I work in a school district that realizes teaching digital citizenship is of the utmost importance and wants to do more to create a community of wise, educated digital citizens.  So what we have decided to do is launch a campaign aimed at educating our faculty, students and our community in this area of digital citizenship.  This effort is still in its infancy but we are planning on kicking off the community involvement component this fall by offering "town hall" style meetings where we will be bringing in various experts to share their thoughts on topics such as internet and cell phone safety, legal consequences of inappropriate digital behaviors, as well as cyberbullying and social networking.  We have even gotten sponsors to offer door prizes (3 netbooks and an Xbox 360) as a way to encourage attendance.  Our hope is that we can share ideas and information that will encourage parents and others in our community to take a serious look at their own digital behavior while empowering them with the resources they need to play an active role in teaching their children how to lay down positive digital footprints and become good digital citizens.  We find that many parents want to be leaders for their children in the digital space but feel unprepared, so we are aiming to change that.  We believe by giving them some practical tips and info, as well as sharing with them a common vocabulary that their children will be hearing on a frequent basis in their classrooms, parents will feel empowered to get involved in digital lives of their kids and hopefully make a positive impact on their future.  We created a "teaser" video seen here that will be shown at all the school registration/open house events as well as school websites in hopes of raising an interest and encouraging parents to attend one of the meetings.  What do you think?  Have you tried implemented something similar in your district?  If so, share a link or your thoughts in the comments.

2 comments:

kidsnetsoft said...

You might want to check out my Cyber Wits unit. I did add your video. https://sites.google.com/site/cyberwits/

Steve said...

I beleive the the kids of today definitely need to be educated on the laws of sexting. I for one can guarantee that my kids will have been educated on this topic and unfortunately with some families today we must take matters into our own hands and lay down the foundation for positive technology.

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