TOOL #10

Three things I want my students to know about digital citizenship is (1) make sure they do not hack into eachother's work even if it is their "friend's" work.  They should never share their personal logins with friends because they never know who might get access and use it in an inapprorpiate way.  (2) They should never post something on an email, video, or other electronic form that they wouldn't want their teacher or parent to see.  I am shocked that people feel it is ok to say rude & offensive comments through blogs that can ultimately be traced back to them.  Cyber bullying is just as bad as face-to-face bullying!  (3) In an age where information is so accessable, they need to understand that copying and pasting text is easily traceable through the web and should never be done.  As a matter of fact, I think it is a good idea to teach students an actual lesson on how to take information from a paragraph in a book or on a website and change it into their own words.  AND ask.com is not a credible resource to use for a research project.

I LOVE how Brainpop has a digital citizenship video for kids to see.  I also like reviewing digital citizenship every time we start a new project in the computer lab or library with Karen.  Plus, I have even resorted to pulling out the Elementary Student Handbook to show a student the Code of Conduct so he could see how his inappropriate use of the school computers could result in disciplinary action.  Perhaps this is an area we should address this year with parents in our Bck to School slideshow and periodically in our gradelevel emails.