"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility"
Ben Parker of Spiderman - Stan Lee
Ben Parker of Spiderman - Stan Lee
what are Our Digital Rights and Responsibilities as both an educator & A student?
How do we make our students more aware of their rights and responsibilities
when using digital technologies?
Just as citizenship in the physical world involves two main elements-rights and responsibilities-so does citizenship in the digital world. Ribble (2015) defined digital rights and responsibilities as "those requirements and freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world" ( p.46).
All students should be aware of their universal digital rights. However, they also need to understand their responsibilities that come along with these rights. Students need to be mindful of the rights of other people and make sure to protect their own rights. |
As educators, we have the responsibility to teach Digital Rights & Responsibilities to our students so they can fully participate as citizens in the digital world both in school and at home.
Acceptable Use Policy - A.U.P.Many schools and districts use Acceptable Use Policies to make students more aware of their rights and responsibilities when using the school's technology and networks.
Below is a link to the Cape Henlopen School District's AUP and a public service announcement to encourage students in following the AUP by using technology responsibly both inside and outside school rather than violating the policy. |
How well do you know the terminology?
Play this Quizlet to brush up on Digital Rights & Responsibilities terminology and concepts.
Play this Quizlet to brush up on Digital Rights & Responsibilities terminology and concepts.
Copyrights, public Domain, Fair use, Creative Commons and Citing
Respecting the intellectual property of others
The digital world has brought about instant access to information and media and an easy way to share our creations globally. However, the ease of finding, copying and distributing digital content can lead to problems of copyright infringement and plagiarism. Understanding and navigating copyright laws, the various Creative Common licenses and Fair Use can be challenging to both educators and students. Fortunately, there are numerous resources and lesson available that are easily accessible regardless of the age of your students. Additionally, by teaching students about creative credits, copyrights, and how to cite their work, students will learn about their own rights while understanding that piracy and plagiarism are forms of copyright infringement that are unethical and unlawful.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License
Distributed on DVD by The Media Education Foundation. |
model model, model!
If we want our students to learn digital rights and responsibilities, and use online material ethically. Not only should we be teaching these concepts and sharing online tools to assist our students, but we need to be modeling that behavior.
When using images and videos in your lessons, make sure that you have permission to use them. Draw attention to the Creative Commons license or note if it is something in the public domain. Have the correct attributions visible. Point out to your students that you are a good digital citizen even when it may have been a struggle to find the right image as opposed to just grabbing an image from Google. Model, Model, Model! QUICK TIP FOR EDUCATORS: Have you explored Open Education Resources (OER)? "OER are shared teaching, learning, and research resources available under legally recognized open licenses -- free for people to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute" (Edutopia, 2015). The results of a two-year study, conducted by SRI International and rpk GROUP and released by Achieving the Dream, show that OER can dramatically enhance classroom experiences, pedagogies and boost student engagement.
Check out this educator's guide to learn more and find resources. |
Watch this video to learn a bit about the basics to help you make informed to decisions when selecting materials for your class.
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Verifying credibility of sources before believing and sharing
As teachers, you have likely seen students use questionable sources. A recent study, Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning, from the Stanford History Education Group, confirms just that. The study found "(students) may be able to flit between Facebook and Twitter while simultaneously uploading a selfie to Instagram and texting a friend. But when it comes to evaluating information that flows through social media channels, they are easily duped" (Wineburg, McGrew, Breakstone & Ortega, 2016, p.4).
For all digital citizens, understanding how to find accurate information on the web is crucial. The Staford study researchers go as far stating "that democracy is threatened by the ease at which disinformation about civic issues is allowed to spread and flourish" (Wineburg et al., 2016, p.5) It is now more important than ever to help our students learn to be critical of online news and media content. We need to teach skills that can help them go beyond fake news to identifying reliable sources. |
Online tools can help our students verify or debunk, the information they find. Even one fact-checking activity could be a useful first step toward empowering students in finding and using credible sources. Here are some fact-checking resources you and your students can use:
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Teaching Digital Citizenship by Sandy Coleman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.