Archive of ‘ETL523’ category
When I began my learning in ETL523, my initial post showed a very basic understanding of digital citizenship, stating that “digital citizenship is participating online in a responsible and positive manner” (Gemell, 2023, February 20, para. 3). I was on the right track, however there is more to digital citizenship than I first understood.
I now know that digital citizenship goes beyond online safety. It’s all the competencies required to interact in the digital environment in a positive way, including digital literacy (Ribble, 2015). It was also interesting to frame digital citizenship in a positive frame as a list of ‘do’s’ rather than a list of ‘don’ts’ (ISTE, 2018).
Prior to studying ETL523 I never gave much through to the digital learning environment (DLE) and the role that it plays in education. I still stand by my statement on the discussion board, “Students must have skills beyond digital literacy to engage in these platforms in a positive manner…Students need a thorough understanding of digital citizenship to prepare themselves for life in and out of (and beyond) school” (Gemell, 2023, March 5a).
As a TL, I was excited to learn about the collaboration required between TL’s and teachers to implement a successful digital citizenship program in schools. Embedding digital citizenship skills is the best way forward, rather than individual stand-alone lessons or seminars (Maughan, 2017). This is something I touched upon in the Forum Topic 1.2 where I stated that “It’s about embedding digital citizenship in the learning, not adjacent to the learning” (Gemell, 2023, March 5b).
This is best achieved through collaboration and common language around digital citizenship as a whole-school approach (Preddy, 2016). The TL is well-placed (in the Library with a central view of the curriculum) to collaborate with teachers and the integration of technology into teaching programs (ASLA, 2021).
Two challenges that are faced in many schools are the assumptions, by teachers, that students already have competencies in the DLE, and that students also believe they have these competencies. It is important to remember that students do not innately have skills in the digital environment and the concept of the ‘digital native’ is misinformed. Digital skills need to be taught and fostered (Kirschner & De Bruyckere, 2017). I touched on the idea of students thinking they know it all (about the DLE) stating that “explicitly teaching these skills is quite difficult without students coming back with the response of ‘I know!’” (Gemell, 2023, March 5c). It is also up to teachers to model appropriate online behaviours, including referencing standards. “Teachers are ridiculous with their breaches of copyright and then expect students to comply with referencing standards” (Gemell, 2023, March 22a). This possibly links with the range of teachers’ abilities in the DLE, which makes “it difficult for them to confidently navigate the DLE, let alone teach students how to use it” (Gemell, 2023, March 22b).
My learning about digital citizenship in schools, the role of the DLE in education and the role that the TL plays in this has increased significantly through studying ETL523. I look forward to applying my learning in my own school context to develop the schools’ digital citizenship program and improve the schools’ overall level of skill in the DLE.
References
Australian School Library Association (ASLA). (2021). What is a teacher librarian?. https://asla.org.au/what-is-a-teacher-librarian
ISTE. (2018, October 11). Rethinking digital citizenship [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwKTYHBG5kk
Kirschner, P.A., & De Bruyckere, P. (2017). The Myths of the digital native and the multitasker. Teaching and Teacher Education. 10(67) 135-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.001
Maughan, S. (2017). School librarians are teaching digital citizenship. Publishers Weekly, 264(34), 30. https://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/school-librarians-are-teaching-digital/docview/1931489244/se-2
Preddy, L. (2016). The critical role of the school librarian in digital citizenship education. Knowledge Quest 44(4), 4-5. https://web-s-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=752c5457-531c-4889-b73b-41955846fe5f%40redis
Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools (3rd edition). International Society for Technology in Education.
Assignment 1 for ETL523 had many challenges. The most challenging aspect for me was turning my ideas into reality in relation to the website and the video. I had very clear ideas about how I wanted the website and the video to look, but executing the ideas required a lot of practice in new skills, including manipulating HTML code. I have built a website once before using ThinkSpace, so I drew on that experience but challenged myself further by implementing features such as drop-down menus. I had to find my own information about how to do this, since this is not provided through the ThinkSpace user guides. I have never made a video before either, so that came with a new set of challenges with learning how to use unfamiliar software.
One aspect of this assignment that I found interesting was digging deep into Mark Ribble’s 9 Principles of Digital Citizenship, as outlined in ‘Digital Citizenship in Schools’ (2015). I have gained further understanding about areas of digital citizenship that I hadn’t considered before, including digital commerce and digital health and wellness.
Through doing this assignment, I would like to be involved in having an explicit digital citizenship program implemented at my school. All students at my school have a school-provided laptop and a range of, but not all, digital citizenship practices are embedded into the curriculum through teaching and modelling. After exploring through the range of skills required to be a capable digital citizen, I feel we are doing students a disservice by not providing explicit teaching of digital citizenship skills. A lot of these skills are assumed knowledge, but this is not a safe assumption to make. My school has a technology user agreement, which is generally a list of items such as ‘I agree to use my laptop in a responsible manner’, but no further instruction is given afterwards.
Using Ribble’s (2015) 9 Principles of Digital Citizenship as a framework, the students would benefit from explicit teaching of all areas of digital citizenship through the House Tutor Program. Students meet in their vertical house groups two times a week already so a possibility would be to implement a ‘skill of the week’ to be explicitly taught during one of the two sessions.
References
Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools (3rd edition). International Society for Technology in Education.
Towards the end of 2022, the name ChatGPT was on everyone’s lips. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence app which can perform tasks that usually only humans can do (Morduchowizcz & Suanabar, 2023). This includes essays, computer code and drawings. So what does this mean for education?
Ryan (2023) points out that the NSW and QLD education departments have already banned ChatGPT in classrooms. I must admit, when I first heard about ChatGPT I had a lot of questions about the impact it would have at school. Will teachers have to change assessment tasks? How do we stop students from using it? How do we know if students have used it for their assignment? My questions all revolved around keeping things as they were and not making any changes. There has been an unending stream of technology advances for many, many years. Education settings have had to adapt every time there is a development, from television to whiteboards to the internet. As teachers we have to accept that students are going to use these tools and it is up to us to model and support them using it in a responsible manner.
So, where does this leave us? Teachers are already using ChatGPT to offload tasks such as writing emails, creating rubrics and coming up with lesson ideas. The article by Ryan (2023) gives an array of ideas for time-saving tips for teachers using ChatGPT. This is all well and good for teachers, but what about the students. In his blog article, 19 ways to use ChatGPT in your classroom, Ferlazzo (2023) has posted a multitude of ideas for harnessing AI with students. So far, ChatGPT sounds like a wonder-tool to save time for teachers and students alike.
However, it’s not all smiles and rainbows. Users of ChatGPT need to have skills to ensure that what is being produced is quality work. What we put into ChatGPT effects what comes out at the other end (Ryan, 2023). Griffith University’s Dr Chris Bigum states that “To use it well, you need three complementary skills and knowledge: a basic understanding of what it is and how it works; good promoting skills and the ability to judge the quality and accuracy of what it produces” (Ryan, 2023, p. 4). These are skills that need to be taught in the classroom to ensure that students have the skills to harness this technology appropriately.
At the end of the day, AI is not going away and it seems to be a ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ mentality. There is a time and place for ChatGPT and teachers need to model and teach these behaviours for students to be successful.
References
Ferlazzo, L. (2023, January 18). 19 ways to use ChatGPT in your classroom. Education week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-19-ways-to-use-chatgpt-in-your-classroom/2023/01
Morduchowizcz, A., & Suasnabar, J. M. (2023, January 30). ChatGPT and education: Opportunity, challenge, or threat? Enfoque Educacion. https://blogs.iadb.org/educacion/en/chatgpt-education/
Ryan, M. (2023, February 21). Here’s how teachers can model responsible use of ChatGPT. Education HQ. https://educationhq.com/news/heres-how-teachers-can-model-responsible-use-of-chatgpt-141449/
In the very first module of this subject, we were asked the think about the following questions:
- What is your definition of a ‘Digital Learning Environment’? Can you think of examples from your school and/or working/professional life to support this.
- What are some of the changes created by our digital lifestyle that you need to be aware of as an educator?
- What has been the impact of social networking on teaching and learning?
I think of a digital learning environment as an online space where students go to learn, collaborate, discuss topics submit assignments and receive feedback. I have worked in a variety of schools that use different platforms for this to occur. Some examples include Google classroom, Schoolbox, Canvas and Blackboard.
Teachers need to be aware of the use of these online platforms so that we are giving our students the best opportunities to improve their skills in the digital world. A big change as part of the digital learning environment is the 24/7 accessibility. Teachers need to ensure that the learning materials are available so that students can access them when they want to.
Social networking has had an impact in that students are getting their information from a large range of sources, not just from school. Students need to be taught how to sort the trash from the treasure.
Once again, I find myself at the beginning of another semester of study, but this one has a different feel about it for a few reasons. Firstly, this is an elective unit to I feel that I have a more focused interest in this topic. Secondly, this is my final unit of study and thirdly, I am also undertaking ETL512 (Professional practice and portfolio) concurrently with ETL523 (Digital Citizenship in Schools). What an exciting time!
I chose this elective because I feel that it is such a poignant topic in this world of non-stop information. I also chose to study this elective at this time because my school is currently undertaking a laptop rollout for years 7-11 and the school is going through the process of what the use of these devices looks like in classrooms and the expectations around their use.
What is digital citizenship and why is it important?
To me, digital citizenship is participating online in a responsible and positive manner. So, what does that look like? According to Council of Europe (2023), “digital citizens can be described as individuals able to use digital tools to create, consume, communicate and engage positively and responsibly with others”. I prefer this definition when compared with the one provided by the NSW Department of Education (n.d.) which states that “a digital citizen is a person with the skills and knowledge to effectively use digital technologies to participate in society, communicate with others and create and consume digital content”. I prefer the first definition because of the inclusion of the word ‘positively’. Ribble (2015) also agrees that the term ‘positive’ is an important aspect of digital citizenship so that everyone can engage in the digital world.
Digital citizenship is important in the fast-paced world of information overload. Being discerning about what we are consuming and engaging with online is so important. Having skills to determine the trash from the treasure is invaluable to our ability to engage with and function in society.
Is digital citizenship different to digital literacy?
This seems to be a bit of a grey area, but according to Pangrazio and Sefton-Greene (2021), digital literacy is the foundation of digital citizenship. We must be competent in the literacies before we can fully participate. Digital literacy is broken down into separate skills that each need to be mastered in order to be competent in the online world. These skills include managing online safety, locating and evaluating information and problem solving (ACARA, 2022).
I am looking forward to learning more about digital citizenship and its role in the school environment.
References
Australian Curriculum And Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2022). Digital literacy. The Australian Curriculum. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-general-capability/digital-literacy
Council of Europe. (2023). Digital citizenship. Digital Citizenship in Education https://www.coe.int/en/web/digital-citizenship-education/digital-citizenship
NSW Department of Education (n.d.). About digital citizenship. Digital Citizenship. https://www.digitalcitizenship.nsw.edu.au/about
Pangrazio, L. and Sefton-Green, J. (2021). Digital Rights, Digital Citizenship and Digital Literacy: What’s the Difference?. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research 10(1), p.15-27.
Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools (3rd ed.) International Society for Technology in Education.