Wesley Fryer has given me somewhere to start working out these questions surrounding technology, education, and safety. Rather than focusing on online dangers and how to stay safe, he advocates for a more holistic, and in my mind healthier, approach. In “What is digital citizenship?” he says:
We hear a fair bit about “Internet safety” in educational technology circles today, and more schools are starting to address online safety issues with students. Many of these presentations do not delve into the rights and responsibilities which accompany technology use, however, as discussions about digital citizenship naturally invite. Rather than simply tell students “don’t talk to strangers” and “don’t reveal personal information” online, educators need to be discussing … issues surrounding the ethical uses of digital technologies and the impacts those uses can have not only at a personal level, but also on larger scales.
Thinking positively about fostering good citizenship is a step in the right direction for me. It’s a lesson that I have to re-learn often in life: instead of expending energy and effort on staying out of harm’s way, it’s better to throw oneself into making the world a place where fewer bad things happen. Recasting online safety as digital citizenship is going to help me do that.
The Digital Citzenship site has lots of resources to help me explore this much further. One of the things I am pleased to see in the DC space was the concept of “Technology License,” which is something I’ve been toying with implementing with at least some of my younger students.
I feel like I’m making progress here.
