Source: Digital Access Key Image; Morgue File; http://mrg.bz/xJqkIW Globe Image; Pixabay; http://bit.ly/1mgHMq6 Calendar Image; Pixabay; http://bit.ly/1HcPc7o Child/Computer Image; Pixabay; http://bit.ly/1uHJ5mf
Hello, everyone. I hope you are having an absolutely wonderful day today. We're going to be looking at the concept today of digital access. And for our quote, I have chosen a quote by author Tom Robbins, which I feel really speaks to the major concepts within digital access.
It says, "equality is not in regarding different things similarly. Equality is in regarding different things differently." I feel that this really speaks to the discussion of equity and the way we interact as teachers and with students in our classroom.
So by the end of the lesson today, our objectives are that you will be able to, first, summarize the nine elements of digital citizenship. You'll be able to define the major element that we're focusing on today, which is digital access. You'll be able to explain why having digital access matters to the students in your classroom and to you as an educator. And, finally, you will be able to identify what digital access or often a lack of digital access actually looks like in your classroom. So let's focus first on the major concept of digital citizenship.
Now when we look at digital citizenship, we see that there are nine major elements to help make up digital citizenship. The first of which is digital access. Digital access has to do with the access that students in your classroom have or don't have to these technological devices and the way in which you as a teacher have to adapt in order to help your students of all access means become a digital citizen. The second major element of digital citizenship is digital commerce. This looks at the way in which we buy and sell things using new technology as a medium and what we as teachers need to communicate with our students concerning buying and purchasing online.
The third major element of digital citizenship is digital literacy. This looks at how fluent we are, both we as teachers and our students, in the use of new technology. This looks at fluency both in and out of the classroom. The fourth major element is digital etiquette, focusing in on some of the norms our society has established for how we interact online and how we use these new technologies.
The fifth element of digital citizenship is digital law. This takes the elements of digital etiquette one step further and focuses on the law pertaining to our interactions on the internet. The sixth and seventh elements of digital citizenship are our digital rights and digital responsibilities. These elements focus in on the rights that we as teachers and our students have as we interact online and the responsibilities that come with those rights.
The eighth element of digital citizenship is digital health, which looks at the way we are protecting our health and well-being given our new modes of communicating and interacting with the internet. This looks at how we are affected both physically and emotionally. And the final element of digital citizenship is digital security, focusing in on what are the elements that are put in place to help protect us as we interact online and become fully-fledged digital citizens.
Now the first major element that we are going to focus on for today's lesson is the foundational element of digital access. What is digital access? Well, according to its official definition, digital access is full electronic participation in society. What we're looking at here is really how our globe has changed to one that connects electronically, specifically important to us as educators because our classroom is increasingly moving to one where technology is a dominant force in both teaching and learning. Now that we know what it is, we're going to focus in on what's important to know about digital access, why it really matters.
Here it's important to know, and we've said before, that education is rapidly changing to one that makes the use of technology both in and out of the classroom. And if we educators are going to expect that our students have access to this, then we need to know what kind of technology they can have at home. Unfortunately, not all of the students in your classroom will likely have access to technology in the home. And this can be due to some students living at or below the poverty line, as well as some families just making other choices with their money.
If a student doesn't have access to a computer or to the internet at their home, that's going to greatly limit their ability to complete assignments or to get a flipped classroom lecture to the same degree that we would expect it of our other students. This is where teacher planning comes into play. Once you have identified the students in your classroom that don't have access to these technologies, you may need to make some accommodations in order to give everyone equal opportunity to complete an assignment or activity. Sometimes this is as simple as planning to allow students to stay after school to complete something. And sometimes it requires you to extend certain deadlines to allow those students the full opportunity to access the material.
Student access also requires district resources. Many districts are moving to a one-to-one which puts one computer or laptop device in the hands of every student in the school. This really helps to bridge that technology access gap and ensures that students have access to at least the physical technology in order to complete work in and out of the classroom.
So now that we know that it's important, what is it actually going to look like for you? Well, we have the ideal, which is where everyone in our class has equal access to digital tools and resources both in the classroom and at home. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. In reality, some of your students in your classroom, especially those living in poverty, are going to need additional resources in order to ensure equal digital access.
Fortunately, there are some universal tools that can really help with a lack of access. Currently, there are a number of national programs and grants that help families in financial stress get some of the technology to help their children with education. We spoke earlier about the one-to-one classroom that exists.
And many districts are trying to move towards that. However, there are also programs that help families at or below the poverty line get subsidized internet access for low monthly costs. Some of these programs provide high speed internet access for as low as $10 a month really helping to make it more reachable for some of those families.
We also, though, need to remember that as we move into the future we as educators need to be lobbying for universal access for all of our students to help ensure we're bridging this digital access gap. This will help us ensure that each and every student in our classroom is working towards becoming a productive digital citizen. OK, so let's review.
Now that we're at the end of the lesson, you should be able to summarize those nine major elements of digital citizenship. We covered digital access, digital commerce and literacy, digital etiquette and law, as well as digital rights and responsibilities, digital health, and digital security. You are now able to define the specific element of digital access. You should be able to explain why having digital access matters to your students, to you as a teacher, and to your district. And, finally, you should be able to identify what digital access or a lack of digital access looks in your classroom and community and how you can work into the future to help bridge that gap.
Now I would like to take just a moment for reflection. As you reflect back over all that you've learned about digital access, what do you think will be the most difficult part of making sure that you have full electronic participation in your classroom? Now to dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure that you check out the additional resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find the links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material.
(00:00-00:37) Intro
(00:38-01:09) Objectives
(01:10-03:37) Digital Citizenship Overview
(03:38-04:12) What is Digital Access?
(04:13-06:15) Why Digital Access Matters
(06:16-07:26) What Digital Access Looks Like
(07:27-08:07) Recap
(08:08-08:55) Review
Super Digital Citizen
This video is directed at teachers of elementary students. It demonstrates an activity where students create superhero characters online who know how to act as digitally responsible citizens. This video illustrates how and why to teach digital citizenship at the elementary level.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-digital-citizenship
How to Teach Digital Citizenship in Kindergarten
This resource provides a teacher-created lesson plan from the Ask A Teacher Blog to teach digital citizenship in a kindergarten classroom. The lesson plan offers specific instructions on how to implement this lesson. Included in this lesson plan are videos to help you conduct this lesson in your classroom.
https://askatechteacher.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/how-to-teach-digital-citizenship-in-kindergarten/
Digital Citizenship (resource list)
This is a list of teacher-selected resources for teaching digital citizenship from the Ask a Teacher Blog. This website offers a significant number of resources to help teachers understand and teach students to be digital citizens. To use this resource efficiently select the topic that you are trying to understand or teach and focus on the links under that category. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will find the link for a complete K-8 digital citizenship comprehensive curriculum.
http://askatechteacher.com/great-kids-websites/digital-citizenship/