Global Digital Citizenship
Global Digital Citizenship Scenario
Scenario: Billy, a 6th grade student at Some Elementary School, commented on a video appearing on social media that was related to a local event. The comment was responded to by someone else, and a back-and-forth conversation ensued through the comments. During the conversation, Billy revealed his name, the school he goes to, and the grade he is in. Billy did this as he believed he was developing a friendship with someone also claiming to be a student in the area. One Wednesday afternoon, an unknown man claimed to be waiting to pick up Billy from school when school administrators know that only his mother and father are listed as options for picking him up at school. The school administrators told the man to wait and contacted the police. The police arrived and discovered the man had a history of sexual abuse of minors after detaining him.
Role
of Parents: After being informed by school
administrators, the parents should be very concerned about what occurred. They
should press charges against the man to help ensure the event is not repeated
and inform Billy of what happened. After explaining what happened, the parents
must ask Billy whether they have been talking to anyone new and whether they
told this stranger anything about himself. More crucially, Billy’s parents need
to speak to Billy about people online who do not always have his best interests
in mind and what impact that can have on him. It could have been prevented by
talking to Billy about the importance of protecting his personal information
online prior to allowing him to access social media. Aside from just focusing
on this one aspect, the parents should preempt other problems stemming from
social media usage by teaching Billy about proper online conduct in general.
Parents are primarily responsible for the instruction of students pertaining to Global Digital Citizenship as they are responsible for access to social media
from home and establishing the protocols for proper behavior.
Role of Teachers: After being informed by school administrators, teachers should be informed of the appearance of the man that attempted to pick up Billy from school. This would allow them to keep an eye out for him and to talk to their students about what is occurring. Aside from explaining to students what happened, the teachers can also talk to all students about why they should be protecting their personal information online as there are people that can use it to harm them. Teachers could have aided in the prevention of this scenario by talking to students about protecting their anonymity ahead of time. Generally, teachers have little responsibility related to this domain of Global Digital Citizenship as access to social media is tightly regulated in most school districts. Additionally, they are already responsible for teaching an ambitious curriculum, so there is little time to be spent on teaching proper conduct online other than when it is situationally relevant.
Role
of Administrators: Administrators were responsible for
reporting the strange man attempting to pick up Billy when it became apparent
that correct procedures were not being followed. Aside from arranging school
assemblies dedicated to global digital citizenship ahead of time, there was
little they could have done to prevent an individual student from revealing
personal information about themselves online. In the future, the administrators
should hold these assemblies to teach or reteach about Global Digital
Citizenship in a coherent manner that establishes schoolwide expectations for
students. This act of civil service does not indicate responsibility lies with
them but rather that they are doing their part in fully fleshing out the
education of their students.
Hello Bryan!
ReplyDeleteThis truly was not only a great post, but it was truly real and in tune with the world around us and the true dangers that can come from revealing too much about yourself online. I like how you truly went into depth what each person's job was in this matter, what each person can do. I especially liked how you said "Parents are primarily responsible for the instruction of students pertaining to Global Digital Citizenship as they are responsible for access to social media from home and establishing the protocols for proper behavior." Parents are the ones supplying the phones, the laptops, the iPads, the internet connection, etc. required to get onto social media, so they should be the ones teaching students rules and proper behavior online.
I know when I was a kid, my parents were very cautious and taught me the rules about going online into those open-world games, like Club Penguin or Roblox, where you could talk to other people that I was not allowed to give them any of the following information: Where I lived, what's our address, what's our phone number, how old am I, etcetera. They were very open about why I couldn't tell people that stuff, because there are people online who don't have good intentions with children.
It's just hard for me to believe that people might not be having those talks with their children and that could be because their kids are sneaking onto social media or open-world games without parent permission, or because parents are just so busy trying to provide everything their child needs, that the parent isn't teaching them about the dangers potentially lurking behind all those 1's and 0's. We also have to consider alternative family structures, maybe the kid lives with grandma and grandpa who have flip phones and know nothing about the internet and nothing about online predators. There are just so many potential situations that could be happening that could explain why the students aren't being taught responsible activity and proper behavior online. I wish with how fast technology has advanced in recent years, all schools were required to do a Global Digital Citizenship course every school year; whether that was for a week, or two weeks. That way I could account for all of the potential situations and maybe have a little more hope that families and students are being supported in the ways they need.
Thanks for such a great post that got me thinking!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Bryan,
ReplyDeleteYou presented a very real scenario that occurs very often these days. Parents usually teach their children about stranger danger in person but don't consider that the same applies for online. I completely agree that responsibility about global citizenship should be primarily on parents. I think that your suggestion of holding assemblies to educate about global digital citizenship is a great idea that can be beneficial for students, especially for those whose parents don't teach it.
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Bryan,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the scenario that you wrote and the expectation for the school to contact the police. I believe that the input from the teacher on the student is dependent on the teachers activity level on social media. If the teacher is active on TikTok or Instagram, and encourages their students to view their content then they open themselves up to additional responsibilities. But, I agree the primary responsibility is for the parents.