Building Digital Citizens

A critical component of the National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A) is Digital Citizenship. As school administrators work to provide programs which prepare students to work and learn in a rapidly changing world, incorporating Digital Citizenship themes into our work and that of our students is critically important. This video shared at our recent Secondary Schools Business/Technology chairpersons planning meeting by Robin Ellis very effectively brings home the message about how intricately technology is becoming part of much of what we do in our lives each day. Viewing this video brought new depth to our meeting discussions on course relevancy to the 21st Century learner.Clearly, new skills are needed by our students today but the tools needed are ones that have been around for centuries.What Matters in a Rapidly Changing Technological World

• Emphasizing the safety and welfare of our children
• Teaching and modeling responsible use of technology
• Remembering that the most important tools are time honored values

Time Honored ThemesHowever, no matter how quickly world evolves and technology brings change, it seems as though time honored values such as kindness, respect, care and concern for others remain at the top of the list of important things to do. These are the essence of well practiced Digital Citizenship and Internet Safety.A dossier is defined as 'a collection of papers giving detailed information about a particular person or subject.' As educational leaders the goal of promoting Digital Citizenship must take a prominent place in our dossier.