As I’ve moved throughout this course, I have found myself consistently reflecting on my own practice as an educator.  Although I am not currently a teacher in a classroom, it wasn’t long ago (or at least it feels that way) that I was.  I have always been technologically savvy and have promoted technology use before it was more expected than it is now.  I have also been reflecting on my practice as a curriculum leader and school Principal.  My lens has shifted since moving into school administration; however, the main goals has remained the same: keep students engaged and succeeding.

I found much of the module content in this course quite intriguing.  I’ve had my own thoughts on digital citizenship for many years.  It is always interesting to read about other’s thoughts and opinions and compare them to my own.  In my educational world, our learning platform (Google Classroom) is provided for us.  What I have come to realize is that the way (the how) it is used by both teacher and student (ie. the digital learning environment (DLE)) is where the greatest impact can be felt.

I would like to say that, as an administrator, I have significant say in how educators use the digital tools they’re given access to, but there are currently few policies provided for educators (other than appropriate use policies in our Board).  This is why I decided to create a digital citizenship programme for students for assignment #1.  Based on what I have encountered as a Principal, I knew it was time to build a programme accessible to staff that would help to guide students toward behaviours that will keep them safe.  As John Curtis said, it is “naïve to think we can shelter, protect or even keep them in one safe corner of the digital world”.  This is true, but we do have a professional responsibility as outlined by our Ontario College of Teachers (ie. OCT: Standards of Practice) to ensure we are help our students understand the world around them.  When determining my focus for this project, I considered some of the 9 P’s that Jane referred to in her post; it was a great starting point as I developed my digital citizenship programme.

In my role as school leader, I rely heavily on the staff in my building.  While developing the digital citizenship program, I really realized how valuable certain members of my staff really are.  Of note, I have two special education teachers who help to support the use of technology for my students (and their teachers) with special needs.  I also have a Teacher-Librarian (T-L) who uses her relationship with staff to help me to push my School Improvement Plan agenda and goals (ie. more effective use of technology in the classroom).  We collaborate frequently and we each share our own experiences from previous days or weeks and how we can help each other to move our staff forward in their own professional learning.  Collaboration is a key factor to promoting positive change in schools.

In terms of my own thinking changing, I’m not sure it has “changed”.  I do believe it has been moulded and shifted and I have tweaked my own pedagogical philosophies around digital citizenship and the role of school staff members to make change.  As a school Principal, I know I can have an impact on how my teachers and staff members embrace technology and continue to improve their own practice with their students.  I would like to, one day soon, be able to influence change on a grander scale: I’d like to become a centrally-assigned technology administrator who are in a position to make significant change board-wide.  One of those changes is policy: although our Ministry does not have an official technology policy, I would like to be at a table where I could make change within our school board.  I know the importance of preparing our students for their respective futures and would like to say I had a hand in developing the policy that shaped how technology is used in our schools.

It’s been a great course and I am excited to continue to use the knowledge I’ve gained in influencing current students and staff in how they engage their learners and help them succeed.

Images from:
. https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/351632683413322592/
. https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2019/11/policy-failure-the- new-black/
. https://blog.jostle.me/blog/why-collaboration-is-important

The creation of this task is something I’ve thought about for some time.  As a school Principal who is quite technologically savvy, I have very much enjoyed being a part of the education of so many students in my schools.  I’ve made it a priority to work with staff and students to ensure they are becoming good people and good digital citizens.  It was evident that I needed to look at developing a digital citizenship course that would help to set up my students for digital success.

As I started to look at what topics and content should be covered, I started by reflecting on what issues and digital conversations I’ve engaged in with my own staff and students in the years I’ve been a school administrator.  It was evident that a digital citizenship program is required for our students to be successful and not get themselves into precarious digital situations that could lead to harm, hurt, or legal consequences as they move through elementary school and into their secondary learning experiences.  This has been especially true in the last two years of mostly online, virtual learning environments that our students have been forced to be a part of given the ongoing pandemic impacting the world.

I found two significant hurdles when starting on my digital citizenship journey.  The first was finding academic journals to balance information found in my school board’s intranet and online news sources like newspapers and government agencies.  The second challenge was dealing with the large amounts of information I could so easily find on the internet.  Searching a variety of terms relating to digital citizenship, digital law, online safety, and being a good digital citizen, resulted in so many sites and so much information.  My journey continued as I worked through the vast amount of data to determine which information was best, how to organize the information I found, and how to make it most useful for both the educator and the student – after all, if the information isn’t easy to access, educators are less likely to see the value in the content being presented, no matter how important it is.

I found it quite easy to determine connections to federal, provincial, and school board policies and laws.  It was evident the importance of this subject area as no educator wishes to see their students get into legal trouble – especially when a lack of education is the primary reason for the student getting into said difficulties.

Upon completion of the teacher and student slideshows, I spent time reviewing the content and making sure the final assessment task would suitably test my students’ knowledge while it reinforced the importance of some of the content presented in the digital citizenship program.  Overall, I am happy with the result and am hopeful that this will be a tool my educators and students can dive into to help ensure they are, themselves, prepared for the digital world they are already apart of.

Image from: https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-program-programming-glasses-3597095

I know how it looks when this blog is supposed to have multiple entries on separate days.  Well, I’ve certainly been impacted by too much work to do and not enough time to do it in.

So… I’m making up for it today.  I hope this works.

Image from: https://www.thesassylife.com/playing-catch-up/

Okay, so there’s one thing that I’ve determined as I begin on this work journey… there is SO much information as it relates to Digital Citizenship.  I have done searches in the online journal database which resulted in some usable information but the internet – sheesh – there’s a ton of good information that I can use.  It’ll be really important to cite what I use to ensure I am also being a good Digital Citizen. (The irony has not escaped me…)

At this point, I have determined that I will create three modules (plus one for the teacher running the program):
1. Legal
2. Online Safety
3. Being a Good Digital Citizen

Let’s see how it goes…

Image from: https://www.thelanguagelab.ca/posts/tmi-when-is-too-much-information-really-too-much/

After reaching out to Professor Gagen-Spriggs, it’s confirmed!  I’ll be working on building updated learning modules to teach students about being a good digital citizen.  The modules will speak to the legal considerations, digital wellness, and how to be a good digital citizen.

I’ve still got some further thinking to do before making final decisions.  But I now feel like I have a solid pathway to a successful task.

Image from: https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/lightbulb_1410038

I spent a lot of time pondering what my topic should be for this first assignment.  I spoke with colleagues and staff members to get their thoughts on possible topic ideas for this task.

After speaking with others, I thought it would be a good idea to take time to update a digital citizenship program our board gives to students (in some schools) as the school year starts.

I now need to determine what specific topics will be a part of this learning package.  As well, I’ll be reaching out to my professor to get her thumbs up before spending too much time on this idea.

Image from: https://sites.uci.edu/chpleaders/2012/10/17/are-you-thinking-powerfully/