Promoting Digital Citizenship in the classroom

Krutka, D. G., & Carpenter, J. P. (2017). DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP in the Curriculum: Educators can support strong visions of citizenship by teaching with and about social media. Educational Leadership, 75(3), 50-55.

Every semester teachers are busy teaching the new curriculum to help build student skills, creating a rigorous class structure and focus on student SEL. One area in which educators have lagged behind is in the area of Digital Citizenship. While many schools block social media or discourage the use of it in their classrooms the truth is that we as educators are failing our students by forbidding the use of it.

Daniel Krutka and Jeffrey Carpenter argue that "if a central aim of schools is to help students grow as 21st-century citizens, do we want to implement school practices that resemble the social media policies of authoritarian states like China and Turkey(Krutka)?" It's true that students spend a good amount of time on social media and that fact that many teachers (including myself) do not allow students to use social media in the classroom. By avoiding social media and not teaching students how to properly engage in the online community we are missing an opportunity for students to have their voices heard and find online communities that would empower them to find communities of learners like them. Krutka goes on to state that in the 2016 election many students (and citizens) did not have the tools to disseminate "fake news" stories from the legitimate ones.

Our jobs as educators should not be to suppress students from joining the online community but to teach students the proper ways in which they should engage in the online community. The first way in which Krutka and Carpenter argue that students need to be taught is to be able to be personally responsible citizens. In this stage, students are taught to look for credible sources. For example, many students that go to MartinLutherKing.org may take research from this site, but it is secretly run by white supremacists groups. With all of the news outlets on the internet, students need to be able to have the skill to find credible sources.

Teaching students to become digital citizenships gives them the tools to then teach and educate others online. In this way, Krutka and Carpenter argue that teachers should create a class Twitter page to teach students how to respond to others online and how to carefully craft responses to other online(ibid). This then allows students to be "justice-orientated citizens" in which they can delve into topics and fight for justice in areas that affect them-such as cyberbullying. Teachers and students can then create hashtags as a class to raise awareness for critical issues.

Current Barriers in Educational Technology

Hsu, P. (2016). Examining Current Beliefs, Practices and Barriers About Technology Integration: A Case Study. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 60(1), 30-40. doi:10.1007/s11528-015-0014-3


In education, there are always barriers stopping educators from completing everything they want to complete.   No school district has unlimited funds or the time to do everything they want to get done.  Throughout education, school districts have tried to keep up with the ever-improving world of technology.  According to Hsu (2016), there were four barriers that impeded implementation of technology (p.30). Among these were "students' lack of computer skills, teachers' lack of training in technology, teachers' lack of time to implementation of technology-integrated lessons, and teachers' lack of technical support" (Hsu, 2016, p. 31).   

Many educators feel that the integration of technology into the classroom will lead to increased student achievement, although there is little data to support this.  One of the main issues that has been found with implementing technology in schools is that teachers do not know how to effectively teach the technology.  However, a number of research studies (Ertmer 2005; H s u2012, 2013; Levin and Wadmany 2008) have reported that the majority of teachers limit their classroom technology uses to such low-level tasks as conducting practice drills and/or utilizing computers as a free-time or reward activity(Hsu. 2016, 32).   Obviously, low-level tasks are not going to improve student achievement.

Another major barrier to implementation is the lack of time to implement the technology integrated lessons.  Many young teachers struggle to find the time to find the time to complete everything they want to get done in the classroom and struggle to find more time to implement the technology correctly.  Also, to add to the barriers are classrooms that are not student-centered and rely on the teacher for all knowledge.  Unfortunately, there are still many classrooms that are teacher centered and in this type of learning, the focus is on rote memorization and not skill building.  

The main caveat to the issue of time is the fact that many teachers feel like they do not have the support in their school to implement the technology.  What if the technology fails?  Who should they go to to learn about the new application on the device?  Paid tech liaisons in each department would be a way to ensure success when implementing the technology.  Using SIP time, departments meetings and other staffed events would help teachers fully implement technology correct and with the support they deserve.

Fusing Creativity and Tech

Henriksen, D., Mishra, P., & Fisser, P. (2016). Infusing Creativity and Technology in 21st Century Education: A Systemic View for Change. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 19(3), 27-37.


Often in education, we as teachers think about everything from standards to our lessons, student growth and the technology we want to use.  Rarely, if ever do we consider how creativity fits into our teaching.  Where's there a standard for creativity?  One may ask.  The truth is that many apps and businesses today required an individual or group of people that decided to take a risk and develop something innovative.  According to Henriksen, Misher & Fisser (2016), the explosion in technologies  for content  sharing and  development is  transforming how  culture,  art, and knowledge emerge within disciplines" (p.31).

In the article," Infusing Creativity and Technology in 21st Century Education", Henriksen, Misha & Fisser (2016) delve into how 21st-century classrooms cannot just rely on technology for students to improve their achievement.

One theme I have continued to see pop up through my MAET courses is that students are no longer expected to simply be consumers of technology, but also be producers of material.

While this is a novel idea, many teachers would say it is difficult enough just to incorporate technology into the curriculum along with their content, and then there is the added challenge to get students to create technology that the teachers may not be comfortable teaching.  Mishra, Koehler, and Henriksen (2011) have argued that the best uses of educational technology must be  grounded in  a  creative mindset  that embraces  openness for  the new  and intellectual  risk-taking.  This is  a tremendous challenge for  any teacher, but especially  new teachers" (p.32).

Creative new technology can breed and spurn inspirational for new technology.  If we really want to teach kids 21st-century skills we need to allow students to test things out on their own, to take intellectual risks and to fail in order to ultimately help them reach their potential.

Making Virtual Reality a Reality

Foote, C. (2017). Mobile Technology Goes Virtual: Using Virtual Reality in Education. Internet@Schools, 24(3), 12-13.

Virtual Reality is coming to Education, and sooner than some may think. Although VR is a new device and needs to be researched for its effectiveness on achieving the results; it's impact in the classroom has already started paying dividends as teachers are starting to see the value in Virtual Reality field-trips.

In the article, "Mobile Technology goes Virtual, Carolyn Foote shows examples of how VR has been used in an Illinois Elementary School. According to Foote (2017), “Students were able to watch Syrian refugees come ashore by boat in Greece or be there to sit in on a class in a small village in an African nation. It truly helped our 7th graders in social studies understand what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes”(p.12). The benefits of have already started to show as the Virtual Reality has helped promote empathy and civic responsibility in the students classroom. The Students from the middle school were so moved by the lesson that they took it upon themselves to have a refugee family in need (Ibid, 12). Virtual Reality allows for students to complete immerse themselves in a world they would never get a chance to visit.

Teachers may see Virtual Reality as the next fad to be replaced by the next big thing. Other teachers might think that it would take too much time to develop lesson plans. The good news for teachers is that companies such as Google, New York Times and Discovery Education have completed lesson plans that teachers can use on demand. The teacher can lead students through these expeditions as well.

Some educators are concerned that there is no educational benefit when it comes to student achievement or growth. According to Foote (2017), "VR content opportunities are only going to grow by leaps and bounds, but we don’t want students to just be consumers. We need to determine if immersive media requires some different abilities and sensitivities, and then help students to also learn to create their own content" (p.13).   Applications such as co-spaces allow students to create these spaces and edit them over time.  

While there are some possible barriers to Virtual Reality such as time, money and training-these virtual reality machines would give students opportunities to experience incredible things and change their lives.  If used correctly, these Virtual Reality machines could actually save a school district a lot of money by saving on field trips and giving the students an immersive educational experience.

Using screencasts to flip the classroom

GREEN, K. R., PINDER-GROVER, T., & MILLUNCHICK, J. M. (2012). Impact of Screencast Technology: Connecting the Perception of Usefulness and the Reality of Performance. Journal Of Engineering Education, 101(4), 717-737.


Although screencasting is not new in the world of education, teachers are beginning to use screencasts to "flip the classroom".  Flipping the classroom essentially means that students will view lectures at home before class.  This allows class time to be devoted to analysis, projects, simulations and more skill-based work.

In Katie Green's article, "Impact of Screencast Technology", she explores why students use screencasts as well as how the screencasts can impact student achievement(Green 1).  Green explains in her article that screencasts are generally used to take the form of recorded lectures, but can also be used for supplementary materials such as exam solutions (ibid 2).  The articles studies show that students perceive the screencasting as beneficial and convenient.  Screencasts can be downloaded and viewed on all technology including smartphones.  This allows students to watch the screencasts at their convenience.

Allowing students access to this information while devoting class time to skill work could be extremely beneficial for students. The studies showed that "nearly 90% of students viewed the homework solution screencast as helpful" (Ibid 7).  Students went on to share that further supplementary tools such as exam solutions helped students understand what they did wrong so that they could reflect on their mistakes and improve them for further assessments.

Green's research also showed that the screencast has a positive correlation between screencast use and performance overall. Students shared that watching the resources allowed them to obtain a deeper understanding of course content.

Through analysis, I believe that using screencasts as a way to "flip the classroom" will have a positive impact on my students.  Having short lectures will allow students to practice their skills in the classroom with teacher guidance and will give more opportunity for formative practice.

Using Tech as a Tool

Using Tech as a tool (podcast)

Using electronic rubrics for quick feedback (Goobric)