This is it... Reflecting on the Major Project After Journeying Through the Rabbit Hole and Back

This post was co-written with Genna Rodriguez.

Through the Rabbit Hole and Back

This is it... You know when you go on a crazy action-packed vacation, then you come home... You feel glad that you're home and you can get back to routine and normal life... but you also feel changed from your journey. Well as corny as it sounds, that's how I feel. Now that we have journeyed through the Rabbit Hole and back, it's hard to look at everything with the same lens. 

Reflecting and Looking Back

Well, here we are, at the end of the semester.  Genna and I have put in more hours than we can count into this project, but the learning journey and opportunity to ignite dialogue about true technology integration (which always has student learning at the center), has been a real rewarding experience. 

Initially we thought we would just create a framework for 21st Century Learning, as explained in our original posts. This meant identifying the essential skills students would need, based on the ISTE Standards and the work of Michael Fullan, then coming up with the definitions, skills and tools that would guide students in their learning in today's world. Then the Ministry released the Digital Citizenship Continuum. THIS CHANGED EVERYTHING. This made what we had planned seem so undeveloped. So we decided that we would try to match the efforts of the awesome team who had composed the Digital Citizenship Continuum.  After a Skype meeting with Alec and Katia, they said that this sounded like a huge undertaking.  Wow, were they right! Forty-seven articles, videos and blog posts later, we realized just how huge this was.  But we were committed to get it done!

Overall we are quite happy with how it turned out. It was challenging trying to narrow down the essential questions and knowledge that students need, but we decided that it was better to offer these considerations for teachers. The Scope and Sequence is quite easy to navigate (or at least we hope so!) for the grade groupings as we hoped to scaffold learning, so that teachers could see the progression of skills being taught. Teachers are able to view the Scope and Sequence for each of the C's as well as the definition.

  

Under the "Overview" you can review the rationale, an informational video which explains how the C's or Essential Skills of 21st Century Learning fit together, as well as resources - which are our presentations, lesson framework and teacher lessons.  One of the key aspects of our project was not only developing the framework for the  Essential Skills of 21st Century Learning, but to start implementing the concepts into our presentation. As part of our rationale, we had decided that Digital Citizenship would be identified as just Citizenship, as there needs to be connection between the online and offline world. One aspect of our jobs is to train teachers on how to integrate the Digital Citizenship Continuum. In addition to teachers exploring the Continuum, they developed lessons using the new framework we had designed. Going forward we hope that teachers will use the framework template or at least consider the 7C's when planning.  So far 14 teachers from K - 12 have submitted lessons for our database.

You will find our project on our new division website (on the Drupal platform).  Our division is still in the process of building our website, but our project includes everything under the "21st Century Learning" tab (as circled below).  We hope you find our project useful and we welcome any feedback you have.  We will continue to develop our project throughout the year, but we are very proud of what we have accomplished at this point in time! 

Click HERE to visit our project website!

Please visit the dropdown 21st Century Learning from the
Regina Catholic School Division Educational Technology website

Our Video the 7C's of 21st Century Learning

This video can also be found on the website, under the Overview tab. 

Going Forward and Sharing What We Have Learned...

The following are presentations we have provided to teachers over the course of the past few months. Our goal was to explore with teachers how digital citizenship can be infused into curriculum authentically and seamlessly, but also provide opportunities for teachers to understand the literacies or fluencies that students need today. These presentations are located below. 

Note: If you notice some weird formatting issues on the presentations when viewing them in the Scribd window, this is just some issues with Scribd, which is fixed when the presentation is downloaded. 

Elementary Presentation - Digital Citizenship and Balanced Approach to Learning

Digital Cit and Balanced Lit Elem Presentation by Jennifer Stewart

Middle Years Presentation - Digital Citizenship and the Balanced Approach to Learning in Middle Years

Digital Cit and Balanced Lit Middle Years Pres by Jennifer Stewart

High School Presentation - Digital Citizenship and the Balanced Approach to Teaching

Digital Cit and Essential Skills High School Pres FINAL by Jennifer Stewart

Definitions for the Essential Skills of 21st Century Learning

Scope and Sequences for the Essential Skills of 21st Century Learning

Curate S&S by Jennifer Stewart

Critical Thinking S&S by Jennifer Stewart

Connect S&S by Jennifer Stewart

Communicate S&S by Jennifer Stewart

Collaborate S&S by Jennifer Stewart

Create S&S by Jennifer Stewart

Digital Yoga and Stretching One's Creativity

Finally, one last thing. I just wanted to share the Summary of Learning that Genna and I had composed together. Initially I was going to just create a video which showed some images and videos that connected to the class with a narrative and relaxing music (sort of what I did in ECI 831)... then Genna shared an idea... Talk about stepping out of one's comfort zone! Next thing I new I was singing! Yes, singing! (Thank goodness for Autotune!!) Bopping to a beat (or trying to...), and reenacting what it was like to be working and... have 5 Google Plus notifications come up demonstrating that everyone else was finished their weekly blog. 

In any case, I had a great time working with Genna on that project and thank her for pushing me to take risks! Now my kids are running around the house singing this song...

Teachers are Creators Too!

Here is a video I made back in October. It seems so long ago now. It focuses on my daughter Taylor's Minecraft world, and was displayed at the MakerSpace area. It demonstrates the potential of Minecraft to develop critical thinking and creativity. I made the video using low-tech and "high"-tech means. Low-tech... recording with my phone... Not so high-tech with my use of MovieMaker.

The video was used at the YQR Edcamp held at the University of Regina. As you probably already know, Genna Rodriguez and Danielle Maley were also part of organizing the event.

I just wanted to include this video as part of my learning journey in this course.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Child On and Offline

Source: J.Stewart-Mitchell

It takes a village to raise a child, both on and offline. In teaching digital citizenship, it’s not about a stand-alone lesson or unit, and we continue on with exploring other curricular outcomes. Digital citizenship is more than just teaching students how to behave ethically and safe online. It’s about giving opportunities for students to express themselves, share their voice and participate in the digital community. In order for students to understand what it means to be good digital citizens, they need opportunities to demonstrate digital fluency. Hiding from the dangers that may lurk in the dark shadowy corners will not help students become good citizens, they need to be active members of a digital community to truly get it, and this only comes with experience. Therefore as teachers we need to provide opportunities for students to learn how to interact in the online world within the classroom.

 

Source: J.Stewart-Mitchell & G. Rodriguez

The structure for teaching that experiential digital knowledge is where our project comes into play. In learning we need a framework for teaching that experiential knowledge which can be found in the essential transferable skills of 21^st Century or modern learning. Skills which are about enhancing our student’s ability to communicate, create, collaborate, connect, curate, critically think, and of course awareness of citizenship. Students need to be able to share or communicate with others effectively using digital tools and programs. They need to be skilled with more than just using programs like Word or Skype, but truly understand what it means to use these tools effectively to share ideas or information and connect with their learning community.

Every day as teachers we focus on developing our students’ literacy as well as fluency, with the focus being on reading and speaking. As educators we devote a significant amount of every day focusing on improving reading levels, writing and overall language fluency. Reading fluency is about reading quickly and accurately, with natural expression and inflection, as well as appropriate pacing and the skills for decoding information.  But what are we doing to improve digital literacy or digital fluency? How are we teaching students to be able to use digital tools naturally with ease, knowing the most effective time and place for using various programs or platforms? How are we providing opportunities so that students with digital fluency are able to navigate apps or programs with ease, and are able to identify the best tool to further their communication or understanding? Digital fluency is about understanding the basics of how to transition from platform to platform, having the skill set to be able to be able to navigate and share information and create. Just as in reading and writing, we need to aim to provide opportunities so that students can become fluent in their digital fluency, and go beyond mere, digital literacy. So how do we do this?

As teachers we also need to provide opportunities to create or capture representations of student understanding. Give opportunities at school to engage in creating original digital representations or even ethically remixed works of others. This means combining digital citizenship with creating. As educators we need to ask ourselves as to how often are we providing opportunities to do more than consume technology. If students are remixing new videos, creating memes and engaging in games such as Minecraft, how are we combining some of these afterschool passions with learning at school?

Michael Fullen states in “A Rich Seam – How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning”, “digital tools and resources have the potential to enable, expand and accelerate learning in ways previously unimaginable” (p. 30), but he also states that technology is not going to make any impact on learning if we do not go beyond tools that encourage repetition, like drill and practice or just as a vehicle for delivering teacher identified curricular content (p. 31). Fullen furthers this argument by stating that technology will not improve learning, until students are given opportunities to use it to deepen their learning (p. 32). In order to “deepen learning”, there needs to be authentic opportunities for students to collaborate and engage in creating knowledge. The question is, are we giving them opportunities to create knowledge and contribute this knowledge to the online community?

Pillars of Digital Citizenship
Source: Saskatchewan Digital Citizenship Continuum

So what does all this have to do with digital citizenship? The only way we can authentically provide students with the opportunity to see relevance of the pillars of digital citizenship, we need to have rich engagement with technology, not just surface level consumption. This means that as teachers, not only do we have to ensure that we model a “good” digital footprint, we need to actually have one. In order to be a role model, you need to engage and be active, be a participant. This means communicating, connecting, creating, curating, collaborating and engaging in problem solving or critical thinking.  In order to model digital citizenship, we need to be digitally present and demonstrate how to appropriately interact online. Part of teaching others how to form an authentic online identity is to provide that model – an intentional formed digital tattoo, as described in the TED Talk by Juan Enriquez: Your Online Life, Permanent as a Tattoo.

EdTech guru, Vicki Davis states that she approaches digital citizenship in two ways, proactive knowledge and experiential knowledge. Experiential knowledge is giving students exposure to the essential skills or fluencies. Proactive skills is about teaching students how to be protect themselves and their identity online while sharing their voice. In an article, “5 Reasons You Should Be Teaching Digital citizenship”, author Paul Barnwell provides five reasons why schools need to take the lead in promoting digital citizenship and media literacies in curriculum, both in and outside the classroom. His reasons include:

1. The gap is growing.
2. Digital footprints are easy to leave
3. It’s ‘real life’
4. There is a culture of multitasking
5. Content curation is an emerging literacy

After taking this course, I have come to the conclusion that there are tons of reasons for teaching media literacy and digital citizenship. The key is that the message needs to start at Pre-Kindergarten and continue on to grade 12. It’s not up to one teacher or one area to teach this information and skills, it’s up to everyone. In order for the message to sink in, we all need to sing from the same song sheet. There are definitely many convincing reasons as to why we need to teach Digital citizenship in schools, but the question is, how do we fit it all in?

Source: J.Stewart-Mitchell

Many teachers wonder how to fit in digital citizenship into a curriculum that is already seems incredibly compact. Teaching Digital citizenship is like teaching Treaty Education, you integrate where it is authentic and appropriate. The worst mistake is to think that it is about teaching a unit at the beginning of the year, and expecting students to apply the learning. It is about teaching mini-lessons where they fit. In a blog post I shared a couple days ago, I shared my reflections on a session I facilitated on digital citizenship for High School Teachers. In that session all of the teachers were involved in building lessons that integrated digital citizenship and the other digital fluencies. These were not digital citizenship lessons, but instead curricular or outcome focused lessons that authentically brought in the citizenship elements. That was the key. Teachers were encouraged to focus on their subject area outcomes, and not specifically on citizenship. Because of this, it was an easy “sell” to teachers. It must be easy for teachers to integrate, and that is what the Continuum allows – easy integration into multiple subjects and grades. But at the same time, as Carla stated in her post, it’s also important to maintain the integrity of the courses – so again there needs to be the awareness of how to make it authentic.   

Source: J.Stewart-Mitchell

As schools provide more and more opportunities for using digital tools in learning, there is a responsibility for ensuring that these tools are used appropriately. Therefore digital fluency and digital citizenship go hand in hand. However there comes a time when as parents and teachers we need to step back and give our kids the opportunity to exercise what they have learned. Rochelle points out in her post that, “we can show them the way, but students need to choose for themselves.” This is so true, as long as we are having the conversations and teaching students how to navigate effectively and behave ethically online, then we have to trust they will do it – and then monitor to see if they are!

So who is responsible for digital citizenship? Is it the kid who posts sexy photos of themselves in an online chat-room? Is it the parents who state that they are overwhelmed by this new emerging online world, yet purchase smartphones and set few boundaries on their use? Or is it the lack of education provided in school in how to be more mindful in our use of technology? The answer is, it is everyone’s responsibility. We all need to talk about it and communicate the same message. As stated earlier, it takes a village to raise a child. Today this reality is all the more apparent, as we all learn how to effectively navigate our way in this digital wilderness.

Gone are the Days When Flirting Was Holding Hands or Passing Notes

Source: YouTube Mark Kelley on Amanda Todd, The Fifth Estate

Over and over again we have heard that, “The name of Amanda Todd became synonymous with cyber-bullying and loss after the B.C. teenager committed suicide.” Her story is tragic. It provides us with an example of all the bad things that can happen when kids connect online without parental understanding of what can happen in chat rooms. Her story also provides reasons as to why we all need to educate ourselves in how teens are connecting and to have open conversations about what kids are doing online and who they are socializing with. 

These conversations are not new ones. Growing up, I’m sure many of us experienced the pre-going out conversations with parents… “What are you doing? Who are you going out with? Who is driving? Who is going to be at this party? Will there be drinking?” Parents today are still having these conversations, it’s just the questions need a 21st Century upgrade to include… “Who are you chatting with? What are you talking about? What are your privacy settings set at? What is the nature of this chat? How does this relate to school? How long have you been online? Why is it important to keep your device on the kitchen counter at night?” … You get the idea.  Why have these conversations? It’s about parenting. Jeremy Black, in his post states that the Saskatchewan Digital Citizenship Continuum and Framework should include education for parents and that it’s not enough to say that they “cannot relate to their children’s digital immersion.” I totally agree with this statement. As a parent or even as a teacher, we can’t sit idly by. If we are going to help students navigate this world, we need to up our game too. This means being aware of apps that pose as calculators but are actually digital vaults for hiding images. Check out the Global News video, "What parents need to know about ghost apps". 

Amanda’s parents permitted the interview with CBC because they wanted to get her story out there. Yet is it enough? Are teens and pre-teens seeing the dangers? One can only wonder if the message is getting across.  On one website, No Bullying.com that explores cyberbullying and Amanda’s tragic story, there is a quote that caught my attention.

“The truth remains that people who bullied and tormented Amanda still walk the streets everyday thinking their hate and actions mean nothing while in fact every comment they have made about her while she was alive or after her death, brings so much pain to the people who loved her. Remember that words do hurt and scar, sometimes beyond repair.”

Although the man who was responsible for her extortion and harassment was found, there are others who still walk the streets who also caused her harm. Individuals who left unchecked, un-reprimanded, who will continue to do so. Why? Maybe it’s because unfortunately the Internet can just be a place for people to hide behind a screen and disassociate themselves from the horrible things they say.

Remixed by J.Stewart-Mitchell
from the work  by  GemWebb 

Remixed by J.Stewart-Mitchell 
from the work by  daniMU  

The Internet is not going to go away, so those stalkers and abusers will continue to lurk the digital highway, so as educators and parents we need to not just monitor kid’s online activities, we need to ensure that they learn how to be safe. Perhaps there needs to be a 21st Century Grimm’s Fairytale book (hey that’s an idea!), one where kids will learn to not trust the “Kind, young gentleman… as he is not who he appears to be… he might be the wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Maybe this sounds a little melodramatic, but as a teacher and a parent, I would want my daughters to learn that although the Internet can be a great space for learning, connecting and exploring new ideas, there are serious dangers in this enchanted forest that we need to avoid.

As a teacher I see the Internet and what it has to offer and yet my heart chilled as I watched, “The Sextortion of Amanda Todd”. However even with the dangers that lurk, it is still more important to educate kids then take away computers. We need to teach kids how to be safe, set up environments and protocols for device use, ensure that we are connected to our kids, both technologically and emotionally.

After watching the original video, I decided to watch the other installment of this case from CBC, “Stalking Amanda Todd: The Man in the Shadows” released a little over a year later. Of course Amanda Todd’s sad story garnered many comments from viewers wondering how this could happen. Most posts revolved around the importance of open communication and the importance of ensuring our students are aware of how to stay safe. For some reason, I like reading comments, particularly moderated ones for topics such as this. Comments provide multiple perspectives, furthering understanding or at least provide additional food-for-thought. One person commented,

“Social Media needs to increase the age of use from 13 to 16 and should require proof of age before an account is set up. Driver's license comes to mind... or Birth Certificate. Yes, some will still get through but if we try we may succeed to prevent some casualties. As well, parents should be held responsible for allowing their kids to violate social media rules (i.e. Facebook says age 13)... but there are children on Facebook.... very young children. There needs to be an online enforcement of age.”

The response to the comment was as follows,

 “The internet is not a physical place you can enforce with state control. This is a parenting issue. Failing to warn and prepare children for the digital world is no different than leaving your infant child alone in the middle of a busy intersection and hoping they crawl to safety. Society must stop being naive and hoping someone else will protect you and yours from harm. It’s naive and part of the problem. This man who did this is no genius he just chose not to be ignorant to the tools he used and was able to evade detection. This is no different than a rapist who hides in the shadows….”

I agreed with some of what the responder shared. Why isn’t it possible to control the Internet better? After meeting and planning presentations with the Internet Child Exploitation Officers here in Regina, and watching their part of the presentation when they share how much Child Internet Porn is traded by individuals here in our province, I felt chilled, immobilized… sick. My first gut reaction as a parent is that my kids will never use Social Media. I am going to control all the privacy settings on all devices, I am going to monitor and do whatever I can do to keep my child safe. I am going ensure that this will never happen to my kids. But then I remember the nature of teens. You can’t just control or police. You need to educate. These words were echoed by Cory, one of the ICE officers. It’s about equipping our kids with online savvy and confidence to avoid situations where their privacy and security is compromised. It is also about ensuring that they have the “Cyber Smarts” to know that the Internet can really be a Digital Fun House – everything is not as it appears, and when the smoke and mirrors disappear, things are not as they seem. It also means as parents and teachers, we need to have Cyber Smarts. Keeping one’s head in the sand and assuming that everything is okay, will not help keep our kids safe. Parents need to ensure they understand the issues that are associated with apps such as SnapChat and YikYak and talk to their kids about these issues. Even if a parent is not Social Media savvy, they need to get savvy or at least become friends or follow their kids on Social Media.

Other comments,

“Sad story, but someone can't be cyber bullied if they stay off Facebook and Twidder [actual spelling] --- plus those things are a colossal waste of time anyway.”

The response,

“I understand what you are saying. However, you need to realize that the youth of today are wired in. Technology is an extremely important aspect of our culture today, especially with youth. Not being on social medial is very difficult to achieve for our kids, because that's the forum for socializing now. That's where youth get their news and information, share ideas and network with their friends.”

After watching this CBC story, I too initially wondered, why Amanda’s parents did not keep her off devices? During the documentary it was said that she had ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. (Genna Rodriguez and Gloria Uluqsi also noted problems that can arise with the challenges of this disorder, so I won’t go too far into this in my blog post). The interviewers also paint a picture of a person who due to her condition, not only had issues with impulsivity, she also sometimes felt socially rejected or made fun of by the kids because of things she would say. After finding her online friends, she found the acceptance that she would have been craving. Being online was her social life, which would have become all the more important when she was rejected at school. As stated in one of the comments above regarding the youth of today being wired in. Amanda’s wasn’t just wired in. Everything that made her feel like she belonged was online. So if kids are so wired in, how can we help them keep perspective? How can we ensure that they interact online, but are still connected offline or face to face. I’m not saying reject technology Sherry Turkle-style, but ensure that there is that degree of separation so that it’s not a person’s life. 

So where do we go from here? How can we protect kids from the dangers that lurk online? How do we parent the digital generation?  Communication. It all comes down to communication and honest conversations about what can happen and how to protect one’s identity and dignity online. It also means ensuring that kids have many circles of friends. Circles that may include friends at school, sports, dance or family friends. 

Source: Common Sense Media Tips for Digital Generation Parents

Other resources that connect to this topic for parents: Common Sense Media - "Overexposed Sexting and Relationships"

Video from Global News on Ghost apps and what parents need to be aware of.