What Does All This Mean?

Digital Citizenship

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In the ever changing nature of today's world, being a digital citizen is required to keep up to date with the speed in which technology advances.

A digital citizen is much alike a citizen of society, they will access and share information, create a digital footprint, and interact with other digital citizens through the use of technology.
                                                           

Our world revolves around technology, and your children need the best possible chance to excel in such a fast paced environment.

Cyber Safety

Cyber safety relates to many different facets of technological safety, which can cover things such as

• Knowledge of who and what may present risks online.
• The understanding that once uploaded, digital posts are permanent.
• The knowledge that other digital citizens are able to view content that you create, and the ethical awareness required to create acceptable posts.

Cyber safety is not limited to online usages only, and includes the usage of mobile phones, cameras and other personal devices.

How Are They Linked & Why Are They Important?

The most important aspect of understanding digital citizenship and the usage of technology is the rate of advancement.

Consider the following statement from http://www.shifthappens.wikispaces.com 

             We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist, using technologies that haven't been invented, in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet.

Cyber safety and digital citizenship are joined in the curriculum under the strand 

'4.5: Use ICT Safely, Responsibly and Ethically' which is linked to the ICT General Capability by
'Apply Social and Ethical Protocols and Practices'

To use ICT safely students will be considering each and every aspect of their usage of technology, encompassing every part of their life, provided with situations such as future employment and friendships based from what they create now. 

To use ICT responsibly students will be considering how their role as a digital citizen can affect not only themselves, but others as well. Students will be able to protect themselves from situations that may arise causing distress to others. Student understanding can be assisted with knowledge of different cultures and the ways they interact with each other.

To use ICT ethically students will take a deeper look into the effects of their digital citizenship, and what it means to others. Students will become aware of differences across the globe such as time, culture, and clothing to help them understand that different countries share different views and must be respected when using technology to share an opinion.

Through those three sections of the curriculum strand, we are able to see many links to the ICT General Capability, which demonstrates the importance between the two!

By becoming a digital citizen we must apply social and ethical protocols and practices into our usage of technology, or we are losing our connection with safe and responsible usage of communication.

How Does The School Curriculum Help?

The school curriculum requires the students to be educated on the strategies of cyber safety as well as the ethical and social issues associated with being a digital citizen.

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What is required by teachers?

Teachers are required to:

Demonstrate an understanding of the relevant issues and the strategies available to support the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching.

Demonstrate understanding of safe, legal, and ethical use of digital resources and tools, including cyber safety practices, respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.[1]

What does this mean?

Students will be provided with situations where they can discuss and utilise different strategies to handle safety issues with technology, such as the opening of unknown emails and webpages. This topic itself is incredibly important, and will remain as a topic of discussion throughout all aspects of the curriculum.

e.g. If a student is researching for a poster on the Olympics, and an unreliable looking webpage attempts to redirect them to another location, the skills students have gathered in their ICT topics will help them handle the situation appropriately.

Students will also learn about the usage of digital resources and tools, teaching them the importance of copyright, referencing of resources. In addition to the basics, students will investigate cyber safety practices through understanding intellectual property, and the understanding that their unique works are automatically copyrighted.

 Just how important is it?

Incredibly!

The usage of digital resources and technology are in no way limited to a student’s life in school - It is something they will require for their entire life. The earlier a student learns the details and limitations surrounding the usage in technology, the earlier they can apply their understanding into different curriculum topics through research and appropriate documentation of their findings.

[1] Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2012) ‘National Professional Standards for Teachers – ICT Elaborations’ Accessed 06/09/2012
< http://acce.edu.au/sites/acce.edu.au/files/TTF%20-%20Graduate%20Teacher%20Standards%20-% 20ICT%20 Elaborations%20-%20200411.pdf>

What Can I Do To Help?

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As a parent/guardian, the direction you take with your child's cyber safety is up to you, however there are many excellent resources to help you decide upon the best decisions for your child's safety.

Your children will gain their own knowledge and understanding of how to safely navigate through cyberspace, but parental support is always going to help their progress.
 1.  STOP: Before using the Internet, take time to understand the risks and learn how to spot potential problems. 

2.  THINK: Take a moment to make certain the path ahead is clear. Watch for warning signs and consider how your actions online could impact your safety as well as that of others

3.  CONNECT: Enjoy the Internet with greater confidence, knowing you've taken the right steps to safeguard yourself, your family and your computer.
These three safety tips taken from http://www.safetyweb.com/blog/every-month-should-be-internet-safety-month/
             
 Links to Helpful Websites!
http://www.safetyweb.com/blog/ A blog/forum for you to gather information about the risks and rewards of internet usage, which provides areas to discuss potential issues with other parents and educators.

https://pasdcybersafety.wikispaces.com/file/view/cstparentguide.pdf A simple guide for helping your children safely navigate through digital issues, with detailed descriptions for you to learn the underlying research.

http://www.ictqatar.qa/en/program/parental-control-software Information on your possible usage of control software to protect your children, showing both the positives and the negatives of its use.