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Publislted August 22, 2012, in. Educatum. Week

COMMENTARY

Editor's Note: As states and districts plan fot the Common Core State Standards, educators are left to wonder how digital literacy fits into the standards. This Spotlight focuses on how to incorporate digital literacy, explores public-private efforts to dose the digital-skills gap, and looks at some competency-based and te-chnology-driven programs, attempting to give students a head start on common-core assessments.

The Common Core's Digital-Literacy Gap

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grade, while 7th grade focuses on informa-tion and research literacy. Eighth graders Jearn about media literacy and work on a project that requires them to conduct re­search and correctly cite information online. Students also learn how to dissect comput­ers in their last year to get a closer look at how they work.

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12Education WEEK Spotlight on Digital literacy in the common-core era n edweek.org

Copyright ©2012 by Editorial Projects in Education, Inc. all rights reserved. No part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder.

readers may make up to 5 print copies of this publication at no cost for personal, non-commercial use, provided that each includes a full citation of the source. Visit www.edweek.org/go/copies for information about additional print photocopies.Published by Editorial Projects in Education, Inc.6935 arlington road, Suite 100bethesda, mD, 20814Phone: (301) 280-3100www.edweek.org

Published July 11, 2012, in Education Week Teaching Now Blog

Published August 30, 2012 in Education Week Teaching Now Blog

A t the Journey School in Aliso Viejo, Calif., technology does not play a role in the classroom until students enter the 6th grade—and

even then the emphasis is not on gadgets but on civics. The Orange County Register reports that the K-8 charter school, founded in 2000 by a group of parents, implements the “Waldorf” approach to education, mean-ing computers take a back seat to hands-on physical and art-based activities such as music, storytelling, gardening, and knitting. Even so, the school’s “Cyber Civics” program teaches middle school students about safe and proper online behavior.

Shaheer Faltas, an administrator at the 300-student school, told the Register that cyber-bullying and sexting have not been problems at Journey partly because of the lessons taught through the Cyber Civics pro-gram. “As the children mature we recognize that, as they get into middle school, we want them to use these tools that we have for the

good and for their learning,” said Faltas. “We don’t think they need a lot of instruction in how you use Excel or Microsoft Word—what they need to know is what is the appropriate use of these resources.”

The Cyber Civics program has students learn about digital citizenship in the 6th grade, while 7th grade focuses on informa-tion and research literacy. Eighth graders learn about media literacy and work on a project that requires them to conduct re-search and correctly cite information online. Students also learn how to dissect comput-ers in their last year to get a closer look at how they work.

Diana Graber, the cyber civics teacher at Journey, explained that some of the exer-cises she implements in class are designed to get students to think twice before they post something on a public site. “It’s almost like safe sex,” said Graber. “You teach them how to be safe before they go out there, so that hopefully they’ll understand what can happen with private information if you’re not careful.”

I n a fascinating article in Scientific American, teachers Jody Passanisi and Shara Peters make the case that, while kids today have a seemingly innate

facility with technology, they are quick to become impatient and discouraged when faced with complex tasks involving digital tools:

Since children these days are clas-sified as being native to all things digital, one would think they should be able to master the operation of anything with an “on” button. This mistakenly groups all technology, including video games and online search engines, in the same cat-egory. Just because a child jumps at the opportunity to program a TV to record his or her favorite shows does not mean that he or she will approach a classroom learning tool with the same zeal. In our experi-ence, if students are not able to find answers to an Internet search in

the first few results pages, they say “I can’t find it,” instead of adjust-ing their search, or reexamining the results in depth.

Passanisi and Peters go on to argue that teachers have a responsibility to help students use technology in ways that take them beyond the types of instant gratifica-tion they have come to expect (practically as a birthright) from consumer products and video games:

Just because these students are digital natives, does not mean that they do not need guidance to navi-gate the digital world—both in terms of learning how to discern important and relevant information from a large swath of data, and also to be able to inquire and solve problems that take time, thought, and energy.

This is perhaps the best response I’ve seen to the question of why schools should integrate technology into instruction when kids’ lives are already immersed in it. It’s an issue, partly, of making sure they don’t miss the forest for the trees.

Students learn Cyber Skills at a No-Tech School

Why Digital Natives Need Help With Technology

By Francesca Duffy

By anthony Rebora

edut o pia.o rg http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-resources-matt-davis

Digital Citizenship Week: 6 Resources for Educators

WHAT WORKS IN EDUCATION The George Lucas Educational Foundation

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October 28, 2013

Trending: Common Core Resources

Technology Integrat ion

October 16, 2013

Photo credit: Massachusetts Secretary of Education via f lickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

I recently sat through a bullying prevention session f or parents, and the conversation inevitably migrated to adiscussion of cyberbullying, smartphones and other f orms of digital media. Considering how ubiquitoussmartphones have become, especially in high school, and now in middle school, questions about managingsmartphones and educating students about digital cit izenship are on a lot of parents' minds.

This year, in conjunction with October ’s Connected Educator Month, Common Sense Media is hosting DigitalCitizenship Week f rom Oct. 21-25. Throughout the week, there will be a webinars and other ways f or schoolsand educators to get involved. But really, now is the perf ect t ime to discuss digital responsibility, saf ety andcit izenship with students, and there are plenty of valuable events and resources that you can use. Here are sixof my f avorite:

Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum f or K-12: Common Sense Media’s interactive curriculum of f ers

something f or every grade level. From Digital Passport - - an award-winning trove of resources f orgrades 3-5 -- to f ree lessons f or high schools students on iTunes U, their resources f eature videos,lesson ideas and classroom posters f or parents, teachers and students. Also, check out CommonSense Media’s Digital Cit izenship advice f or parents and teachers f or links to a bunch of usef ul articles.

Understanding YouTube and Digital Cit izenship: YouTube’s online curriculum f or secondary students is aperf ect resource f or Digital Cit izenship Week. Teachers will f ind ten lessons, all of which take between20-50 minutes to teach, and they cover extremely relevant topics like managing online reputation andprotecting privacy online.

Digital Cit izenship Learning Center f rom CyberWise: CyberWise produced an extensive list of digitalcit izenship resources, including videos, games and toolkits f rom a variety of sources. The CyberWiseGuide to Digital Cit izenship is also available f or f ree download, which f eatures overviews, t ips andstrategies f or teaching digital cit izenships and links to other valuable resources like MediaSmarts andiKeepSaf e.

Cable in the Classroom’s Digital Cit izenship Resources: Cable in the Classroom (CIC) is a one-stop-shop f or digital cit izenship resources f or teachers. Here, you’ll f ind usef ul and engaging articles, videosand other resources f or teaching digital cit izenship, and students can work through CIC’s InCtrl lessonsto learn the ins and outs of digital cit izenship.

BrainPop Jr. Spotlight -- Free Digital Cit izenship Resources: BrainPop's Digital Cit izenship resource pageis perf ect f or younger students, and there are two sections on bullying and Internet saf ety. Each sectionf eatures a video overview, quizzes and lesson ideas, as well as other interactive resources.

Digital Cit izenship Teaching Channel Video Overviews: Here, the Teaching Channel has produced “SuperDigital Cit izen,” a behind-the-scenes looks at how one educator teaches digital cit izenship to elementarystudents. Other digital literacy video resources cover understanding f air use and tracking media useonline; there's something here f or every grade level.

More Fun Edutopia Resources

Matt Davis's Blog

NAMLE press release

For immediate release May 7, 2013 Contact: Tina Peterson Tpeterson@namle.net

Media Literacy Board Broadens Leadership The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) announces the results of its recent election for the Board of Directors for the 2013-2015 term. Reflecting the growing reach of media literacy across multiple disciplines, the 15-member board now includes representatives from higher education, independent media, after school programs, media production, organizational communications, research and public health. Newly elected “At Large” Board Directors:

• DC Vito, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The LAMP (Learning About Multimedia Project)

• Rebecca Reynolds, Assistant Professor, Library and Information Science, Rutgers University

• Cynthia Lieberman, Co-Founder of Cyberwise Current Board Directors elected to new terms:

• Erin Reilly (First Vice-President) • Paul Mihailidis (Co-editor, JMLE) • Rhys Daunic (Secretary, Chair of Communications Committee) • Ethan Delavan (Treasurer) • Cathy Leogrande • Jasmine Hood • Carol Tizzano

The newly elected and re-elected directors join continuing board directors Sherri Hope Culver, Lynda Bergsma, Tina Peterson, David Cooper Moore, and Emily Bonilla. Additional information about NAMLE and the board of directors may be found on the NAMLE web site, www.namle.net. The National Association for Media Literacy Education is a nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to expand and improve the practice of media literacy education in the United States.

get t ingsmart .co m http://gettingsmart.com/2013/07/10-too ls-every-teacher-should-master-this-summer/

Alison Anderson

10 Tools Every Teacher Should Master This Summer

Apps & Mobile, EdTech, EdTech Videos, Learning, Learning Innovations, PreK-12 / July 10,2013 by

1.1kShares

According to Common Sense Media, 95% of teachers agree that using technology increases studentengagement and 92% of teachers want to add more technology to their classroom.

We at Getting Smart are still basking in an ISTE af terglow… we’d like to share 10 great tools that we wereintroduced to there and the reasons they are so worth taking the time to master this summer. These are thetools that will transf orm your classroom in the f all because you will notice the def inite threads that runthroughout all these applications… real- t ime, collaborate and creative! Those words together are sure to builda lot of excitement around exactly how educational technology is developing and transf orming what schoollooks like!

1. LiveSlide – Ever have trouble getting students to pay attention and participate during class? Notanymore… This August, Atlas Learning will release LiveSlide, which allows teachers to create or downloadpresentations and share with the entire class, via ANY device, be it desktop, laptop, tablet…even asmartphone. LiveSlide takes it to the next step by allowing the teacher or any student to annotate directly ontoany slide while the rest of the class f ollows along on each of their own personal devices. LiveSlide alsorecords it all so students can review the lesson any time and has a notes f eature built right in, so thatstudents can keep all their learning in one place. LiveSlide makes it simple to create, both on the teacher andstudent side and redef ines what student participation looks like. Learn more and sign up f or the release waitinglist here.

2. Scoot and Doodle - It ’s true- this name just sounds f un, because this Google application is f un! And, evenbetter, it has incredible classroom potential! Google hangouts make it simple f or students, teachers, f amiliesand f riends to come together in a virtual space any time, any where. Add Scoot and Doodle to a Googlehangout and you can now draw, create, decorate, annotate, illustrate, plan and problem-solve together on oneshared canvas! Scoot and Doodle turns hangouts into a “powerf ul and playf ul place f or learning and creativitywith our real- t ime collaboration studios, where up to 10 students can work simultaneously and teachers canupload templates with their own educational content, such as math, science or storytelling.” The best way tomaster Scoot and Doodle this summer is to check out the gallery of great examples and then just play, play,play!

3. Biblionasium – Having time to read, as a teacher or student is one of the bestparts of summer! But we want to carry that enthusiasm into the school year, evenwhen things get a bit more hectic. Maybe you’re already using Shelf ari or Goodreadsf or your own reading… well now here is the grades 4-12 version! Sign up as astudent, parent or teacher and import your entire class. It is a completely saf e site f orkids, allowing them to maintain their own “shelves” and search f or books inside thesite, with lexile reading levels, reading resources and great book lists included.Parents and teachers can set reading challenges f or the students who will then beable log their reading minutes and earn digital “rewards.” This seems like the perf ect place to encourage anddevelop independent readers!

4. Ujam “Make Your Music” – this f ree site was not necessarily createdf or education use but the potential f or students is so excit ing! First, it ’s sof un, it ’s instantly addicting. Anyone who logs in through a Google orFacebook account can instantly start creating their own music f rom scratchby simply recording their voice. The next step is mixing the voice recordingwith instruments or melodies, remixing with other ujam recorded songs andcreating your own masterpieces. As we try to teach our students aboutcopyright and f air use, this tool is a gif t f or teachers who truly want theirstudents to get creative while making videos and presentations about theirlearning. Ujam adds one more layer to the creative process, lett ing anystudent who knows how to work a mouse now able to compose their own music.

5. Teachley – Is a trio of app designers f ocusing on creating apps that ref lect the mostcurrent cognitive research. “Our f irst app, Addimal Adventure, teaches f our importantaddition strategies through playf ul characters and a f un, engaging game. Students practiceaddition f acts using a powerf ul visual model of each strategy. The speed roundencourages memorization and provides hints when needed. “ Not only are they working onmore apps, but also working on a white paper explaining the reasoning behind their appdevelopment. So excit ing to see such great research being applied at the back end toensure the time students spend on these apps is truly worthwhile and we here at GettingSmart can’t wait to see what else Teachley has up their sleeve!

6. Sanderling- Field Journal - (f rom An Estuary) has just started its Beta testing and we are so excited weare already signed up! Using the f ield journal, educators will be able to make ref lective practice completelyimmersive. Teachers will no longer have to f ind time to stop, ref lect, sit and write at a desk about what workedand what didn’t work in the classroom. Instead they will have their “journal” at their f ingertips at all t imes… mostimportantly, when they are actually practicing! The power of mobile technology harnessed within Sanderling willlet teachers record, enhance, strengthen and share their practice without having to stop or take time awayf rom their already busy days. Why hasn’t someone thought of this earlier? Well, we’re not complaining- we are

just so glad that brilliant educators at An Estuary are on it.

7. Graphite – Not as in what is inside pencils… but the new tech tool review site launching f rom CommonSense Media this summer. As the world of Edtech exponentially grows, we sometimes f eel like we can barelyhold on, let alone be up to date on the best tools available f or our students. Well, Common Sense Media, longknown as one of the best resources f or parents concerned about f inding the appropriate Media f or theirchildren and its curriculum on digital literacy and internet saf ety has now created Graphite, an incredibleresource f or teachers. Using Graphite, “teachers can search f or digital tools by grade, subject, platf orm, priceand other variables and then view comprehensive reviews and ratings f or each one. In addition to includingreviews f rom Common Sense Media’s own editorial team of f ormer teachers, the site enables teachers tocontribute their own evaluations with the technology. Each review page also includes the key standardssupported by that particular ed tech tool.”

8. CyberWise - No Grown Up Lef t Behind! Along the same lines of Graphite, we know weall strive to keep up as technology develops, but some adults f eel they have f allen behindand just don’t know where to turn to catch up. Parents want their children to be saf e, sosometimes that means basically banning technology at home because they just don’t knowwhat’s good and what isn’t. As tech-savvy educators, we know that’s not the right answerbut we are not always sure how to support parents and show them the powerf ul learningtools our students now have access to. Enter CyberWise… their cute owl icon is basicallythe 21st century version of Woodsy, the Owl… spreading a message of saf ety to all whowant to learn. But instead of “hoot, hoot, don’t pollute” this owl is saying, “while kids seemright at home in this new digital world, many grownups f eel lef t behind. CyberWise canhelp! We provide all the resources you need to embrace new media f earlessly.” Cyberwise is a valuableresource f or any adult or child looking to expand their knowledge of web tools.

9. Wevideo - A cloud based video creation tool that has come a very long way this past year! When it f irst hitthe web, it seemed like an incredible concept but in reality was conf using to use and changed user interf acesso many times you weren’t sure you were still using the same tool. Well, af ter our demo at ISTE, we are prettysure WeVideo has lef t it ’s growing pains behind and has transf ormed into a tool any teacher would want.Similar to iMovie, WeVideo is a robust video editing tool but, unlike iMovie, it works on any browser and allowsf or collaboration. One of the coolest f eatures, is that it allows teachers to create video “templates” and sharethem with their class of students. Imagine assigning a “video template” instead of a worksheet to check f orstudent understanding! “WeVideo f or Education allows educators to set up class video projects, making therelevant media available to each class. The educator can also group students, view and comment their work,and monitor the progress of each video project.”

10. Klikaklu – So this is not actually f rom ISTE, but was discovered very soon af terwards. The name maymean nothing at f irst, but think digital scavenger hunts or geocaching… then think “click a clue”. Ok, now weget it. This brand new app f rom developers in our home state of Washington will leverage the power of mobiledevices we now have in the classroom and help us get our students physically OUT of the classroom! We’veseen scavenger hunts and we think geocaching is great f or students but now with Klikaklu, the students canengage in their learning at a new level. Still using clues to lead your participants through a hunt, the studentsneed to use the camera to take a picture of the target and only then will they know if they succeeded… veryQR code – Augmented Reality like! The best part is the hunt only has to be made once, and then can be sharedpublicly, with goals and rewards built right in. Gamif ication was def initely all the rage at ISTE this year and withthe huge amount schools have invested into buying mobile devices, this is the perf ect app f or teacherswanting to gamif y and wanting to get their students out and exploring beyond the conf ines of the classroomwalls!

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THE CYBERWISE TEAM

www.CyberWise.org | @BeCyberwise

CYNTHIA LIEBERMAN Clieberman@cyberwise.org 818-368-3808

DIANA GRABER Dgraber@cyberwise.org 949-489-9330