What safety? Digital what? This would probably be the way my teachers and fellow students would have responded to
questions about cyber safety and digital citizenship. Nothing is going to show my age faster than reflecting back on my school experiences with technology. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, computers and the internet were in their infancy when I was in school. We had computer labs that allowed us to do basic word processing and play a few primitive games, but surfing the world wide web, cell phones, social media and texting didn’t exist and neither did the need for us to be educated about cyber safety and digital citizenship.
Raising a daughter and educating young people in our current digital age absolutely terrifies me. I want them to be safe and not make mistakes that will live in the depths of the internet for eternity, but I have no idea how to do it. Instinct tells us to resort to many of the scare tactics of the past by warning them of the dangers lurking behind each swipe or click but I know those tactics are not effective. I read a book last year, School Climate 2.0: Preventing Cyberbullying and Sexting One Classroom at a Time, that really opened my eyes to how we as educators can effectively go about educating our students with real techniques that will promote cyber safety and digital citizenship.
As Jurgenson describes in the IRL Fetish, and echoed in the Character Education for the Digital Age, separating our digital and school lives is nearly impossible and trying to do so is a disservice to students. Instead of telling them the internet is a big bad scary place, we need to educate them on how to use it safely and effectively through the nine elements of digital citizenship. While there is no easy answer as to how to teach this topic, one idea I found intriguing and that I would love to try is by co-creating with students a set of classroom values surrounding the use of technology in our school community. What makes them feel safe? Unsafe? What scares them or what worries do they have? How can we work together in our classroom community to ensure all of our members feel safe? Perhaps in doing so students will be more invested in using technology safely and appropriately in all areas of their lives, not just at school.
The more we can incorporate technology in our classrooms and teaching and demonstrate for our students how to successfully navigate the complexities of the digital age in which they live in a responsible and safe manner, the better equipped they will be to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital world.