3C. Portfolio Assignment
In this final section, you will learn about curriculum resources to teach digital citizenship, see examples of teaching, and complete your portfolio assignment. The portfolio assignment will allow you to try out a digital citizenship assignment with your students--one that focuses on student media creation.
Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum
There are several curriculum resources available for schools teaching digital literacy and citizenship skills. Some of the things you should consider when choosing which curriculum to use is:
Is it research-based?
Does it used a balanced tone (not fear-based)?
Is it comprehensive in covering a variety of digital citizenship topics?
Are the lesson plans easy to follow and easy to use, adapt, and implement?
Is it engaging for students?
Does it offer accompanying resources for parents?
(Practically speaking)...is there a fee?
Below is a list of curriculum offerings for digital citizenship. Browse at least two of these resources while considering the above questions.
Is it research-based?
Does it used a balanced tone (not fear-based)?
Is it comprehensive in covering a variety of digital citizenship topics?
Are the lesson plans easy to follow and easy to use, adapt, and implement?
Is it engaging for students?
Does it offer accompanying resources for parents?
(Practically speaking)...is there a fee?
Below is a list of curriculum offerings for digital citizenship. Browse at least two of these resources while considering the above questions.
- BrainPop - BrainPop has a Digital Citizenship section of animated, curricular content that engages students, supports educators, and bolsters achievement.
- Common Sense Media - Common Sense Media, a national nonprofit, offers a free K-12 Digital Literacy and Citizenship curriculum which is comprehensive, research-based, offers a Scope and Sequence, and and includes curriculum with resources for parents.
- Digital ID - A robust collection of resources, tools, and examples of student work on digital citizenship.
- Digital Passport - A free, online interactive game for upper elementary that teaches the rules of the road for digital citizenship.
- Edmodo - resources in the Digital Citizenship Community
- iKeepSafe - Offers resources for educators.
- Microsoft - Offers a free curriculum around Digital Citizenship and Creative Content
- Netsmartz - NetSmartz Workshop is an interactive, educational program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) that provides age-appropriate resources to help teach children how to be safer on- and offline.
What Does Teaching Digital Citizenship Look Like?
Digital citizenship can be integrated into a variety of subjects, including English language arts, social studies, history, library, technology, health and wellness, and character education. There are even connections with math and science. Watch one the videos below to see an example of what digital citizenship looks like being taught at your grade level. Questions to consider: How are teachers engaging students? How are they meeting ELA Common Core and ISTE's Student standards? How do you think your students would respond to this lesson?
- Follow the Digital Trail (K-2)
- Super Digital Citizen (3-5)
- Understanding Fair Use in a Digital World (6-8)
- Cyberbullying: What's Crossing the Line? (6-8)
- Understanding the Impact of Digital Footprints (6-8)
- Private Today, Public Tomorrow (9-12)
- Overexposed: Sexting and Relationships (9-12)
- College Bound (9-12)
- English/language arts: Students learn about the concept of perspective-taking while also exploring a the possible perspectives of all those involved in a cyberbullying situation.
- English/writing: By analyzing online profiles or personal blogs, students learn about the power of writing for an audience, and how different audiences have different interpretations.
- Speaking/debate: Students role-play copyright lawyers and debate whether or not popular remixes or mashups fall under fair use.
- History: Students explore the role of social media, privacy, digital footprints while also teaching about historical figures. Students create fake social media profiles for historical figures or consider how history would be different had there been social media (i.e. What would Lincoln have tweeted)?
- Character education: Students reflect on how "the golden rule" applies online and how they can help build a positive online community.
Student Media Creation
Students begin to "own" digital citizenship when they create their own media, collaborate with other students, and participate in student-led campaigns. Young people at Radio Rookies, a youth-based radio show, tackled a subject that had been going on in their communities but no one discussed: sexual cyberbullying. Listen to this powerful Radio Rookies broadcast.
When young people share their voices about these topics, especially to a larger audience than the classroom, it not only creates awareness and a space for conversation, but it can be a powerful experience for the students who created it. By including student-produced media creation projects as part of learning, digital citizenship comes full circle because students get to enact responsible decision-making in the messages they create.
The Digital ID project, for instance, encourages student media creation about digital citizenship issues. Students can even submit their work to be featured on Digital ID. See examples from Digital ID of student-created work, including posters, newscasts, public service announcements, and poetry (and learn how your students can submit their work to Digital ID). Watch the student-produced PSA below, "Wanted," about cyberbullying and being an upstander.
When young people share their voices about these topics, especially to a larger audience than the classroom, it not only creates awareness and a space for conversation, but it can be a powerful experience for the students who created it. By including student-produced media creation projects as part of learning, digital citizenship comes full circle because students get to enact responsible decision-making in the messages they create.
The Digital ID project, for instance, encourages student media creation about digital citizenship issues. Students can even submit their work to be featured on Digital ID. See examples from Digital ID of student-created work, including posters, newscasts, public service announcements, and poetry (and learn how your students can submit their work to Digital ID). Watch the student-produced PSA below, "Wanted," about cyberbullying and being an upstander.
Reflect on what kind of media creation your students have access to and what students would be engaged in creating and learning about. Also consider what digital citizenship topic(s) might connect with other topics in your curriculum.
Portfolio Assignment
Using this lesson plan template, develop a lesson plan that 1) teaches students about a specific digital citizenship topic, and 2) includes a student media creation component (i.e. poster contest, club, video, school awareness campaign, etc.). Complete the lesson plan with your students and share a sample of student work.
Sample media creation tools*:
Animoto - animated moving slideshow creator
Voicethread - storytelling tool where multiple people can comment on the same video, text, or picture
Piktochart - infographic creation tool
Edu Glogster - collage/poster making tool
Explain Everything (iPad app) - create stellar multimedia presentations
Make Beliefs Comix - easy comic maker
Audacity - podcast creation and sound recording tool
- Or another media creation tool of your choice
*Note: It's recommended that you review the privacy policies of the tools before registering. You may want to create generic accounts in some cases. Some tools make media creations public, so be thoughtful in creating usernames that don't reveal private information. Get the appropriate permission to post any videos or photos of teens. And use photos and video that are in the public domain or that you have permission to use through Creative Commons.
Flickr Creative Commons
Public Domain Music
BBC Motion Gallery
Sample media creation tools*:
Animoto - animated moving slideshow creator
Voicethread - storytelling tool where multiple people can comment on the same video, text, or picture
Piktochart - infographic creation tool
Edu Glogster - collage/poster making tool
Explain Everything (iPad app) - create stellar multimedia presentations
Make Beliefs Comix - easy comic maker
Audacity - podcast creation and sound recording tool
- Or another media creation tool of your choice
*Note: It's recommended that you review the privacy policies of the tools before registering. You may want to create generic accounts in some cases. Some tools make media creations public, so be thoughtful in creating usernames that don't reveal private information. Get the appropriate permission to post any videos or photos of teens. And use photos and video that are in the public domain or that you have permission to use through Creative Commons.
Flickr Creative Commons
Public Domain Music
BBC Motion Gallery