Reflective Post #5: Digital Citizens, Cyber Bullying, and Video Games

Digital Citizenship in Schools Summary:

            This article sets out to make sure teachers prepare their students to become digital citizens with the increasing use of technology in the classroom and at home.  The article summarizes the nine elements of being a digital citizen and gives examples of appropriate/inappropriate use.  Element one is digital access or, full electronic participation in society.  Appropriate digital access includes providing students with technology to use in and out of the classroom (ex: one to one laptop program).  Inappropriate use includes failing to accommodate students who don’t have access to technology.  Element two is digital commerce or, the electronic buying and selling of goods.  Appropriate use would be informing students how to safely purchase online goods, while inappropriate use includes leaving students open to identity theft.  Element three is digital communication or, the electronic exchange of information.  Appropriate use: use blogs to inform parents.  Inappropriate use: students are texting during class.  Next, is digital literacy or, the process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology.  Appropriate use: online courses.  Inappropriate use: not providing online resources for students.  Element five is digital etiquette or, the electronic standards of conduct or procedure.  Appropriate use: engaging in chat room after learning rules.  Inappropriate use: texting in class about non-related topics.  Element six is digital law or, the electronic responsibility for actions and deeds.  Legal use: students follow copyright laws.  Illegal use: students download illegally from internet.  Element seven is digital rights and responsibilities or, those requirements and freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world.  Appropriate use: students citing resources.  Inappropriate use:  students plagiarizing.  Element eight is digital health and wellness or, physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world.  Appropriate use: promoting health and well being online.  Inappropriate use: ignoring physical effects of technology on students.  The ninth, and final, element is digital security or, the electronic precautions to guarantee safety.  Appropriate use: utilizing firewalls, anti-virus, etc.  Inappropriate use: failure to maintain updates and/or patches.

Stopbullying.gov Summary:

            The website is a government run site, used to promote information to parents/teachers/students/etc. about bullying.  The website defines bullying and all “genres” including: verbal, social, physical, and cyber bullying.  The site provides examples, where/when it happens, and ways to diffuse bullying situations.  The site also provides resources to help children understand bullying in the classroom, on the playground, and online.  Contact information is given to help parents, teachers, and students report incidents of bullying or severe child behaviors that are out of the norm.  The website also shows valuable ways to prevent bullying and how to deal with a bully when no adult is around.  Warning signs, risk factors, and effects of bullying can also be found on this website.

When Playing Video Games Means Sitting on Life’s Sidelines Summary:

            This article tells the life story of Joey M’Poko and his battle with addiction to video games.  The article starts out by showing us the reSTART program located near Seattle.  We quickly learn that Joey was addicted to video games, and like many, his life was being impacted negatively because of it.  The reSTART program focuses on fighting the addiction with nature and withdrawing the patients from video games.  We see what the basic layout of the camp is, and how they work to break the addiction.  It takes rebuilding and one hundred percent dedication to help fix the addiction and get the patients’ lives back on track.  The patients have to remain focused, dedicated, and take things one step at a time to avoid a relapse.

Response:

            After reading the first article, it seems funny to me that I’ve never thought about “digital citizenship” in that way.  In all of my years of schooling and in my first two years of teaching, I’ve never felt it necessary to “teach” students how to behave online, and how to follow the set of standards/laws/etc. they will encounter.  I have seen several anti-bullying websites/programs available and have used several of those, but they don’t seem to cover the copyright laws, plagiarism, security (identity theft), anti-virus, or online shopping.  This is definitely something I will consider covering as I continue to work online with students.

            The video game article was very surprising to me.  I know gaming addictions exist, but I did not realize they get to the extent of gaming for 42 hours straight.  I also saw an article through a Google search, where a man died because he “forgot” to eat/sleep while playing a video game at an online café for 4 days.  I know that people do use these types of alternate realities as an escape, and I will do a better job to monitor my students’ internet usage.  I could implement a survey to see about how many hours a day or a week students are online or playing video games.

            I also found some of the video game article to be misleading.  The quote from Hilarie Cash “Are you getting enough exercise, sleep and quality time with the people you care about? "If [the behavior] is interfering, then there's a problem there somewhere,"” seems to be very misleading in my opinion.  I have enjoyed playing video games, sports, etc. and I know of several people who spend time doing countless other activities that take away from sleep, exercise, etc. yet, they are not addicted.  The is such a fine line between addiction and doing something you enjoy and I think that is one of the hardest things for people to grasp.  I think that is one of the reasons people can “grow” into an addiction, because, at first, it is just something they enjoy doing.