Digital Citizenship Week is a Call to Action

Click here to see the DigCitSummit website.
I had the opportunity to present and participate in the first Digital Citizenship Summit on October 3. As a teacher who believes in the power of technology for teaching and learning, I know that students, schools, parents and policy-makers need to work together so that we are using the tools to make positive change. If you haven't yet, this week is the time to take action.

Reflecting on the Past and Planning the Future

At the Summit I was able to learn from other speakers who included impressive digital citizenship thought-leaders from multiple perspectives: students, parents, industry leaders, psychologists, educators, and more. They are already taking action in their areas of expertise, but the summit brought us all together.  The founders, Marialice Curran and David Ryan Polgar are already taking action themselves and are promising another summit next year that will be bigger and include more student voice.

Click here to read my article on ConnectSafely's website.
After reflecting on the entire day and talking more with Marialice and David about their own debrief and plans for the future, I was able to write an article for ConnectSafely about digital citizenship best practices for schools. Since this week is #DigCitWeek and this month is both Cyber Security Awareness Month and Bullying Prevention Month, I urge educators to read the article and think about how the many important topics that make up digital citizenship can be addressed in our communities, schools, and classrooms.

Bringing the Message to More Education Leadership Events

My own contribution was a presentation -- with a few audience activities -- showing how my school has rolled out a fully integrated digital citizenship curriculum in all classes, no matter the grade level or content area. My colleague Julie Cremin is sharing our school community's work at the Northeast Professional Educator's Network Conference in early November. A couple of weeks later we are co-presenting about our program again at the EdTechTeacher iPad Summit in Boston. And I'll have the opportunity to share it again in December at the 2015 National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Conference. No doubt, at all venues we'll have even more examples of student work and teacher excellence to share since our school year marches on and digital citizenship continues to be a priority.




You Can Join Us

If you'd like to be a part of the digital citizenship movement from the comfort of your couch, you can join us on Twitter. Marialice co-founded the #DigCit chat, which happens Wednesdays at 7pm. Last week's chat was about preparing for Digital Citizenship week and the Storify is inspiring. Moderators included digital citizenship thought leaders Jason Ohler and Mike Ribble who have literally written the industry standard books on the topic, and Frank Gallagher. Follow the #DigCit hashtag every day of the week to find articles, lesson resources, and excellent examples of student work. Share the work you are doing and join the #digcitPLN.

Some Twitter chats are turning to the digital citizenship topic this week. Marialice is moderating #pisdedchat on Tuesday, October 20 at 9pm EST. The questions are previewed in the graphic here.

No matter how you take action as part of the digital citizenship movement, share your work! Blog, tweet, share with your school community and with the world. Students, parents, teachers, and industry are starting to work together so that all of us can benefit from the power of the technology while making sure our work is positive and focused.

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