Category: Digital Citizenship

Digital Equity – What you need to know.

Author: Darshell Silva | Posted:
Categories: Digital Citizenship | Tags: , , , 8 Comments

Digital equity……what does it mean? According to the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA)  “Digital Equity is a condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy.  Digital Equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential … read more »

Are Your Students Good Digital Citizens?

Author: Darshell Silva | Posted:
Categories: Digital Citizenship | Tags: , ,
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Digital Citizenship week is October 15th-19th this year. What does it mean to be a good digital citizen? Good digital citizens when online think critically, weigh the risks of sharing information, evaluate sources, treat others with respect, and monitor the use of their time. You can empower your students to be good digital citizens! Most … read more »

News…is it real or is it fake? Media Literacy Today

Author: Darshell Silva | Posted:
Categories: Media Literacy | Tags: , , , 4 Comments

The New York Times was first published on September 18, 1851! The world was a very different place then. Today the words Fake News are a stark reminder of the amount of information our students receive every day. How can we help our students know what is real and what is fake? By teaching Media Literacy. According … read more »

Media Messages Matter

Author: Paula Deal | Posted:
Categories: Media Literacy | Tags: , , 2 Comments

We are inundated with media messages – be it in traditional print formats or digital texts, images, videos, or advertising. As adults, we have the experience and ability to interpret and often ignore the constant barrage of information that confronts us. However, our students do not have the expertise to handle all the extraneous information … read more »

Going Beyond Fake News to Information Literacy

Author: Paula Deal | Posted:
Categories: Media Literacy | Tags: , , ,
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Fake news and stories about fake news are everywhere right now. In a recent blog post, I shared criteria for judging online resources, including news stories, using the CRAAP test. However, since this topic is of critical importance to our students, it merits another look. In fact, digitally literate teachers who teach their students to … read more »

The First Amendment and Digital Citizens

Author: Paula Deal | Posted:
Categories: Media Literacy | Tags: , ,
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“Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” In these few, brief written words, the First Amendment protects so … read more »

Two Sides to Students’ Right to Privacy: Safety vs. Intellectual Freedom

Author: Paula Deal | Posted:
Categories: Digital Citizenship | Tags: , , , 1 Comment

This week is Choose Privacy Week , an event sponsored by the American Library Association. While privacy has been part of our recent national discussion, privacy issues are nothing new to K-12 public education, which must follow at least three privacy rules and laws.  These include the 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a … read more »

Being Resourceful Part Two: Reliable Sources and C.R.A.A.P.

Author: Paula Deal | Posted:
Categories: Media Literacy | Tags: , , , 3 Comments

Evaluating resources, in any medium, is a critical thinking skill for information literacy, media literacy, or digital citizenship.  Of course, it is also part of educational state standards patterned after the Common Core.  They emphasize reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from texts. In a discussion of the key shifts in the standards, the … read more »

Media Literacy in a Presidential Election Year

Author: Paula Deal | Posted:
Categories: Media Literacy | Tags: , , , 2 Comments

Bombarded by television ads in this presidential election year, especially in battleground states, many of us tend to press the mute button on the remote or change the station. However, as teachers, we should be thinking about the messages our students are getting when watching TV and as they live their everyday virtual lives. Media literacy, … read more »

Are Digital Natives Digital Citizens, Too?

Author: Paula Deal | Posted:
Categories: Digital Citizenship | Tags: ,
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In this season of intense political activity, now might be a good time to think about digital citizenship. We cannot assume that our students who are digital natives have the skills to be good digital citizens of the virtual world in which they live every day. Many schools have some sort of cybersafety curriculum, perhaps … read more »