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First Things First

This past weekend, my husband decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and wash our camper. This is quite a process and took ALL day. When he stopped to have lunch, I asked him if he was going to put on some sunscreen. He thought about it, but decided he would probably be alright. Boy did he regret that decision! You see, because it wasn't very hot, he didn't realize how much sun he was actually getting. By the end of a full day of sun exposure, he had a terrible sunburn! That evening, he said, "I should have worn sunscreen".


When the weather is nice, you don't think about all the dangerous UV rays that you are being exposed to. I shared this story about my poor husband's sunburn as an analogy as to why we must intentionally protect our students when they are using the internet and creating their digital footprints. If we don't, someone could get burned!

I think CoSN Standard 3D aligns with this. It states that educational leaders should model and make others aware of laws and regulations related to the use of technology.

First, we have to work behind the scenes. 

In order to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act, school systems must have internet filters in place to protect our students from being exposed to pornographic and other harmful images. (Frazier and Hearrington, 2017). My school system uses a couple different filters, including GoGuarian. This product has some pretty powerful tools. It allows administrators to receive alerts about the online activity of students. It also allows teachers to monitor their students while they are actively working online. 

I can start a GoGuardian session at the beginning of class. I can set which websites are allowed and block certain sites as well. One of my favorite features is that I can close tabs on individual student devices, as well as "chat" through text if I see a student is having trouble or is off task. At the end of a session I get a summary report that tells me about my students' internet activity during that session.



Not only do we have to work behind the scenes, we also have to be out front and center. 

By this, I mean we have to explicitly teach and model for our students how to create a positive digital footprint and be good digital citizens. It is our responsibility (Frazier and Hearrington, 2017).  Although most of our students know how to use technology, they do not know the proper etiquette of interacting in a digital environment (Walters, Gee, and Mohammed, 2019). They do not know how to use technology to "support their learning or protect their identity" (Sheninger, 2019, p. 110). While teaching students how to use digital tools for learning and productivity, teachers must also intentionally teach students how to properly cite their sources (Sheninger, 2019). Students can begin to create a positive digital footprint by publishing their own digital learning artifacts (Sheninger, 2019). By teaching and modeling digital citizenship, we are developing these skills in our students. Our hope is that one day they can demonstrate positive digital citizenship both in the educational setting as well as in their personal lives (Walters, Gee, and Mohammed, 2019).

We must be proactive by protecting our students, both behind the scenes with internet filters, as well as out front and center with explicit teaching and modeling of digital citizenship. Doing so can help prevent them from getting "burned" by being exposed to harmful content on the internet or by creating a negative digital footprint that will follow them into their futures.


References

Frazier, M. & Hearrington, D. (2017). The technology coordinator’s handbook (Third Edition). 
International Society for Technology in Education.

Giphy. Sun Sunglasses GIF By University Of Florida. https://giphy.com/gifs/UF-alligator-gator-sunscreen-ZdxX5Abby1uy7gzilE

Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times (2nd ed). Corwin. 

Walters, M.G., Gee, D., & Mohammed, S. (2019). A literature review: Digital citizenship and the elementary educator. International Journal of Technology in Education (IJTE), 2(1), 1-21.

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