Week 4 - Training for NETS Standards

You are in charge of ensuring all of the NETS standards are met within your school and this week you must meet with teachers to explain what it means to be a good "digital citizen". By using resources you have discovered through your research, the PBS Frontline videos, short video clips you have come across, explain how you would "teach" your fellow teachers about digital citizenship so that they are better prepared to teach about it within their own classes before they begin any type of digital project.


In order for me to adequately train/"teach" my fellow teachers about digital citizenship, I would first have them watch the two PBS Frontline Documentaries on today's youth and their online usage. These two documentaries show a lot of the worse case scenarios as well as best practices in schools across the country.

• Growing Up Online (2008)
• Digital Nation (2010)

After watching both documentaries, I would discuss the facts of both of them and how it applies to our students today, in our classrooms. I feel it is important for all teachers to have a solid understanding on what is really happening in the classrooms as many teachers are not nearly as advanced as their students.


Second, I would have my fellow teachers read/watch the following articles/video clips on digital citizenship, intellectual property, creative rights, etc.

• What is Digital Citizenship? (YouTube)
• Digital Citizenship (YouTube)
• Text Unto Others . . . As You Would Have Them Text Unto You (theJournal.com)
• Digital Citizenship: Focus Questions for Implementation (PDF from "Learning and Leading with Technology Magazine")
• A Campus Fad That's Being Copied: Internet Plagiarism Seems on the Rise (New York Times)

After the teachers have all watched and read all of the above videos and article, I would regather them and begin brainstorming the key factors that they see in our school. Once the list is completed, I would ask them to pick their top 5 items that they would like to see addressed. 

After we have narrowed down what would be a large list, we will begin to put together an action plan to combat these areas of digital citizenship. Once a well organized, detailed, actionable plan has been completed, I would type the plan up in a manual so that each teacher could have a copy (digital or print) as well as pass the information on to the parents of our students so that they too can help enforce good digital citizenship.

I would then plan to meet with the teachers two months after we have our plan in place to reassess where we are with our students and make changes as necessary. I feel this is the best way to get, and keep, all involved in training, creating, and enforcing good digital citizenship with our teachers and therefore students.