Artifact #13- Digital Citizen Advocacy Project

Description:

The Digital Citizen Advocacy Project was completed individually in the Fall of 2024 with Professor Li. This project models digital citizenship according to the ISTE standards addressing problems in the school community and how these problems can be solved. This project was designed with the intention of being presented to my school community at Red Pump Elementary in Harford County Public Schools.  This school has a diverse community consisting of students of different races, 20% FARMS, 25% multilingual learners and about 16% of students with disabilities.

Students in this school community all have devices that they are bringing to and from school daily. In our school nightly homework is assigned online. With students working online daily, teaching digital citizenship is very important to ensure the safety of our students.

 

Standard Alignment:

Standard #5- Professional Learning Facilitator

5b. Build the capacity of educators, leaders and instructional teams to put the ISTE Standards into practice by facilitating active learning and providing meaningful feedback.

This presentation can be used to help build the capacity of educators, leaders and instructional teams using the ISTE standard for digital citizen advocate. This presents the importance of digital citizenship in the school system, problems that are faced through the usage of technology and how we can address them. Presenting and using the examples associated with digital citizenship can facilitate an active learning experience.

 

Standard #7- Digital Citizen Advocate

7a. Inspire and encourage educators and students to use technology for civic engagement and to address challenges to improve their communities.

This presentation shares how educators can use technology for civic engagement and to address challenges. Virtual meeting flyers and invitations are shared as ways to reach the community using technology.
7b. Partner with educators, leaders, students and families to foster a culture of respectful online interactions and a healthy balance in their use of technology.

The presentation shares the importance of teaching students about digital citizenship, online safety and healthy balance. Examples of this are given.
7c. Support educators and students to critically examine the sources of online media and identify underlying assumptions.

This presentation shares examples of how we can teach our students about reliable online material resources.
7d. Empower educators, leaders and students to make informed decisions to protect their personal data and curate the digital profile they intend to reflect.

The importance of educators, leaders, and students understanding personal data and their digital profile is shared in the presentation. Examples are given on how to teach this within the community involving beginning of the year lessons on online safety and teaching about information privacy.

 

Reflection:

The Digital Citizen Advocacy Project models digital citizenship and its importance based on all of the ISTE digital citizen advocate indicators. This project was designed with the intention of being presented to my school community at Red Pump Elementary in Harford County Public Schools.  This school has a diverse community consisting of students of different races, 20% FARMS, 25% multilingual learners and about 16% of students with disabilities. Students are using their laptop devices daily for instructional purposes and homework assignments.

This project meets the ISTE professional learning facilitator standard indicator 5b. This project presents digital citizenship breaking it down by the ISTE standard indicators. Problems that are faced through the usage of technology are presented and solutions on how we can address them as educators are given with examples. This can create an active learning experience for school communities that are using technology with their students.

The projects also addresses all indicators for ISTE digital citizen advocate because it shares examples of how educators can address civic engagement, respectful online interactions and healthy balance, examining online media resources, and protecting personal data and digital profile with users. Civic engagement is addressed through developing online flyer and meetings. Respectful online interactions and healthy balance can be taught and monitored with timers. It is shared that students should be given the opportunity to read through material found on the web to determine the credibility and beginning of the year lessons can be taught regarding personal data and digital profile. 

With this project, I am able to advocate for the importance of digital citizenship and how we can provide lessons and examples to our communities regarding the ISTE standards. I have not shared this project with educators outside of this program, but it could be used and I believe it will be effective in the future to advocate for teaching digital citizenship and to help other leaders address challenges through the usage of technology.