As a child, my parents made it a big point in our family for my sisters and me to have manners and respect for those around us. We were to put our napkins on our laps and not to have our elbows on the table or chomp our food. Our teachers, the elderly, and our authorities were to be held at the greatest respect. We were taught values and how we were to act in our society. We learned about strangers and how to say no to them. As we got older, we were then taught how to drive and to learn the rules of the road in order to keep ourselves safe. In current times, it is not only important to teach children these same values, but also their roles as citizens in the digital world. It is important that they learn how to have etiquette, respect, and values while using technology.
Digital Citizenship is is not yet addressed as a standard or discussed often in the Argentine Bilingual school. Technology is newly becoming more of a used tool, but is not seen on a daily basis as in other places. Administration has talked to the teachers about the importance of online etiquette, along with the use of technology, but do not have a school-wide plan or standard. Hopefully within the next year or two further steps will be made to put more of an emphasis on Digital Citizenship. My students attend a computer class in which they are taught the rules of computers and basics. As I try to integrate more tools to them in English, I see that it will be something that is important to teach prior to using tools. I can see myself teaching about online safety to the first graders at the beginning and middle of the school year, with reminders throughout the year as well. At a young age, it is important for them to know how to stay safe while using the computer and internet to not go anywhere they should not be going.
Digital Citizenship is important for everyone at any age. Mike Ribble states that it is more important than ever (2016). People are developing their digital footprints every day of their lives nowadays. Addressing this skill is important to help students learn, communicate, and collaborate with responsibility. Being a digital citizen includes having etiquette while writing emails, reporting and preventing cyberbullying, protecting your private information, and much more (Bharti, 2014). This skill is spread across all ages and it is something important for parents, students, teachers, and administration to practice.
The students in my classroom are about five or six years old. They have grown up with technology since they were born. It is first important for parents to be informed about digital citizenship because they need to be aware about what their children are doing on their devices. I recently watched a TED talk called, "The Nightmare Videos of Children's Youtube, and What's Wrong With the Internet Today." The speaker talked about the thousands of unknown users on Youtube creating videos that are geared towards children. A child may be watching their favorite cartoon, and when it autoplays to the next video, they may find a video that has their favorite cartoon being killed or is doing something inappropriate. Many videos end up autoplaying to either a violent or sexual video (Bridle, 2018). After watching the TED talk, this became very alerting to me, as I visioned my young students. This made me realize how important it is for parents to monitor and teach their kids how to use apps, and to know which apps are safe or not. It is important to give parents workshops and tools to know what to do at home, as it is reflected in the classroom. Schools need to put an important emphasis on Digital Citizenship and communicate its importance to all people involved within the students eductions and well beings. Due to the fact that a lot of young kids embrace technology every day without examining the consequence of implementation, we must bring digital citizenship lesson in the curriculum (Bharti, 2014).
I generally talk to my students about proper etiquette when they use the school technology, but I am realizing that it needs to become a part of the school culture. Now that I am learning and researching the importance of Digital Citizenship, I hope to emphasize the importance better in the upcoming school year. When I look to future planning in my classroom, and the new school year that will start in February, I hope to give both my students and parents a better idea of how to become Digital Citizens starting at the beginning of the year. This will be a topic I will address in our parent meetings and open houses. Even though in the Argentine Bilingual school it is not something that has policies or is standardized yet, I plan to create a safe online environment in my classroom and spread these ideas to my colleagues as well. One model that I can see myself integrating is the REP model by Mike Ribble. Which stands for respect, educating, and protecting yourself and others (Ribble, 2016).
Bharti, Prasanna. “Why Is Digital Citizenship Important? Even for Youngest Kids.” EdTechReview, 13 July 2014, edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/1331-why-is-digital-citizenship-important-even-for-youngest-kids.
Bridle, James. The Nightmare Videos of Childrens' YouTube — and What's Wrong with the Internet Today. YouTube, TED, 13 July 2018, youtu.be/v9EKV2nSU8w.
Ribble, Mike. “Digital Citizenship Is More Important than Ever.” ISTE | Blog, 2016, www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=535&.
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