What is a citizen? According to Dictionary.com, a citizen
is, "a native or naturalized member
of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to
its protection." By definition, the term citizen implies action; it is not a passive but an active role in a
community. A citizen receives the benefits of a community, but also owes
allegiance, or loyalty and commitment, to the community.
According to the ISTE Standards for Educators, an educator,
as a citizen of the educational community. should inspire students to positively contribute to and responsibly
participate in the digital world. Educators:
3a Create experiences for learners
to make positive, socially responsible contributions and exhibit empathetic
behavior online that build relationships and community.
3b Establish a learning culture
that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and
fosters digital literacy and media fluency.
3c Mentor students in safe, legal
and ethical practices with digital tools and the protection of intellectual
rights and property.
3d Model and promote management of
personal data and digital identity and protect student data privacy.
3a Create experiences
for learners
This ISTE standard requires educators to create experiences
that engage learners and permit them to contribute to the body of knowledge and
other resources available publicly, and also privately, in a safe and positive
manner. As specified in the definition of citizen, learners are expected to
take an active a role as members of the educational community. They are not to
be only observers. The educator is required to offer learners the training,
guidance, and opportunity to become full citizens of the educational community
through their original works. These could be any form of intellectual property
such as poetry and prose, music and lyric, video, or even counseling, tutoring,
and fundraising.
There are two more parts to creating this learning
environment. In additional to making "positive,
socially responsible contributions," learners are to "exhibit empathetic behavior online that
build[s] relationships and community." This standard requires much
more than an educator throwing a lesson together and presenting it to students.
It requires that an educator know what is appropriate for the learning
environment, research appropriate tools, develop meaningful assignments,
monitor learner activities, and more.
I imagine this is overwhelming to one looking at all of this
for the first time. Remember, none of us is working alone. There are numerous
resources that can be drawn on to get started. No one needs to reinvent the
wheel to meet this standard. If you are feeling lost, join a PLN or a Facebook
group that encourages student-centered learning in the digital age. Many
teachers and organizations publish blogs with creative ideas for projects and
other assessments that meet the ISTE Teacher and Learner standards. Some
educational organizations publish state standards for education online and
include curriculum-based project ideas you can reference.
3b Establish a
learning culture
The learning environment is no longer teacher-driven. As I
like to say to my students, education is not a spectator sport; you must
participate, and what you receive from your education is directly impacted by
what you put into it. There is not enough room for creativity in a teacher-driven
system. Learners must have the opportunity to explore in order to feed their
curiosity.
A large part of achieving this standard requires that
students have an opportunity for self-reflection. They need to not only be
trained to determine the validity and reliability of the information they are
looking at, but also how their own personal bias might impact how they receive
it. Media fluency requires that learners develop the skills necessary to "interpret large amounts of complex
information in multiple formats and communicate and share across various media
formats."
Providing a digital and information literacy program that
begins at the kindergarten level will help learners develop these skills, but
many of our young people have not had any training in evaluating information
sources. Today's educator must find a way to help learners develop these skills
so that they can become productive citizens of the digital age.
3c Mentor students
Mentoring may be a new concept for a lot of us. It requires
that we listen to and observe each learner to determine what their individual
needs are, and do our best to meet those needs within the learning environment.
Everyone learns differently so the teacher-centered approach will not fit here
as a citizen of the learning community. Student must be given opportunities to
share and to help other learners.
Learning environments should be based on "safe, legal, and ethical practices with
digital tools and the protection of intellectual rights and property."
Today's learners must be aware of the laws and usage opportunities afforded
them under current copyright laws and Creative
Commons licensing. They should also understand what it means to violate
these rules.
3d Model and promote
smart practices
Modeling is something that educators do every day. Modeling
according to the ISTE citizenship standard sets the bar higher than some
educators might be used to but it necessary for today's learners. The first
aspect requires that "Educators
engage in these best practices themselves; bring
transparency to them with colleagues, parents, students, and other
stakeholders; and promote them among students colleagues and stakeholders."
Educators are in the public eye, and what we do may impact how others behave.
It is important that educators demonstrate best practices in citizenship in and
out of the classroom and in social media.
Another aspect of this standard is protecting student data.
Educators model this by password protecting their own data and not sharing
personal information. Educators also need to be aware of who is present when
they are discussing issues related to student academics or behaviors. Student
work should not be shared without specific permission; demonstrate to learners
proper methods of presenting intellectual property that belongs to others.
Resources:
·
Digital Citizenship
·
Student centered learning resources
