Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Thing #11 Digital Citizenship

This is such an important issue today. From my experience with the students, they really cannot see that copying something straight from the computer is considered plagarism. I think that getting students (and teachers) to understand copyright is going to be a big issue in the next year or so. I have had to look into copyright for several classes that I have taken and everytime I look into copyright issues I learn something new. I think this is an area that we as a campus need to focus on. Playing off of the copyright laws, we truly need to be teaching our students how to find and disseminate information that they find online. There is so much information for a person to find on any topic of their choosing. Where in the world does one begin, not to mention a teenager. We need to be teaching the students how to find information that is valid and reliable. Quality websites are often difficult for students (and adults) to identify. That last issue that is imperative to our students is safety on the internet. I am truly shocked by the number of students who think it is acceptable to just confirm anyone as a friend on social networking sites, such as Facebook, without knowing who the people are. It is critical that we teach our kids to protect themselves online just as they would when walking down the street. They feel such anonimity behind the computer screen, but then end up telling strangers everything and anything about themselves. I would like to see some video interviews of students who have found themselves in over their heads after revealing too much about themselves online. I think the students would learn this lesson from hearing true examples from their peers about this problem, instead of adults telling them "what not to do."

1 comment:

  1. I have some lessons on responsible online usage that be used by classroom teachers. The kids just don't understand the consquences of giving out to much information.

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