Seriously, How Scary IS Technology? Proactive vs. Reactive Approaches

Summary of “Digital Citizenship: It Takes a Village” by Randy Hollandsworth, Lena Dowdy, and Judy Donovan

This article addresses the issue of digital citizenship, which it defines as using the internet and other technology appropriately and in a fashion that will lead to deeper understanding rather than shallow exploration (Hollandsworth, Dowdy, Donovan 2011).  The article goes on to discuss who is involved in this “village” that should be teaching children about digital citizenship and how we can go about educating children about appropriate use of technology.

Response to the Article

This article applies directly to what’s happening in schools in our area right now.  First of all, there’s definitely discord when it comes to which districts and age levels have access to which technology tools.  Some schools allow cell phones, while others do not.  Some schools have completely banned YouTube; some allow teachers to use YouTube for educational purposes.  It seems as if policies in most districts are fairly reactionary—teachers and parents see negative messages about the internet and other forms of technology in the media and are reluctant to allow student access to sites that could be harmful to students. 

When I student taught, one of the teachers on my team incorporated technology into many of his lessons; unfortunately, he didn’t prepare the students’ parents for the technology their children would be using.  When a student told her mother that she had been asked to create a Google account in order to share her essay on Google Docs, her mother was concerned.  What kind of information did her daughter have to share with Google to participate in this website?  Why hadn’t she been informed that her daughter’s information would be used to create an account?  Though the information Google requires for signup is fairly benign, the fact that this teacher didn’t inform parents of what type of technology he was using set him up for hostility and problems from cautious parents such as this mom.  A proactive approach would have anticipated questions such as these and addressed them BEFORE it became a problem.

On a positive note, I will say that I’ve seen training on good character and anti-bullying messages in several of the schools I’ve visited. If this is something that’s already going on during advisory periods or homeroom at Papillion South, it doesn’t seem as if it would be too difficult to apply community citizenship strategies and lessons to digital citizenship.  Also, I believe that my curriculum includes discussion of copyright and what it means to steal someone else’s property, either digital or intellectual.  At least a few of the ideas mentioned in this article are being addressed in some fashion within Papillion South, which is good to know.

My opinion

This article addresses an issue that I worry about in regard to my students—negative or hurtful messages that they receive on the internet or on their cell phones.  This brings a few questions to mind for my district: how much are we responsible for?  If students are sending one another hurtful messages from home, how do we handle these issues at school?  Is cyber bullying something that we address in homeroom workshops or something of that nature?  I’d like to know if my school is proactive rather than reactive.  As much as we teach about the effects that bullying can have on others, students still pick on one another.  Technology gives them another means of doing so.  How do we plan to address digital citizenship when it comes to communications with peers?  I don’t think that we should ban technology or cell phones altogether because that seems an awful lot like a bunch of educators ignoring a problem that’s going to persist whether we choose to see it or not.

I really enjoyed this article.  Technology is a hot topic for many districts, but I feel as if the conversation is sometimes taken in the wrong direction.  In most discussion that I hear regarding technology in the classroom, teachers, parents, administrators or students often address specific websites or the fairness of technology bans.  This article takes an approach that I really appreciate: the technology isn’t going anywhere!  Why would we take these tools away?  Our TRUE responsibility as educators is to show our students how to use the amazing resources that technology can provide in a respectful manner.

I also thought the article made an interesting point about the connection between what we teach and our state standards.  A survey respondent told the authors of this article that “Digital citizenship is not very well addressed because it is not tested as a state standard” (Hollandsworth, Dowdy, Donovan 2011).  This is a little disconcerting.  State standards are obviously important, but it’s also important to recognize student needs outside of what shows up on tests.  The surveys throughout the article showed that teachers and administrators are in favor of education in digital citizenship.  I believe that if we see an area of concern for our students, we should address it regardless of what shows up on tests.  Obviously this is would be difficult, as our year is jam-packed with curriculum requirements, but this is also a reason for educators to speak up to administrators about what we believe our students need.  We’re not trained to be fearful of change, and our students certainly aren’t afraid of learning new things when it comes to technology.  Now I’m really hoping there’s some kind of digital citizenship curriculum in Papillion!