Just Back From Calgary

Last week I was at the Emerge One-to-One conference in Calgary, AB. The participants were very interested in the topic of Digital Citizenship. I also was able to meet several other speakers from around the world - Ewan McIntosh from Scotland and Bruce Dixon from Australia. They spoke about the great things that can be done with laptops in the classroom. I hope that I brought at least some thoughts on what issues should be addressed with teachers, students and parents. Several of the participants came up and spoke about issues that they were having in their schools and how they were addressing them.

In our breakout session we were a small group but were opened up some discussion on how to begin the process of explaining Digital Citizenship to students. We covered the Digital Compass Activity and the Four-Stage Cycle. One of the participants, Patrick, said that they began the discussion of creating a new Acceptable Use Policy by using the Compass Activity in their school. He said that by involving the students it helped to open the eye's of the staff to what the students were thinking. He also stated that they left the Acceptable Use Policy flex and grow for a year before they set it as policy for everyone.

It was a great trip to Calgary and a wonderful opportunity to see that schools in other countries are struggling with many of the same issues that are happening here in the US. Being able to spend time with Ewan and Bruce also helped to see the bigger picture. There is still much work to be done but it should be an interesting ride.

I'm Baaaaaack

Ok, I have set a new goal for myself - get back and post out to my blog sites. After a couple of years laying low (writing other things) I am going to make a stab at putting down some thoughts about digital citizenship and its affects on education as well as society.

Since the last post there have been some changes - the NETS for both teachers and students have been refreshed and digital citizenship has found a place in both. Not only does this show that digital citizenship has found importance with those of you who have been reading our articles and book but it has larger implications. Now my concern is not just with the standards and the elements we created but where we go from here. I feel that we have a roadmap but now it is time to go and test these themes out and see where we end up.

My goal now is to begin networking with others who are interested in seeing where this may end up. I sometimes feel like Alice and am just not sure how deep this rabbit hole goes. Every day though it seems there is another issue - like the New York Times article about students now copying entire textbooks and putting them online - that needs to be addressed.

I hope that some users see this post and respond so that we can begin the discussion. I think we are at the beginning of something that could have ramifications for years to come - it sounds like fun!!!!!!!!! Let me know what you are thinking.

Blogging

Wikipedia definition - A weblog (now more commonly know as a blog) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally in reverse chronological order).

Merriam-Webster definition – website that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks provided by the writer. The word blog originated from the words “web and log”. The most simplistic view of a blog is that it is an online diary. A user can come to their blog and put in what ever they are thinking about. There are many blogs that are out there that do just that; talk about their day, their pets, job or many other topics.

For education there can be many other opportunities for students. If created and fostered correctly, students can use blogs to journal, write stories, share information. As a teacher or administrator a blog can be used to share information with parents, make announcements or create a forum for discussion.

Presentation

It has been awhile since I have posted anything to my blog, but it has been a crazy time.

Today I will be presenting on the topic of blogs - what they are, how they can be used and where are they going. There will be some interested people coming to learn more about the process. I will write more on this after the session.

I am continuing work on Digital citizenship. I hope that I will have my handbook and other chapters ready by next semester. I have been talking to people all over the country and there is definitely interest in this topic. I will be presenting again on Digital Citizenship at a state conference for business educators in October. The main theme will be Digital Citizenship, but the idea of blogs will be part of the discussion.

Well my time is running short and I need to get back to my writing. If you have questions please post to this blog.

Keeping Up

Wow, I am finding that taking the time to blog is a lot more than I planned for, but an interesting experience.

I have trying to keep up with reading other blogs, especially those on technology and education (my area of interest), but there is so much going on it can be dizzying.

My main concern is that the majority of educators seem to be going along the same way day after day and technology is not making any impact on their educational life. I have heard the concerns and know there just is "not enough time". But what do we say to students that graduate and have only their own personal technology expereince to fall back on. OOOOPS. I think there needs to be a move to making a shift to allow integration of technology into education. I don't mean having students type up research papers on a computer, but a real move to technology use.

I know that it is important for skills development that we teach How to use Word or How to use Excel, but where is the lesson on what communication method should I use in this situation? This is what Digital Citizenship is all about - teaching about the real world uses of the technologies. I have been at this for two years and I am still learning new stuff, so how can we expect students to be prepared if we are not teaching them any of this?

More to come...

Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship

New Start

I finally decided to take a stab a writing on my blog and seeing what might happen.

Currently, I am keeping busy with writing the chapters for the Digital Citizenship handbook. Once it is completed I will be looking for teachers and technology leaders that might be interested in reading.

It is coming down to crunch time for presentations. I will be presenting with Dr. Bailey on March 4 at the MACE conference here in Manhattan, KS. I have found out that David Warlick will be here to do one of the keynotes and hope that we can talk. On March 6 I leave for Salt Lake City to give the keynote at their Security Conference on Monday then followed up with three breakout sessions on Monday and Tuesday. Finally, at the end of the month (March 22) I am presenting in Kearney, NE for a group of trainers. Whew, March will fly by.

If you are looking for some of the past articles that have been written by Dr. Bailey and myself they can be found on the Digital Citizenship website - http://coe.ksu.edu/digitalcitizenship. We have two more articles that will be published in April - one for ISTE's L&L magazine and School Business Affairs magazine. It has been quite a year so far and more to come.

See you soon.

Welcome

This blog is dedicated to how people use technology. It is our hope that users will take a stand on how they and others use technology in an appropriate way. If we do not create the rules others will. Educate or Legislate!