Teaching Digital Citizenship and Safety

In honor of it being National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, I thought it would be apropos to share a somewhat-related story of how my school is teaching digital citizenship and safety in hopes that it may help other schools and teachers do the same.  I have a link to our program at the end of this post.  You can also read my previous writings on digital citizenship here.  Digital citizenship and Internet safety are critical concepts that students must understand and apply in their own lives as their access to web-connected devices and services begin earlier and earlier.  After all, these devices and online services are tools, and, as with any tool, we must teach the uninitiated how to use them responsibly, safely, and intelligently lest they get themselves in trouble via misuse.

Not long after I started working at my school, I recognized the need to gather feedback, insights, and questions from the staff about the technology used throughout the school.  The effective exploration and integration of technology (or any other thing) are predicated on open collaboration, detailed planning, careful execution, and thoughtful reflection.  To this end, I formed and headed up the Technology Committee.

Last year, our main goal was to develop a unified series of lessons in Grades 3-5 to teach digital citizenship and safety.  Some teachers were already teaching various aspects of this, but there wasn’t a common curriculum.  We, the Technology Committee, sought to remedy this by creating a consistent and scaffolded program of lessons, so there were no overlaps or gaps in teaching these integral skills and the lessons would build on each other throughout the grades.  We also wanted to schedule these lessons at the beginning of the school year to lay a solid foundation on which to build later and head off any student misuse of technology.  Finally, we understood teachers have much to teach already, so we focused on core lessons and divided the teaching of those lessons between the classroom teacher, the Library/Media teacher, and the Makerspace teacher.  I went into the classrooms to teach some lessons as well, which was very fun.  We thought it would be beneficial for the students to learn about digital citizenship and safety from different people, who could offer unique perspectives on the subject.

Like any good creator (or artist), we took bits and pieces from existing lessons and resources, modified them to meet our vision, and quilted them together in a final product.  We didn’t want to rely all on one source for these lessons.  To promote unification and scaffolding, we borrowed an idea from Google’s Be Internet Awesome program and put our lessons into four pillars or units that would cross all three grades:  Be Digitally Kind (Unit 1), Be Digitally Safe (Unit 2), Be Digitally Responsible (Unit 3), and Be Digitally Savvy (Unit 4).  Each grade would be learning lessons in the same pillar at the same time to bring a cohesiveness to the program.  We put three lessons in each of those units:  one for the classroom, one for Library/Media, and one for Makerspace.  We chose lessons that would complement the theme of those units, put them in an order that would build on each other, and ended each grade with a lesson that we felt synthesized all the units.  In total, we had twelve lessons for each grade.  Our goal was to complete one unit each month:  Unit 1 in September, Unit 2 in October, Unit 3 in November, and Unit 4 in December.

Thus far, our program has been going very well.  Of course, this is our first year implementing it, so we are actively reflecting on it and looking for ways to improve it.  Also, we will brainstorm ways to build on these lessons later in the year to reinforce the learning.  We are thinking of having each grade do some kind of project-based/real-world assignment that can authentically make use of what they have learned.

I wanted to share the program we developed with all of you in hopes that it may be of some help teaching these valuable and essential skills.  Click here to view it.  If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me via Twitter.  My handle is @BurchTech.

Developing Digital Citizens

Although the Internet as we know it has been around for over 25 years, it will always be a brave, new world to the latest generation of children.  The younger generations are labeled as “digital natives”, having grown up with computers and the World Wide Web at their fingertips.  Yet, we must not assume they are native digital citizens.  The digital world has its own rules, expectations, and customs that can only be acquired and mastered through the guidance of those who know how the digital world works.  That’s us – teachers, guidance counselors, parents.  We must welcome these new, young citizens to our digital land, and help them to safely and successfully navigate its strange terrain.

Since this week is Digital Citizenship Week (October 16-20), it is the perfect time to begin the journey to help students become respectful and responsible digital citizens.  We do not have to go this journey alone as there are excellent resources to help us teach digital citizenship.  Since many K-12 schools already use G Suite for Education, I will focus on Google’s Digital Citizenship resources since they are easy to use and integrate.

Google wants students to Be Internet Awesome.

The core principles that shape the lessons and activities of the Be Internet Awesome program are:

Be Internet Smart – Share with Care

Good (and bad) news travels fast online, and without some forethought, kids can find themselves in tricky situations that have lasting consequences. The solve? Learning how to share with those they know and those they don’t.

Be Internet Alert – Don’t Fall for Fake

It’s important to help kids become aware that people and situations online aren’t always as they seem. Discerning between what’s real and what’s fake is a very real lesson in online safety.

Be Internet Strong – Secure Your Secrets

Personal privacy and security are just as important online as they are offline. Safeguarding valuable information helps kids avoid damaging their devices, reputations, and relationships.

Be Internet Kind – It’s Cool to be Kind

The Internet is a powerful amplifier that can be used to spread positivity or negativity. Kids can take the high road by applying the concept of “treat others as you would like to be treated” to their actions online, creating positive impact for others and disempowering bullying behavior.

Be Internet Brave – When in Doubt, Talk It Out

One lesson that applies to any and all encounters of the digital kind: When kids come across something questionable, they should feel comfortable talking to a trusted adult. Adults can support this behavior by fostering open communication at home and in the classroom.

The Be Internet Awesome program offers a free, ISTE-aligned curriculum with well-designed and detailed lessons and activities.  There is also a very fun and engaging game that reinforces the lessons.

Here are some other great resources for Be Internet Awesome:

Classroom Poster

Student Pledge

Paper Cut, Fold, and Glue Activity

Finally, Google offers a free Digital Citizenship and Safety Course for teachers to help them better educate their students on staying safe and secure online.  This course takes approximately 75 minutes to complete.

The Internet is a brave, new world for our children.  It is paramount that we take the time to teach them how to respectfully, responsibly, and safely explore this world that is becoming a bigger part of our lives each day.  The Internet is a community like any other, and the better citizens we can be in our community the better we all will be for it.

A Super Citation Tool

If academia had a scarlet letter, it would be P.  Those who dare to claim somebody else’s work as their own or even leave sources uncited would be branded with a gasp-inducing red P.  If you haven’t guessed it, I’m talking about plagiarism.  All kidding aside, people have lost jobs, students have been expelled, and publications have lost credibility because of plagiarism.

In my day, we had to pore over citation manuals or just memorize how to cite common sources in the most popular styles to write our research papers and works cited pages.  Only for the styles to change the next year!  Now, there are a few tools out there that will do all this work for you…and do it flawlessly.  The tool I’m going to focus on is one I think does it the best and offers additional useful features.

If you’ve heard of or used RefME before, then you should know that it has changed its name and all its services to Cite This for Me.  You can create your free account on its website.  The first neat thing about Cite This for Me is that all your references, citations, work cited pages, and notes are stored in the cloud, so you can access them from any computer, tablet, or smartphone once you sign in to your account.

Cite This for Me has a great Google Chrome extension that allows you to cite, quote, and save any reference you access online through Chrome to your account.  You can get this extension by clicking here.  Once you have the citation information, click “Add to bibliography”, and you’re done.  Here’s what that looks like:

Cite This for Me can do citations in MLA, APA, Chicago, and Harvard styles.  You can see all of its features for creating a works cited page below:

Cite This for Me provides many other great features, such as topic ideas, a plagiarism checker, and a spelling/grammar checker.  Also, it has an add-on for Microsoft Word, so you can seamlessly import citations and works cited pages from Cite This for Me directly into Word.

Now, you can go forth and live an academically sinless life!

Finding Images Right Within Google Docs and Slides

A few months ago, I wrote about effective ways to use Google Image Search to not only find the perfect picture for your needs, but to also get pictures that are free and legal to use and/or modify.  This is important for students because it allows them to be good digital citizens and avoid plagiarism.  There is a way to do this within Google Docs and Slides, which makes the whole process of finding and inserting images much faster and smoother.

When you are using Google Docs or Slides, click on “Insert”, and then click on “Image”.

A new window will appear, and you should click on “Search” to begin looking for images.  You are given three choices of databases to search:  Google, Life, and stock images.

Depending on your needs, you can conduct the same search in one or all three of these databases to find exactly what you want.  The images that do appear in your search will automatically be ones that are free and legal to use because of the built-in filter with the search.  If you are using a G Suite for Education account, then all of the images will be filtered with Google’s Safe Search as well.

Using this embedded image search tool within Google Docs and Slides will help keep students on task as they don’t have to leave the file they are working on to search for and get images elsewhere.  It will help them find appropriate and free pictures to use.  Finally, it will streamline the whole process to get the work done more efficiently.

Safe Search Engines for Kids

Providing students with safety and accuracy whenever they search for something on the Internet is crucial.  In previous posts, I wrote about Internet safety and how to get better results from Google Search and Google Image Search.  Nevertheless, there are still malicious, inappropriate, and inaccurate search results from which students must be protected.  Below are three excellent search engines for younger students that offer safety, accuracy, and bonus educational information.

Kiddle combines Google Safe Search results as well as results that have been thoroughly reviewed and curated by Kiddle’s editors.  According to Kiddle, search results 1 through 3 are “[s]afe sites and pages written specifically for kids.  Handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors.”  Search results between 4 and 7 are “[s]afe, trusted sites that are not specifically written for kids, but have content written in a simple way, easy for kids to understand.  Handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors.”  Search results 8 and beyond are “[s]afe famous sites that are written for adults, providing expert content, but are harder for kids to understand.  Filtered by Google safe search.”  Kiddle uses picture thumbnails beside each search result and large Arial font to improve visual comprehension and readability.  Finally, Kiddle protects users’ privacy:  “[W]e don’t collect any personally identifiable information, and our logs are deleted every 24 hours.”

Safe Search Kids also utilizes Google Safe Search filters to provide students with appropriate search results for websites, images, and videos.  Additionally, Safe Search Kids’ homepage offers a plethora of information and articles on digital citizenship, cyberbullying, and many other related topics.  It is an effective one-stop-shop to educate students on Internet safety and responsibility.

Junior Safe Search uses a combination of Google Safe Search and its own unique filters to provide suitable content for students.  It also offers three interesting daily bits of information:  Word of the Day, Quote of the Day, and This Day in History.  Junior Safe Search could be a great start page for a browser that students use.

Along with teaching students effective search strategies, these search engines should help them find exactly what they’re looking for while avoiding anything inappropriate.

How to Use Google Image Search

Finding the right image can work wonders for a presentation, document, or website.  Using Google Search to find the right one can leave you with thousands to choose from, which can be overwhelming and time-consuming.  Just like with using Google Search to find websites or publications, there are filtering tools you can use to fine tune your search and quickly find the right image.

Click on Tools, and several filter drop-down menus appear.  The first lets you filter by the size or dimensions of an image.  You can even specify a particular size by clicking on "Exactly...".

The next one filters by color.  For example, I could filter by yellow if I wanted to find yellow foliage.  The transparent option is very handy because these images have no background, so you can seamlessly integrate it into anything you want.  Images with no background look slick when you add them to something.

The Type filter allows you to narrow your search by the following attributes in this screenshot:

The next filter gives you the ability to find images from a certain period of time.  You can even set a custom range if you know of an exact time-span from which you want images.

The next one might be the most important since it identifies if you can legally reuse and/or modify an image.  This filter is especially important to students who must maintain standards of digital citizenship and avoid plagiarism.  The first two filters apply to commercial use.  You can reuse without modifying the image, or you can reuse and modify the image.  The last two filters apply to noncommercial use.

Now, you can find the right image without worrying about being sued!

Safe and Secure

We should have a unique, strong, and different password for all our accounts, especially for our computers since they are the gateway to many other accounts.  A strong password should be at least twelve characters with a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.  Here are two effective ways to create strong, unique, and memorable passwords:

1.  Choose three characters in each of the following four groups:  symbol, uppercase letter, lowercase letter, and number.  For example, %>}QCPzbw762.  Now, you really only have to remember four sets.  Also, the letters and numbers could have special meaning to you to make them easier to remember.

2.  Choose a phrase or sentence with nine words.  For example, the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  Abbreviate it to the following with alternating uppercase and lowercase letters:  TqBfJoTld.  Finally, include two numbers and one symbol or one number and two symbols to get the final password:  TqBfJoTlD#&3.

Check out this great article for other ways to create a strong and secure password.

Downloading or installing something on your computer can put your electronic safety at risk.  Here are three fundamental ways to prevent yourself from downloading or installing something malicious on your computer, which could also end up damaging the entire network it is on.  First, never open an email or an email attachment from a sender you don't recognize or trust.  Just delete it.  Second, never download or install anything from a suspicious website.  If something just doesn't seem right about it, don't do it.  Third, always check to see if the website is running a secure protocol.  Look for this in the URL bar:

 

The "s" in "https" means it is secure.  If the "s" isn't there, don't download!  To automatically make every website you visit use HTTPS, install the HTTPS Everywhere Chrome Extension.  It's simply one more action you can take to keep yourself safe on the Internet.  To learn more about https, what it does, and how it works, click here.

Finally, although your password may be strong, once you're logged in to your computer, anyone can walk up to it and do anything they wish.  Here's a quick and easy way to secure your computer whenever you need to step away from it, so that it's not open for anyone to use.

If you need to leave your computer, press the Windows key (looks like a four-pane window next to the Alt key) and the L key at the same time.  This will lock your computer and require your password to unlock it.  To unlock it, press Ctrl, Alt, and Del at the same time as you normally would to log in, and then enter your password.

Now, when you have to step away from your computer, it will be protected against intrusion or just pranksters who, in the spirit of Halloween, want to change your background to this: