFFCO EDTECH WEBSITE
More resources in Seesaw, Actively Learn, Newsela, Google Classroom and Common Sense Media are coming for Jeffco teachers in August. For now, please start thinking about how you can have everyday conversations with students knowing you make a difference daily. 

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