Promote Digital Citizenship Through School-Based Social Networking

 Promote Digital Citizenship Through School-Based Social Networking

The author starts the article with the notion that with today's technology and having many social networks used to communicate with fellow class mates and teachers are creating many concerns with the issues that have new developed such as teacher-student communication and cyber bullying. The author continues to say that this has left the school with some responsibility to show their students digital citizenship but now schools have created there own social networks for teachers and students to use that tighter on control over them. They are school based networks that are very similar to facebook or myspace. These school social networks are just like those that are accessible to the general public but the great difference is that the school ones are easier to control and are more limited to only the students, teachers and administration at the school. This allows for the school to get rid of spammers, predators, and unwanted dangers that can reach these students and protects them from them. It also eliminates the privacy of sending messages that not all can see. With these new networks everything that is posted, commented, messages is made public so there is no inappropriate activate between students and students, also students and teachers. It creates a safe place for students and teacher have job security knowing they are both safe to use this network for education.  At first they introduced it to middle school students because many did not have public social networks so they were still new to the idea and it was not as big as a high school to monitor them and how it was used. Within days if it being introduced the students themselves found out how to used and began to work with the school based network to its utmost. The curriculum was then integrated in to the social network that extend their technology in the classroom and as fast as the students got the hang of it they began to use it for school work that teachers had assigned on it.

I would love for the school I teach at to have a similar thing such as this school based social network so that I can use with my students and not worry if my students are safe online and that I have a comfortable place to communicate outside the classroom with my students and know that school approves of it. This will benefit students a lot and give them an interest in school.

The end of it is that more and more schools and introducing the type of online community for middle schools and high schools. It is showing an increase of participation and decrease in cyber bullying do to the control that the school has over the website.

The article relates with the NET-S of Digital Citizenship because it shows the student everything that is on that list. Such as proper etiquette and gives them a safe place to communicate with their teacher.

 Winn, M. R. (2011, December). Promote Digital Citizenship Through School-Based Social Networking. Learning & Leading, 10–13. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/20111201#pg14