Tool #11

The three things I want my kids to understand about digital citizenship are: information can be flawed (investigate); behavioral expectations exist; and remember human contact. I did read Vickie Davis' blog about digital citizenship, and she has quite a bit to say, and documents what she says very well, backing it up with quotes from others and validating her sources of information.

That's what I want my kids to be able to do...and me, too. How many times have we not just looked at an article via Yahoo or Google, and just went with the information (trusting it to be accurate), without delving any further into the issue to see what other news sources had to say about it...?! We all know now that getting the news is as much read and listen as it is form an opinion, because there is no telling what the slant is on the articles that we read. I would hate for my kids to do that...just get the first info. they find on a topic and call that research because they could say from whence they got the information.

Clearly then, we have to teach students to be mindful of the fact that they have to investigate various sources of information and then decide how these various sources hold up against each other. That will at least give them a more developed panorama of the whole story.

Additionally, my students need to behave appropriately while using digital media. I think I could teach this by example -- "kids, do you ever see ME using rude language with you when I send you a message?" or "so, when we go online for this assignment, should we be looking for anything outside of the sites to which we have access?"...etc. They are expected to behave within understood parameters at school, in the classroom, in the hall, in the cafeteria, on the playground, and are rewarded for appropriate behavior and punished for inappropriate behavior. They need to understand that such is the case for behavioral expectations when using digital media.

And while all of this is wonderful, I want them to also understand that it is still cool to sit in a circle and debrief a topic, an assignment, or whatever; that we don't have to spend every waking moment on the computer, or with some mobile device. I want them to understand that it's okay to give someone a love-slap on the shoulder (w/ precaution) every now and then, and that you can still sit together and read a real book, not an e-book...you know? I know the world is becoming increasingly more electronic each nanosecond, but when I look at the kids I know (say, when we go on a trip at church with the youth), they are often times so far away psycho-electronically, even though physically they are within three inches of you. That is scary...especially when you feel you are interrupting if you make small talk.