Creating an Elementary School Digital Citizenship Program...

Running head: DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP

Creating an Elementary School Digital Citizenship Program

Jill Pierce

Kennesaw State University

October 23, 2017

Dr. Jo Williamson

May 2017

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP 2

Setting and Context

Shallowford Falls is an elementary school serving students K-5 and is a part of the Cobb

County School District. Built in 1990, it is located in a suburban area in the eastern part of the

county. Of the 685 students who attend, 47.4% are female and 52.6% are male; 70.7% are white,

8.2 % are Asian/Pacific Islander, 8.3% Hispanic, 9.5% are Black and 3.4% are Multiracial. The

majority of the population speak English as a primary language, with only 3% listed as English

Language Learners. In addition, it is reported that 16% of the students receive special education

services and 25% of the population has been identified as gifted.

The school has one Principal, one Assistant Principal and a Student Support

Administrator. There are 29 classroom teachers, 20 student support teachers along with

numerous paraprofessionals, food service, after school, and maintenance employees.

The Advanced Learning Program at Shallowford Falls has 2 full time and 3 part time

teachers. Gifted students in grades 1-5 meet with a teacher once a week by grade level for an

entire day. The standards are process based and focus primarily on critical thinking skills and

affective learning.

In 2017, Shallowford Falls received STEM certification at the county level from Cobb

County School District and at the national level from AdvancED. Currently the school is

applying for state certification as a STEM school as well. The school employs a full time STEM

teacher to meet with each of the students on a weekly rotation. STEM has been the primary

focus of Shallowford Falls for the past three years as the school has sought certification and will

continue to be the focus this year.


There are two laptop carts comprising of 30 laptops in each cart that are available to all

teachers on a checkout basis. In addition, the school has an iPad cart with 30 iPads also available

for checkout. All of the classrooms also have 3 desktop computers and there are two computer

labs that each have 30 desktops. One of the computer labs is used each day for a technology

rotation taught by the school’s Computer Teacher, but the other computer lab is available to

teachers on a first come first serve basis. Shallowford Falls also has a BYOD program

implemented at the school for 4th and 5th grade students.

Many of the 4th and 5th grade students take advantage of the BYOD program and bring in

their iPads, phones and tablets. It is a great option for teachers who are trying to use more digital

tools in the classroom but are unable to have access for enough devices for a 1:1 ratio. There has

been talk of “digital citizenship” in the school, but for the most part nothing has ever been taught

to any of the students. The teachers who are consumed in day-to-day activities need an easy way

to teach digital citizenship to their students without having to spend hours searching for lesson

plans. The school has a need for a cohesive digital citizenship program that will help the

students understand proper web etiquette.


Statement of Problem, Need and Rationale

The students at Shallowford Falls Elementary school have an abundant access to

technology during the school day. Between the school provided laptops and iPads and the

BYOD program, the students have many opportunities to interact with technology each day.

With the implementation of all of this new technology come concerns of cyberbullying, media

multi-tasking and oversharing. At the current time, there is no type of digital citizenship

program being offered to the students. Many teachers at the school have heard of digital

citizenship but do not have the necessary materials to teach it to the students.

According to Mike Ribble (2015) in Digital Citizenship in Schools, “Digital citizenship

can be described as the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology

use.” (p. 10). If we want students to know how to use technology in an appropriate fashion, it is

up to educators to teach these skills. We can no longer just ignore the dangers that students face

when they are part of an online presence. Banning technology is the not the answer, just as

banning “inappropriate” books in the past was not a solution to a problem. We need to embrace

technology and help our students to become responsible users. “With new and changing

technology, users cannot assume that everyone knows what is appropriate and what is not. It is

the responsibility of educators and the school community to help define appropriate technology

use.” (Ribble 2015 p. 12).

Shallowford Falls is adamant about teaching character education on a daily basis but this

type of learning falls short when technology is being used. Cyberbullying is something that is

on the rise due to technology and, unlike other forms of bullying, can be way more dangerous

and prevalent due to the anonymous nature of it. Cyberbullies hide behind fake names and

accounts and can harass victims without the fear of being caught. In a study done by Shirley S.


Ho, Liang Chen and Angelica P.Y Ng (2016), research was done to see the comparison of

cyberbullying between primary and secondary students. According to their research they found

when parental guidance was not available, adolescents were less likely to cyberbully than

younger children since they better understand the consequences and harm of this type of abuse.

Our younger students do not understand the power they have when posting online. This is

something that educators need to begin to teach at a young age. The study also stated that an

“overly restrictive control was found to increase cyberbullying perpetration.” This study shows

that we need to be educating our younger students about the extreme harm that cyberbullying can

create. In addition, we need to realize that simply taking away access is not going to be the key

to preventing cyberbullying.

According to the article “Even ‘Digital Natives’ Need Digital Training”, a school in Aliso

Viejo, CA is a prime example of the benefits of a digital citizenship program in preventing

cyberbullying. Erin McNeill states, “Since instituting a three-year middle school series on

digital citizenship, information literacy on evaluation of online sources, and media-literacy

courses to teach critical thinking skills around media texts of all kinds, the school has nearly

eliminated bullying and behavioral issues.” (McNeill 2015).

In addition to the concerns of cyberbullying, another concern with the use of technology

is multitasking. Multitasking can be thought of as a positive, but some recent studies have

shown that it can have negative effects as well. In the article “Preference for multitasking,

technological dependency, student metacognition, & pervasive technology use: An experimental

intervention”, it states “In the professional workplace, modern multitasking is often linked with

increased distraction, frequent misuse of technology, heightened workplace accidents,

diminished productivity and loss of profits.” It also claims that student performance is much


lower in those who are heavy media multitaskers. “Students who identified as strong

multitaskers performed measurably worse on retention measures compared to those students who

self-identified as poor multitaskers.” (Terry, Mishra & Roseth 2016). They describe that “there

has been a 120% increase in time that youth between the ages of 8 and 18 years old multitask

with media.” Clearly this is becoming a large issue and it is not difficult to believe as you see

most of our society looking down at their phones.

Perhaps the knee-jerk reaction of many schools would be to just eliminate the distraction

entirely. However according to the authors of the study a complete ban of technology “is

extreme and unwarranted, especially as research suggest that removing physical distraction may

not remove the internal distraction or anxiety.” (Terry, Mishra & Roseth 2016). This study

emphasizes the fact that educators need to be teaching students how to properly use their devices

and how to have self-control with their devices, to know when to power down.

Another major benefit of a digital citizenship program would be to teach students about

oversharing information. We spend countless hours teaching children to not talk to strangers.

Yet online, students can share where they go to school, what sports teams they play on, how old

they are and other information that can leave virtual breadcrumbs to lead online predators right

to these kids. It is important that we teach children how to protect themselves online by not

sharing personal information.

There is currently legislation that is being reviewed that will encourage state lawmakers

to promote laws in the area of Digital Citizenship. Washington, Utah, Maine and Florida have

already taken steps in this direction. "This isn't an issue that can be solved with a one-time fix,"

said Sunny Deye, a program principal at the National Conference of State Legislatures. "It


requires a mechanism for schools to address ongoing issues as they come up." (Education Week.

2016).

Teaching digital citizenship in schools is just the next natural progression that must come

along now that the technology is a daily part of our students’ lives. We need to teach them how

to be kind to one another and that typed words can be taken out of context. We need to teach

them how to turn off technology and know when it is appropriate to just use our brains to think

instead of constantly being pulled in by our devices. We need to teach them to keep private

information private to be sure they are safe when they are online. CIPA (Childhood Internet

Protection Act) and COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule) are federal laws that

are in place to protect our students. Schools who want to receive discounts through the E-rate

program must comply with these laws. The laws are in place, and now we need to find a way to

enable our teachers to be sure that our classrooms are following them. A school wide digital

citizenship program is the step Shallowford Falls Elementary School needs to take to protect and

benefit the school and the students.


Shallowford Falls’ students have numerous opportunities to use technology at school.

With these opportunities come many chances for students to make decisions that could greatly

affect themselves or their classmates. It is up to educators to help teach Digital Citizenship so

that the students understand the dangers of oversharing, cyberbullying and multitasking.

Unfortunately there is so much pressure on teachers and there is very little time to search the web

to look for appropriate lessons. In addition, since there is no organized plan at the school,

teachers do not know if certain lessons they might want to teach have already been taught.

Creating a website that has lessons available by grade level will provide resources for teachers to

educate our intermediate students in digital citizenship without fear of re-teaching the same

lessons.

The goal of this project is to create a curriculum with easy to access lesson plans to help

teachers educate our 3-5 grade population about digital citizenship. The initial piloting stage of

this project will be completed by May 2018 and the final program will be presented to the 3rd,

4th and 5th grade classroom teachers by preplanning of the 2018-2019 school year.

Objectives and Deliverables:

Objective 1:

Bring awareness to the staff about the importance of digital citizenship. By April 2018, 75% of

the pilot teachers will have integrated digital citizenship into their classrooms.

Deliverables:

A pre-survey to assess teacher’s understanding about educating using digital citizenship

(by November 17, 2017)

A post survey for teachers (by April 20, 2018)


A training presentation on how to access the website and what lessons are available; give

teachers a timeline for completing lesson to be presented during week of January 8, 2018

at PLC meeting

An updated training presentation based on findings in the pilot classroom (by

preplanning week 2018-2019)

A handout for teachers on how to access website and proposed dates for teaching lessons

(by preplanning week 2018-2019).

Objective 2:

Research and compile 9 total (3 per grade level) digital citizenship lesson plans and ideas for

teachers of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders by December 31, 2017.

Deliverables:

• A teacher friendly website that has 3 lessons for each grade level on digital citizenship for 3rd,

4th, 5th grade level (by December 31st)

Objective 3

Educators of students in grades 3, 4 and 5 pilot classes will teach 3 lessons about digital

citizenship by April 20, 2018.

Deliverables:

A training presentation on how to access the website and what lessons are available

A timeline for completing lessons

A post-survey to see if teachers are actually accessing and teaching the lessons

Standards


The standard that directly ties to this project is PSC Standard 5 – Digital Citizenship. The

standard states that technology coaches should model and promote digital citizenship. In

creating an easy to access digital citizenship program at the school with lessons for each of the

intermediate grades, this standard will be reached.

Objective One – Bring awareness to the intermediate teachers about the importance of teaching

digital citizenship.

This objective directly ties into the entire element of the standard. Digital Citizenship &

Responsibility states that candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to

model and promote digital citizenship and responsibility (PSC Standard 4). The facilitator will be

modeling and promoting the education of digital citizenship. To have buy in to the curriculum

the teachers will need to understand the importance of this type of program.

Objective Two – Research and compile 9 total (3 per grade level) digital citizenship lesson plans

and ideas.

This objective is directly connected with the second strand of the Digital Citizenship

standard, “Model and facilitate safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and

technologies” (PSC Standard 4.2). In order for a coach to successfully model lessons that will be

implemented into a classroom, there needs to be the appropriate materials to teach the students.

Lessons will be researched and compiled to help the teachers educate their students on how to

use technology safely and ethically. There are numerous tools available to teachers, but there is

limited time for the teachers to find these resources. By creating a website with all of the

information on Digital Citizenship lessons for our school located in one spot, this type of

learning is more likely to occur at Shallowford Falls.


Objective Three – Students will have exposure to Digital Citizenship education.

This objective is directly connected with the second strand other Digital Citizenship

standard, “Model and facilitate safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and

technologies.” (PSC Standard 4.2). Students need to have the opportunities to learn what digital

citizenship is and to understand that how to properly use devices to make sure that they are

staying safe when they are online. The more exposure that teachers provide to them on the

importance of this topic, the more likely they are to use safe practices and make smart choices

when online.

Table 1.

Project Objectives Alignment

Project Objective PSC Standard

Bring awareness to the staff about

the importance of teaching digital

citizenship

Element 4. Digital Citizenship & Responsibility

Candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and

dispositions to model and promote digital citizenship

and responsibility (PSC 4)

Research and compile digital

citizenship lesson plans and ideas

Element 4.2 Safe, Healthy, Legal & Ethical Use

Candidates model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal,

and ethical uses of digital information and

technologies. (PSC 4.2)

Educators will teach 3 lessons about

digital citizenship

Element 4.2 Safe, Healthy, Legal & Ethical Use

Candidates model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal,

and ethical uses of digital information and

technologies. (PSC 4.2)


Project Description

The basic goal of this project is to develop a Digital Citizenship program for the

intermediate students of Shallowford Falls. In this section you will find a step by step plan on

how to achieve the goal of this project. The overall plan of this project is to create an easy to use

website that teachers can access for Digital Citizenship lessons for their students. Each grade

level will have at least 3 lessons that will help educate students on being technologically wise.

By providing easy to access lessons to the teachers it will help the school be sure that technology

is used in a safe, healthy, and ethical way. We cannot simply assume that our students know the

proper way to use technology or the lifelong ramifications of improper use. If the school is

embracing technology to help their students become more engaged learners, they have to take the

responsibility to teach those students key lessons in Digital Citizenship.

First Project

Before we can expect teachers to embrace a Digital Citizenship program, it is important

to be sure that they understand the importance of teaching these skills. The plan is to assess the

teachers to see what they know about Digital Citizenship, then create a brief presentation sharing

the key components and major benefits of Digital Citizenship. The materials that will be needed

are a survey program, such as Google Docs and some form of presentation software. The survey

will take 2 hours to create, and 3 hours to distribute and analyze the results. The presentation

will take 10 hours to create and present. This portion of the project directly ties into the main

strand of PSC Standard 4: Digital Citizenship and Responsibility as the project leader will be

modeling and promoting digital citizenship and responsibility.

Second Project


The second project involves researching and compiling appropriate Digital Citizenship

lessons for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. There are numerous resources available, but teachers do not

have the time to sift through it all to find what is appropriate for their grade level. In addition,

without some sort of system in place, no one knows what lessons may have already been

addressed and could wind up repeating the same exact lesson from year to year. It is important

to find engaging lessons and to provide at least 3 activities for each age group. After lessons are

found, they will be compiled into an easy to access website. The materials needed for this will

included multiple search engines, Pinterest, interviews with one of Cobb County’s technology

coaches, and a free website creator such as Wix or Weebly. It will take 50 hours to find

resources and 20 to create the website. This project will address PSC Standard 4.2 as it

promotes to modeling and facilitating safe uses of technology within our school.

Third Project

After the website is created, pilot teachers will be trained on how to access the lessons

during a professional learning community (PLC) meeting. If the lessons are not easy to find,

there is a less likely chance that teachers will follow the program. In addition, the teachers will

be invited into the project facilitator’s classroom to observe a modeled lesson. The website

previously created will be accessed and handouts for the presentation will be created using a

word processing program. The training planning and implementation will take 5 hours,

modeling and teaching the lessons will take 10 hours. This project also aligns with PSC

Standard 4.2.

Fourth Project


The initial survey will be revised to allow room for comments on what went well and

what should be changed. The teachers will be given the post teaching survey and will be

encouraged to discuss their thoughts on the Digital Citizenship program. The survey results will

be analyzed for growth. At this point, any issues that arise or additional ideas that can be added

will be addressed on the website. All revisions will need to be made before the start of the 2018-

2019 school year when this program will be presented to all 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teachers. This

portion of the project will use the survey software used in the first project and the website

creation software used in the second project. The revision of the survey will take 2 hours,

meeting with the teachers will take 3 hours, analyzing the survey results will take 2 hours,

revising and improving the website will take 3 hours. This project aligns with PSC Standard 4.

Fifth Project

The final portion of this project will be to present it to the rest of the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade

teachers at Shallowford Falls during preplanning of 2018-2019. The facilitator will meet with

each of the teams during grade level meetings. This portion will involve using the presentation

software used in the earlier stage of this project, as well as the word processing software used

earlier. Planning the presentation and presenting will take 5 hours. This project aligns with PSC

Standard 4.

Table 2.

Project Activities Alignment

Project Item/Activity Project Objectives Deliverables

1. Create, conduct, analyze

initial survey and introduce

digital citizenship.

Bring awareness to the

staff about the importance

Initial survey

Presentation


of teaching digital

citizenship

2. Research and compile

lessons and activities on

Digital Citizenship and create

website for teacher use.

Research and compile 9

total (3 per grade level)

digital citizenship lesson

plans and ideas.

Website with 3

lessons for each grade

level participating

(3rd, 4th and 5th grades)

3. Train teachers on website

use, model lessons.

Educators of students in

grades 3, 4 and 5 pilot

classes will teach 3

lessons about digital

citizenship.

Timeline for lessons

Presentation for using

website

4. Create a post survey for

pilot teachers, meet to discuss

lessons taught, revise website

based on teacher

recommendation.



of teaching digital

citizenship.

Post-survey

Website with

corrections and new

ideas

5. Present program to all 3rd,

4th, 5th grade teachers at

Shallowford Falls

Elementary.



of teaching digital

citizenship.

Presentation with any

new ideas from

piloting session

Website (previously

created and edited)

Handout with timeline

and tips


Evaluation Plan

The purpose of this capstone is to develop a school wide Digital Citizenship program for

students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. The projects will be evaluated using two different formats

including online surveys and face to face meetings. A Digital Citizenship program at

Shallowford Falls will help to educate students on safe and ethical online uses. As the school

embraces technology integration, it is essential to provide students with tools on proper use.

Teachers will have a website for easy access to lesson plans and will be confident that the

materials they are presenting are relevant and authentic. In addition, a digital citizenship

program will help the school address the PSC Standard 4.2, which encourages teachers to

“model and facilitate the safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and

technologies.”

First Project

The first project is a pre-survey that will assess understanding of the teachers’ prior

knowledge on digital citizenship followed by a presentation on the benefits of digital citizenship

program. This will be done during a PLC meeting which will allow time for an informal

conversation following the presentation. Since the project is starting with a pilot group of 3

teachers, it will be evident through the conversation if the presentation was successful.

Second Project

The second project is the research, compiling, and creating of a website with all of the

digital citizenship lessons and the third project is the portion where the teachers teach the

lessons. Since the goal is to have nine lessons on the website, success will be achieved if the

website is complete with all of the lessons.


Third/Fourth Project

The third project is to train the teachers on how to use the website and to model some of

the lessons. During the training of website usage, the instructor will be going step by step as to

how to access the lessons. Since there are only 3 teachers in the pilot phase, it will be obvious to

observe the ease or frustration the teachers feel with the website. The effectiveness of the website

and the lessons will be evaluated by observing if and how the teachers are implementing the

lessons in the classroom. There will be a time set to visit each of the three classrooms to observe

the teachers and see how the lessons are going. Informal observation of the classroom setting

during the lessons will help to evaluate the effectiveness and engagement of each lesson.

The fourth project, a post survey given to the teachers after using the digital citizenship

lessons, will also help to evaluate whether or not the website and lessons were effective. This

evaluation will also allow for comments on how to make improvements on the project prior to

presenting to the entire staff. In addition to the survey, there will be a face to face meeting with

the pilot teachers to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the program during a PLC meeting.

Fifth Project

The final project, which is to present the website to the entire staff of 3rd, 4th, and 5th

grade teachers and encourage implementation will be evaluated throughout the school year at

PLC grade level meetings. Teachers will be encouraged to discuss the lessons and record

observations in their PLC meeting notes. This information will be shared with administration.

Administration has agreed to share pertinent meeting notes with me. In addition, as students

progress to the next grade level, digital citizenship skills will become evident in all of our

technology users and a level of awareness will be apparent throughout the school.


Timeline

This project will take place over the 2017-2018 school year and will progress into the

2018-2019 school year. The project will begin with a pre-assessment of an understanding of

digital citizenship skills and a presentation on its’ importance in a technologically advanced

school setting. Lessons will be researched and gathered and compiled into a website for teachers

to access. Teachers will be expected to teach the three lessons that are provided for their grade

level. A post-assessment will be given after the lessons have been taught and the teachers will

give their feedback on the program so that appropriate changes can be made. All 3rd, 4th and 5th

grade teachers will be presented with this website at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year

and will be encourage to teach all 3 lessons from the website to their students. Teachers will be

recording observations and feedback from these lessons in their PLC meeting notes.

Table 3.

Project Timeline

Month Project Activity Hours

November Create pre-survey 5

November Create presentation on Digital Citizenship 10

December/January Create website 50

January Give pre-survey, train teachers on digital citizenship, train

teachers how to use website

15

February Visit teachers classrooms to model and observe lessons 10

April Create post-survey to assess changes in viewpoints and

understanding of digital citizenship

2

April Meet with teachers to get feedback on website and lesson plans 3


May Analyze results from post-survey; make changes to website and

lessons according to teacher feedback

5

July Present website on digital citizenship to all teachers in 3rd, 4th and

5th grade at PLC meetings during preplanning

5

Total

Hours

105

Resources

Materials and tools:

Google Forms

Weebly

Microsoft Word

PowerPoint

Internet Access through CCSD

Google

Pinterest

Projector and Screen

iPad cart

Laptop cart

Space:

Classroom

Professional Development Room

Human Resources:

Teachers

Administration (approval and encouragement of teachers)


Appendix 1 – Pre- Survey


References

Herold, B. (2017). K-12 Digital Citizenship Initiative Targets States. Education Week.

Volume 36 (11), 1, 13.

Ho, S.S., Chen, L., & Ng, A.P.Y. (2016). Comparing cyberbullying perpetration on social

media between primary and secondary school students. Computers & Education., 109, 74-

84.

McNeill, E. (2015). Even ‘Digital Natives’ Need Digital Training. Education Week. Volume

35 (09), 18-19.

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital Citizenship in Schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for

Technology in Education.

Terry, C.A., Mishra, P., & Roseth, C.J. (2016). Preference for multitasking, technological

dependency, student metacognition, & pervasive technology use: An experimental

intervention. Computers in Human Behavior. 65, 241-251.

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