If you’re looking for opportunities to take your students’ videos to beyond the classroom, check out this contest from the Digital ID project:

Digital Citizenship PSA Contest

Tell us/show us, as a (digital) citizen, how you exercise your rights and act responsibly.

To help make your declaration public, we’ve created an online opportunity. Check it out!

(Up to) 90-Second Video Contribution
All students in grades 4-12 are warmly invited to contribute a video to our Digital Citizenship PSA Challenge Contest. Teachers may submit up to 3 student-generated videos. The rules are simple:

• Video must address authentic issues relevant to digital citizenship (cyberbullying, intellectual property, digital footprint, protecting privacy)
• Video must be appropriate for a mixed audience (from grade level to school board)
• Video must follow appropriate copyright guidelines

For more information on the contest, along with guidelines to help building an award-winning PSA, visit the Digital ID – PSA Challenge page.

If you have questions, please contact Gail Desler at gdesler@egusd.net.

“Protecting one’s equipment is not only a matter of personal responsibility but also necessary for protecting the community.” Mike Ribble

For students to practice good digital citizenship, they need to value their privacy and understand how to protect their personal information. Here are a few resources we recommend:

• Protecting Online Privacy and Security – More great resources from Common Sense Media, a curriculum we are currently rolling out in our middle and high school sites.
• My Privacy Quiz – Excellent resource from the Canadian Commission on Privacy.
• Cybersecurity Posters for the Classroom – From Stay Safe Online, a collection of printable posters and lesson resources.
• Identity Theft – What Teens Need to Know - Short video from Highway Quest.
• Do You Really Have a Private Life Online? – Video animation – very informative!

We will continue to add resources on the topic of guarding online privacy.  Please join the conversation and add a comment if you have questions you’d like us to address or additional resources to share with our EGUSD community.

Many of the parents we meet during our Internet Safety workshops share with us a common concern: They wish they had a better handle on how to make sure their children are using Facebook in ways they will not sooner or later regret. Parents want a complete guide. Their wish has been granted.  Connect Safely has posted a 35-page Parent Guide to Facebook.

Image from ConnectSafely.org

The guide features hands-on, step-by-step instructions and illustrations, as well as parenting points on safety, privacy, and reputation protection. It covers both cellphone- and computer-based use of Facebook and the site’s newest features, including Places, Groups, and the latest privacy updates.

But if you do not have time to download and read through the complete guide, authors Anne Collier and Larry Magid are also providing you with an “at a glance interactive chart” with their recommended privacy settings. A very concise, informative resource!

2WebWatchers would like to thank Microsoft for the excellent free resources they have created on key topics of digital citizenship:

• Digital Citizenship and Creative Content - Excellent set of four lessons for teaching about copyright and more. You’ll need to register to download the handouts, but that process will take less than 30 seconds.
• The Naked Truth: Beware What You Share – Scary – but telling – stats on cyberbullying and sexting - presented on an eye-catching poster:

Image from Microsoft

Thank you, Microsoft!

What is good cyber citizenship?

Being a good Cyber Citizen means that you use respect and good judgment when interacting with other people online.”

The above definition comes from YouTube’s Safety Center.  We appreciate the efforts YouTube has taken to provide guidelines and resources for parents and educators on the safe and ethical use of their amazing site. In addition to guidelines, the YouTube team has recently posted several excellent videos on digital citizenship issues, such as Detecting Lies and Staying True (available also in Spanish):

We also recommend Staying Clear of Cyber Tricks.

If you’re an Elk Grove teacher and have not used our filter override to view YouTube videos, here’s a link to the instructions.