4.7c/d
Coaches model digital citizenship and support educators and students in recognizing the responsibilities and opportunities inherent in living in a digital world. Coaches:
C. Support educators and students to critically examine the sources of online media and identify underlying assumptions.
D. Empower educators, leaders and students to make informed decisions to protect their personal data and curate the digital profile they intend to reflect.
The second half of the Digital Citizen Advocate standard focuses coaches in the support and empowerment of educators, leaders and students to first examine sources and identify potential biases, while then moving them into the role of curating their digital profile and ensuring safety of their personal data. I felt that these two indicators work well together due to the nature of first being able to identify underlying assumptions, and then utilizing that ability when choosing to curate their profiles in the light of how they would like to be seen. There are two main pieces that I believe fall heavily into these aspects of digital citizenship are in the participants ability to sort through the vast amount of created content online, and creating their own personas in the digital world.
- One of my very first activities in the DEL program was around being a digital citizen. I created infographics for students and educators on important pieces of digital citizenship, called How to Thrive Online. In it, I created a resource around “Crap Detection 101”. This information is in reference to how to identify what is real and what is fake online. This would be a perfect place to get started for coaches who are interested in supporting educators and students to critically examine sources online.
- Another way for educators and students to take the role of critical examiners is for them to step into the role of curation and knowledge construction as a way to be a positive influencer while online. I learned that while it is possible to only participate in consuming, it is much more rewarding if you are also engaging in the curation of digital content. Read more about how educators and students can, and should, be encouraged to actively participate in their digital profile by curating knowledge of their own. Creating Critical Curators Through Knowledge Constructing.
- And the last learning opportunity that helped me to solidify the Digital Citizen Advocate standard was my experiences creating my digital persona as a graduate student. I was given the first hand experience of curating my very own digital profile. This blog is a representation of my journey through the ISTE standards, and I hope it is an accurate reflection of the work and understanding that I have gained throughout this program. I am so thankful for this opportunity to have participated in the Digital Education Leadership program, as it has been the most mind altering and growth invoking experience that I have had in my educational career thus far.
