Digital+Citizenship

**DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP WEBSITE** * Image from:[]

**__Description of Project__** For this assignment I created a website that focused on three areas of digital citizenship; digital access, digital communication and digital rights and responsibilities. I created the website using a free website creator at []. The website was to be an informative resource for students, educators and parents and incorporate a variety of media and resources. The website is intended to give an overview of digital citizenship and the three components I chose to focus on. **__Process:__** Deciding what to include in my website was a little difficult. There is quite a bit of information available concerning all aspects of Digital Citizenship and it was challenging to decide what to include. I decided that since my site is intended for teachers, parents and students I would keep it simple and give some additional resources to access if anyone wanted further information. My home page is a basic explanation of Digital Citizenship and what is means. I also created a powerpoint highlighting the nine themes of digital citizenship. The first page I created focused on Digital Access. This is actually a two pronged topic; the first deals with basic access to technology for everyone. The second deals with accomodations for people with disabilities in order to gain equal access to technology or utilizing technology to assist those with disabilities using technology. To address the issue of digital access, I explained what it was and what some of the problems were that schools are dealing with. I also included information and resources for teachers to help with providing technology and software for little or no cost. With regards to assistive technology, I referenced a video that shows some of the assistive technologies used in schools today. I also included a survey that I created for the staff at my school. The survey was intended to identify where our staff was in terms of professional development and instruction concerning digital citizenship. The results are included as well showing that there is a desire for additional training for our staff and a need for student lessons to be developed dealing with this. For the second page I addressed Digital Communication. This is essentially any type of communication between individuals or groups of people using technology. This includes e-mail, blogs, text messages, skype, social networking, discussion boards and a number of other media. Just as in society there are expectations for behavior when communicating digitally. I created a list of do's and don'ts to help clearly show what some of these are. I included a link to a brochure I created for an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for my school and also the link to a lesson I created to address Internet Safety for Kindergarten students. The third page of my website deals with Digital Rights and Responsibilities. I included a list of some of these and tried to write them in a way that mirrors the rights and responsbilities of a citizen in our country. As resources, I have listed several websites and also a link to a video created using Disney characters that deals with copyright issues. The final page of my website is the reference page for the resources I utilized in making the website.


 * Below are the links to my digital citizenship website and my narrative:

[|Digital Citizenship Website]

**__Reflection: __** As I reflect on creating this website I can't help but think that there was so much more information I could have included. I found countless videos and websites dedicated to this topic. The problem however, was that most of these sites were not appropriate for students in Kindergarten or First Grade. We are introducing computers to our students at a young age and in doing so, we create the need to give them instruction on how to correctly use the technology we are using. It is up to us to teach internet safety and the rights and responsibilities of being a digital citizen. Just as we take the time to teach our children "Stranger Danger" we must also teach them how to be safe when traveling through cyberspace. I think that this website is something I will continue to work on and add to and eventually would like to provide it to the staff at my school and parents as well.