Digital Citizenship

• What is it?• Why is it important?• What do our students and community know

or don’t know about being a digital citizen?• Does our vision embrace and enable our

leaners to become digital citizens?

Digital Citizenship• "A digital citizen understands the rights and responsibilities of inhabiting

cyberspace."• NetSafe and NZC defines a digital citizen as someone who:• is a confident and capable user of ICT• uses technologies to participate in educational, cultural, and economic

activities• uses and develops critical thinking skills in cyberspace• is literate in the language, symbols, and texts of digital technologies• is aware of ICT challenges and can manage them effectively• uses ICT to relate to others in positive, meaningful ways• demonstrates honesty and integrity and ethical behaviour in their use of ICT• respects the concepts of privacy and freedom of speech in a digital world• contributes and actively promotes the values of digital citizenship.

Other shared understandings of Digital Citizenship

Digital Citzenship contd..

• Derek Wenmoth Edtalk

Moving from a digital native to a digital citizen

Digital citizens respect themselves and others when online. As teachers we must be aware of what is responsible cyber behaviour.

Digital Native born into a world of digital technology.

Drawing from the Key Competencies and Values in the NZ Curriculum and a growing body of research knowledge, NetSafe, in consultation with New Zealand teachers has produced this definition of a New Zealand Digital Citizen. Digital literacy or the ability to understand and fully participate in the digital world isfundamental to digital citizenship. It is the combination of technical and social skills that enable a person to be successful and safe in the information age. Like literacy and numeracy initiatives which provide people with the skills to participate in the work force, digital literacy has become an essential skill to be a confident, connected, and actively involved life long learner.

Steps we can take..

• Just as the way digital technologies are used in education changes, so too does the best approach to online safety.

• Ideas of protecting people from online ‘dangers’ no longer work. Now there is an emphasis on promoting safe and responsible behaviours and how to manage the inevitable challenges online. The focus has to be on increasing learner preparedness, whilst over time reducing external protections.

Links to our vision• To grow Catholic, Christian, young people, who are CONFIDENT, CONNECTED, LIFELONG LEARNERS, inspired by the

teachings of Jesus, and who make a positive difference in their community.

How we make our Vision real• The St James’ motto is “Live the Truth”. At St James’ Catholic School, Jesus and His teachings are at the heart of

everything we do. We are encouraged and inspired to grow in faith and to learn more about being a member of the Catholic Church. We are a welcoming community who responds practically, with compassion, understanding and sensitivity to the needs of others. We participate positively in service to contribute to the common good of all.

• Everyone has a place here. In our safe and inclusive environment we embrace and value diversity. We recognise and respect the uniqueness of every individual within the school community as made in the image and likeness of God. We acknowledge and accept that there is more than one way to achieve the same goal. We value and encourage the development and sharing of everyone’s unique ideas, talents, skills, passions and culture. We understand the importance of supporting everyone to be the best they can be in their daily lives.

• We are a family/whanau school. Best learning happens when strong, respectful partnerships are formed and nurtured within our community. Open communication and on-going conversations allow family/whanau to contribute to and share in their children's learning in a way that is positive and supportive. Our teachers are highly motivated and understand that achievement and engagement are strongly influenced by effective teaching. They regularly review what they do and how their teaching impacts on student learning.

• Learning experiences are purposeful and take place through meaningful, real life contexts and future focussed issues. Through engagement in learning, and a positive learning environment with high expectations, high levels of motivation, and positive relationships, our learners learn how to learn and are encouraged and supported to reach their potential. Their successes are nurtured and celebrated.

• Through enjoyment in learning, we are able to embrace the future.

Netsafe Kit for schools• GROWING DIGITAL CITIZENS• A self-assessment framework that helps you measure your school’s

progress towards developing a safe learning environment against key online safety and digital citizenship markers.

• The self-assessment framework will be developed as an online tool in the NetSafe Kit for Schools. The online tool will be, as with the rest of the Kit’s resources (surveys and policy and use agreement templates) entirely free to schools. The online tool will allow multiple contributors across the school to make an evidence-based assessment of how the school is tracking along a capability scale for over 40 discrete online safety and digital citizenship indicators.

• Netsafe will recognise the schools that are actively using the online tool to develop their safe and responsible use of digital technology with the “NetSafe online safety” award.

What can we do in our practise to encourage digital citizenship

• Have a better understanding of what digital citizenship – websites for teachers

• http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Digital-citizenship• http://www.netsafe.org.nz/• http://www.vln.school.nz/• Staying cyber safe in the classroom through the teaching and learning of

cybersafety –hectors world through this we enable students to explore what is involved in being a responsible digital citizen.

• Teach better e habits to develop cyber behaviour through teachable moments.

• Year 1-6 (Learning pathways for digital citizenship from NZC) • A successful cyber safety programme at this stage focuses on students developing skills

through experiences where they have both reasonable protection and adult guidance. It lays the groundwork for key competencies and values young people require to effectively utilise digital technologies. Students are likely to be using a range of technologies often with specific instructions and close monitoring by adults.

Getting Started..Lets start with us..

• TEACHER CONFIDENCE SURVEY• This survey is designed to look at how prepared

teachers are to support students in their development of Digital Citizenship Skills

• The url of this survey is• http://www.netsafe.org.nz/the-kit/survey/cc3a295518c0