Thing 7.2 -- Digitial Citizenship -- Activities

People talk a lot about keeping kids safe online. It may just be semantics, but I think there should be more focus on teaching kids to be aware and vigilant online. 
Scary things don't happen online. Scary things happen as a result of your online habits. 
Even adults get lulled into thinking they are less visible online, even though the opposite is true. Look at how many people post blog comments, Facebook updates, and pictures for the world to see, that, under F2F (face to face) circumstances they would never even consider. Perceived anonymity is what gets you in trouble. 

Raising Awareness:

One of my favorite online awareness resources is Netsmartz.org Produced by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Activities cover everything from publishing too much info, to how predators groom kids, and how to avoid cyberbullying. Resources are targeted to parents, community, teens, tweens, and educators. There are great, kid-engaging videos, lesson plans, and discussion tips, contracts, tips sheets and more. Info and videos produced in Spanish and English. 

Learn more about the program

I have used these resources to educate students, parents, district staff and community partners in conjunction with the Believe 2 Become program. 

visit the site

Another good awareness training tool for schools is Onguard Online produced by the federal governement. The materials are a bit drier than NetSmartz, but you can order unlimited print resources for free, again in both English & Spanish.

Neither of these resources covers analysis of Websites. I plan to create some Moodle resources within my district with pre-made lesson plans for staff at all levels, similar to what was covered in 21 Things. I'd like to develop something in Spanish as well, and perhaps work with our ELL / bilingual program to create companion resources in a variety of languages.

Thing 7.1 -Digital Citizenship -Hoax Sites

visit the site

An island just for dogs?!? According to the stats box on the front page, almost 4000 dogs call Dog Island home.Really?

Bogus / Hoax Websites can be hard to crack. But the creator of Dog Island (www.thedogisland.com) makes it pretty easy by including a disclaimer right on the page footer. 

The advertising on this site makes it look even more credible. Visitors might think because there are actual companies and links to Google Ads, they've discovered a credible curiosity. But just because a Website draws enough traffic to make it valuable to advertisers, does not mean the content is legit.

visit the site

The Pacific Tree Octopus Website could easily fool a gullible, quick-to-click student.

The author presents in a tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic sort of humor that could easily be mis-construed by the less sophisticated student. He also links to actual credible Websites with some actual unusual creatures (such as the Nature Consrvancy) However if you read the FAQs you realize the site is named for the author, and has no real purpose. A disclaimer of sorts appears on the front page of this site as well, but is a bit less obvious than the Dog Island disclaimer: "This site is not associated with any school or educational organization, other than the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society."

Using the Joyce Valenza CARDDSS criteria for Website evaluation is a great way for kids and teachers to learn more about how Websites are created and what to look for when searching for credible resources. 

This was a fun activity. Even though I consider myself a veteran Internet user, it was eye-opening to see how real some of these sites appear. I can see in my mind exactly which of my students would fall for these, even with the aid of the eval tool. I can imagine that they would exert their own bias on their analysis. If they think the site is for real, they might ignore or twist evidence to the contrary to make it fit.