Digital Rights and Responsibilities

Digital citizens should always be aware of their power as well as their choices. Their rights and the policies they must adhere to should be clear and consistently communicated. As it relates to students and teachers in a blended or online environment, expectations for online behavior should be clearly stated at the beginning of class within the class syllabus, welcome email/synchronous session, or even phone call. Students and parents should also have access to these policies via a PDF or link embedded in the course. Finally, teachers should communicate these rights in innovative ways such as infographics, videos, or audio messages for their students. These innovative informative methods will encourage students to be aware and take responsibility for their actions while apart of the digital community.

Here is a great link that I referenced as regards to digital citizenship.

http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Home_Page.html

Digital Safety and Security Quest

The most important thing I feel we can do to insure our students are safe online is constant education. Bombarding them information on a consistent basis using various methods would serve our students best. As a health teacher, internet safety is something sometimes difficult to for students to grasp the ramifications, because of the invincibility most teens feel. "It won't happen to me" is what I hear from numerous students as it relates to drugs, sexual health, and alcohol and unfortunately many feel this same invincibility as it relates to the internet. Giving students real world situations and constant sources of information on how to remain safe while on the web is vital.


Here are some websites I found that are great resources on internet safety:

staysafeonline.org
http://www.k12.wa.us/safetycenter/InternetSafety/default.aspx
https://digiteen.wikispaces.com/Digital+Security+and+Safety
http://www.ikeepsafe.org/be-a-pro/
https://www.whois.net/

Digital Health Quest

Balance....it is essential to the lives of successful individuals. Yes, there are successful individuals in the business community who have sacrificed family, relationships, and a social life, but the success I speak upon is the success that also provides peace. The peace that all of your worlds are as evenly as possible receiving your time, commitment and attention. That your juggling act of job, home, social, and mental health are at peace.
With the influx of technology, it has created for many a disruption of peace. The ability to have technology enhance and not hinder peace in your life is essential. For me that means at times turning off from technology. I enjoy social media and interacting with others. But in order to maintain peace, I have to shut it down. That means remaining off social media for weeks at a time. Minimal contact with others via email and text. Focusing more on my daily relationships with my husband, my children, and the people I interact with at school.
Both students and teachers should adopt regular intervals of shutting down technology and interacting with the "real world". It can be hours, days or like in my case weeks. But regularly shutting of the internet and actively reconnecting to your intranet of family, friends, and surrounds is essential to maintaining balance and peace.
Here is a great resource about learning to unplug and also address internet addiction. http://www.helpguide.org/articles/addiction/internet-and-computer-addiction.htm

Digital Resources and Netiquette

Check out my Emaze presentation about digital resources and netiquette. If all individuals demonstrated these actions awhile using online resources we would have such a dynamic and awesome online community full of positive digital citizens!!!

Access to the Digital Community........

There are various barriers or hurdles students can face when trying to access or grow through digital learning. Some of those barriers include access to internet access at home, access to a functioning computer, laptop, or tablet that will allow students to complete assignments, and finally basic digital literacy. The charts below from Pew Research shows the steady growth of internet usage among American adults and usage of mobile technology. This increase has trickled down to young adults as apparent in many school districts who are adopting BYOD or other technology based programs in bring more technology in the brick and mortar schools. 





 I think students how have more ability to access the internet and technology resources than students 5-10 years ago. Many of the students have functioning electronic devices and internet access, but I believe the biggest issue is digital literacy or how to use technology effectively. As a teacher, our job is equip students to think critically and be better able to use resources like technology to learn and grow. I think these skills are lacking more than anything and impeding students being successful with digital learning. Resources are there for most individuals, but they don't know how to successfully use them!!

To aid in elimination of barriers, teachers and parents can better educate their children on responsible digital citizenship as well as technology usage. The world is truly your oyster when you have access to technology, but learning to effectively using that power for good and success is what is needed in schools and homes. Additionally, affording those parents and students who do not have regular access to technology, locations suggestions for where free Wifi spots are for those families to access the internet away from home. Additionally, development of programs to offer gently used tablets, laptops, and computers to families who cannot afford one for their homes so that all students have the ability to access digital learning. 

DLC Forums

The following are the digital learning communities of interest to me:






 





Wikiversity is the one I joined. The main reason because of it being very user friendly. As a middle school teacher I appreciate web based programs that are easy and user friendly.  Wikiversity is easy to browse and find relevant items I might need. Digital learners can help make the process of joining and DLC easier by educating students on their availability and assisting them navigating each community that might meet their students' needs.

Reliable Resources

As a health teacher, health is constantly changing. It is sometimes difficult for my students to keep up with the ever present misinformation about exercise, diet, and various other aspects of health. Just typing health into Google brings up such a wide array and often times confusing amount of information.

Below are some reliable resources that I use personally and encourage my students to use when exploring health topics via the web.


Brainpop.com
-a great resource for teachers and students to get factual information about various aspects of health including physical, emotional, and mental. Brainpop also offers supplementary materials like quizzes and graphic organizers to help students grasp various health concepts from the nervous system to cyber-bullying. I often use brainpop videos as a means of introducing topics in class.

Centers for Disease Control (cdc.gov) and National Institutes of Health (nih.gov)
-great resources with a wealth of information on various non-infectious and infectious diseases. Often these sites are used by students completing research based assignments in my class.

In addition to using these resources, I visit the media center with my classes where students can be educated by the media specialist on how to access databases and how to interpret search results. I believe educating students consistently to decipher information and separate fact from fiction is a great way to steer them towards reliable web sources and away from misinformation.