Edina Digital Age Learning

This week is the first full week of " Digital Citizenship Month " in Edina Public Schools, an effort to raise awareness about the importance of being a good citizen online. We recognize that this topic can't just be a "one and done," lesson. Just like we talk about proper behavior in our face-to-face classrooms every day, we also need to talk about proper behavior in the virtual world, every day! To that end, we've put together this Website for staff. Each week, we are covering a different topic: Digital Safety Giving Credit/Taking Credit Information Literacy Digital Footprint At the elementary level, students are utilizing the Digital Passport curriculum from Common Sense Media. At the middle school level, students are working on earning badges by completing activities. Parents had the opportunity to attend a talk on " Digital Consciousness: Public and Permanent " from Richard Guerry, founder of the Institute for Responsible Onlin...

George Couros, shared his thoughts on Digital Citizenship, and the importance of including Digital Leadership as part of the conversation. Right now, there is too much focus on what NOT to do! Look at opportunities! Every kid is going to be Googled! 16 year old kids are making $150,000/year making MindCraft videos! "Transformational leaders don't start by denying the world around them. Instead, they describe a futher they'd like to create instead!" -Seth Godin  Communication is key!  How can you make sure that on graduation day, every student is "Well Googled" by his or her full name? He gave examples of a 14 year old in Australia who received job offers because of the video he made. And other students whose lives were ruined by their actions being posted online. And this one where a guy tweets about his flag football team needing players, and Kevin Durrant shows up. Too much of what we've been showing kids is about the creepy things...

Recently, I was interviewed on "Beyond the Badge," a program produced by the City of Edina. Police Liason Officer, Aaron White and I visited on what parents can do to get more informed about Cyberbullying. Here are some additional resources to help parents become informed about this important issue: Parenting in the Digital Age Presentation Parent's Guide to 21st Century Learning ThinkB4U -Great site for parents interested in learning more about Digital Literacy. Parent Further - A Search Institute Site for Families Kids and Tech-Parenting Tips for the Digital Age Facebook Terms of Service  Facebook Tools for Parents and Educators Common Sense Media-Facebook for Parents