Ann Oro helped her diocese develop curriculum standards for digital citizenship by grade level. Ann also talks about the fifth-grade course piloted by Seton Hall in two of her schools.
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Enhanced Transcript |
Ann Oro: A Digital Citizenship Curriculum
Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e314
Date: May 17, 2018
Vicki: Today weโre talking with my friend, Ann Oro.
We were just talking about how weโre pretty sure we met just about ten years ago to the day that we are recording this, in Princeton way back in 2008. (laughs)
I really followed so much of what Ann has done. She was in the classroom for many, many years.
Now she is working as Director of K-12 Instructional Technology for the 93 schools in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, and really working with their digital citizenship initiative.
So today weโre going to talk about, โWhat should we be teaching kids about digital citizenship?โ
So Ann, I know that youโve worked with reworking your curriculum. Youโve partnered with Seton Hall. Youโve done a lot of these things. But where do we start talking about this broad topic?
Where do we start?
Ann: Vicki, where we start is with the teachers, and really being intentional at every grade level with whatโs appropriate for the students.
I work with teachers from preschool all the way up to the twelfth grade, and it really just takes a spiraling approach — meaning that when youโre in the preschool class maybe that digital citizenship just looks like, โHow do you appropriately share a device with somebody else?โ
Then as you work up through the years, it begins to take on different meanings, everything from asking a grownup if itโs okay to go online and if a siteโs appropriate to understanding how to research that information. And finally, how to truly put your best self out if youโre doing that on the internet.
Vicki: So Ann, you think we should be intentional. You know, a lot of times, itโs kind of the shotgun approach. Iโm just going to pull out my digital citizenship and just hit a bunch of stuff at once and hope I cover what I need to, but there really are things that need to be age-appropriate, arenโt there?
Ann: There absolutely are.
When I worked with the teachers in the 93 schools, we realized that we didnโt have that intentional look at the skills that students and teachers needed.
So we began by looking at the ISTE standards, which is the International Society for Technology Education. We looked at state standards, and then we talked. We spent about two years going with this approach to find the skills that we needed across the curriculum, not just digital citizenship.
We started with the ISTE Standards and state standards
Vicki: Have you shared these somewhere online?
Ann: They are online, and when you look at the Shownotes, I have a link with the resources that Iโll be talking about, and our entire technology curriculum map for K-12 is online. Itโs helped give everybody focus, and it really helps us be intentional, like you said, about what it is that we want our students to be thinking and doing when theyโre online.
- Check out https://www.rcantech.com/ for these resources
Vicki: Yeah. So, now, you recently made the news, when you partnered with Seton Hall Law of of fifth grade course. Tell us a little about that fifth grade course and what it was about.
Ann: Seton Hall Law School has a division that is the Privacy Protection Institute. It is a Catholic university.
In addition to working with public schools, they reached out to us to find out if we would be interested in piloting this program.
What it really does is it takes looking at digital citizenship away from, โBe afraid of who might meet you online,โ to โHow much time am I spending online?โ
Itโs not, โBe afraid of who might meet you online.โ
Itโs, โHow much time am I spending online?โ
It really started with a focus on fifth graders because the research that they did said that thatโs approximately the age when many students get their first cell phone.
They wanted to make sure that students are thinking about the implication of, โHow often are you touching that cell phone?โ
Also, the implications of the way that you use your phone to search is going to give you different results from the way that somebody else uses the phone to search.
It really has been very well-received by the two schools that we worked on with it. They shared an article in The Washington Post, and the leader of the programs said that they have been truly just been overwhelmed with the requests for information about this pilot program. It just points to the fact of how very topical and important it is.
Fifth grade is when most kids get their first cell phone.
Vicki: Did you get any pushback with the age of the kids? Some people think, โOh, the kids need to be older.โ But youโre right — fifth grade is when it happens. But there are a lot of folks that live in denial. How did you approach that when you got the pushback?
Ann: You know, truthfully, and maybe surprisingly, we didnโt get any pushback.
There really is a clamoring for information on the parentsโ part. Iโm seeing it in different ways around different schools.
A couple of the schools did a screening of โScreenagersโ for the parents and attended one of those. Itโs a video of them talking about the research that a doctor did on cell phones, and, again, how sticky they are.
The parents, when you talk to them afterwards, are really just interested in how much is too much. And they feel like itโs just something thatโs happening to them. They donโt realize that every other parent is dealing with that across the grade levels.
Vicki: What kind of results have you seen since implementing the curriculum and this program in fifth grade with your students? Has the behavior changed? Are they talking about change? Whatโs happened?
Ann: Well, this is, again, itโs very, very new. Weโve only been doing it for about eight weeks in two different schools.
So the results are not in yet, but we also — through the Washington Post article, The CBS Morning Show chose to interview the school. What they found when they were interviewing the students is that the kids really clamored for the information. And the students were really becoming more intentional about how often they were touching that phone.
Vicki: Because, you know, digital health and wellness is something that you and I have talked about for years.
These devices are designed to be addictive
These devices are designed to be addictive. Theyโre sticky, is what marketers call it. They want it to be sticky. They want the eyeballs.
But we have to learn how to put them down. Isnโt that so hard, Ann?
Ann: Itโs absolutely hard. Iโve heard you talk about it before on other shows.
Itโs that concept that weโre talking about young children with young brains, and whether itโs touching that phone or whether itโs not perhaps leaving the nicest message for somebody, that kidsโ brains are really developing up until their mid-twenties, depending on whether youโre talking about male or female.
A lot of what they do is really spur-of-the-moment, so itโs really a need to help the students realize that adults have a hard time with this. They have a hard time as well.
Vicki: So, Ann, as weโre finishing up, if you could challenge those working with a digital citizenship curriculum around the world with students with a thought about what it means if they do NOT have digital citizenship in their curriculum, what would you say?
Ann: Well, I would say that youโre lacking not even a future skill — I mean, this his is a skill that everybody needs.
If youโre not teaching this, then youโre setting your students up for failure
If youโre not intentionally taking care of it, youโre really setting your students up for failure when they move on into college. If they donโt go to college, when they move on to work, because you need to manage your identity.
You need to ethically interact with other people. You need to understand the rights and responsibilities of posting things online, taking control of making sure that intellectual property is cared for. And again, finally, just being very cognizant of how youโre sharing your data.
If we begin in preschool and keep spiraling through that, through twelfth grade, weโre setting students up for success in a way that other students, in previous years, really fumbled through on their own.
Begin in preschool and keep spiraling through twelfth grade
Vicki: And weโre doing what weโre supposed to do, which is educating! Weโre not just saying โHey, just figure it out yourself.โ
We donโt give them geometry formulas and say, โHereโs some formulas, figure it out.โ
But we hand them the phone and we donโt do that, and phones donโt come with user manuals anymore. It just kind of blows my mind.
Ann: Absolutely. In the course of looking around online, if a teacher isnโt comfortable with this, there are so many resources out there.
One of the resources that I had shared recently with some of the local teachers is a Google program thatโs in their training center in Google for Education. Itโs a digital citizenship and safety course for adults. Adults say, โYou know what? Iโm new at this. I have no idea what to do.โ
It really talks about why to teach digital citizenship and safety, how you can search online in a savvy way, how you can protect yourself from phishing and scams and how you can manage your online reputation.
If so if theyโre not comfortable with this, that course really gives them just the nuggets that then they can turn over to students in an age-appropriate way.
Vicki: Well, teachers and educators, we have a lot to think about with creating our digital citizenship curriculum, with things that we should be considering.
And also the challenge that, you know what? Fifth grade, is really kind of a key age to start into pretty deeply understanding of what kids need to be sharing, even if theyโre a little younger than that technical age of thirteen, they are they getting phones and that does put things out there.
So I just challenge you to go to your district, go to your school, ask, โWhat is our digital citizenship curriculum? What are the things that each grade level should know or understand?โ
Truly, Iโm not sure how a school who calls itself a 21st Century School if it doesnโt have an intentional digital citizenship curriculum. Itโs just part of it.
So thanks, Ann!
Ann: Thank you so much, Vicki.
Contact us about the show: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/contact/
Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford kymberlimulford@gmail.com
Bio as submitted
Ann Oro is the Director of K12 Instructional Technology for the 93
schools in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. Ann has been leading teachers and students in the instructional use of technology to support student learning for over 15 years. Ann works to assist teachers in integrating technology into the curriculum to engage students in communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. The ability to critically review search results is an integral part of life in the 21st Century. It is equally important to communicate results in a creative manner. Ann shares collaborative projects with students and teachers across the globe. Her Monster Project, co-led with Anna Baralt, was highlighted at the 2013 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference closing keynote. She and her students were part of a project that won the Chase Multimedia in the Classroom Award with Lisa Parisi. She has been a K-8 computer and middle school math teacher and received her M.A. in Educational Leadership, Management, and Policy from Seton Hall University.
Blog: http://www.annoroteaches.com
Twitter:@OroAnnM
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a โsponsored podcast episode.โ The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissionโs 16 CFR, Part 255: โGuides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.โ This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show. |
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