1. Digital Citizenship Action Plan
By Lauren Zoerhoff
Presented to school board
2/2012

2. Overview
• What is Digital Citizenship?
• Why is it important?
• Does our community/school have
Digital Citizenship?
• How can we make a change?

3. What is Digital Citizenship?
According to Ribble et al., digital
citizenship can be defined as, “the
norms of behavior with regard to
technology use”
(Ribble, Bailey, Ross; 2004).
I would add that it is also the public
expectation with regard to
technology use.

4. Why is Digital Citizenship
Important?
• Technology is becoming an
increasingly dominant part of
peoples’ lives
• There are dangers and risks
involved with using technology
because people are not displaying
Digital Citizenship
• The risks are beginning to outweigh
the rewards of technology use

5. Does our Community have
Digital Citizenship?
Prevalence of Cyberbullying Among Teens Who Use
Social Media
100
90
80 Teens who say they have been
cyberbullied
70
Teens who say they have
60 cyberbullied someone else
Percentage
50
Teens who say they have been
40 victims of cyberbullying
30
20
10
0

6. Does our School Have Digital
Citizenship?
Percentage of Students Who Have Had Their Personal
Information Solicited from a Stranger Online
Yes
29%
No
71%
There have also been numerous
incidents this year where students
have misused school computers

7. How Can We Make a Change?
Incorporate curriculum that shows students how to do the following:
•Use technology safely and securely
•Exercise proper digital etiquette
•Use technology for empowerment
Students exercise digital citizenship at SCHOOL and at HOME
Classroom teachers build cross-disciplinary connections with
technology curriculum and connect content with technology
Students will become adults who have strong digital citizenship

8. Goals
• After three years of implementation
• After five or more years of
implementation

9. After Three Years…
• Students can identify a variety of tools that they can use
online to find quality information or empowerment
• The prevalence of cyberbullying has decreased 5 percent
• Students can distinguish between secure and non-secure
internet behavior
• Students can identify cyberbullying and its implications
• Students can identify plagiarism
• Students are using digital technology to communicate
about academics
• Students identify the modes of digital technology that
they use and ways they can use that mode for an
academic purpose

10. After Five Years…
• Students are using empowerment tools online multiple
times per week
• The prevalence of cyberbullying has decreased more
than 10 percent
• Students are regularly engaging in only secure internet
behavior
• Students are reporting cyberbullying and taking the
proper steps to handle scenarios where they are exposed
to cyberbullying
• Students know how to properly cite information they use
from the internet
• Students are regularly using digital technology to
communicate about positive, school-related topics
• Students are using modes of digital technology they use
in their every day lives multiple times per week for
academic purposes

11. Action Plan
• Collaboration between three
parties
• Technology teachers
• Classroom teachers
• Parents

12. Collaboration Between Three
Parties
TECHNOLOGY TEACHERS CLASSROOM TEACHERS PARENTS

13. Technology Teachers
Technology teachers implement
Cybersmart Curriculum
• Grades K-8
• One Cybersmart unit per year (5-10
class periods)
• Free lesson plans on Cybersmart
website

14. Grade Lesson Plans Timeframe
K Go Places Safely (S), Is This Yours (M), ABC Searching (R), Good Sites (R), Spread the News (T) 5 class periods
1 Go Places Safely (S), Is This Yours (M), The Library (R), Find the Ad (R), Cyberspace at School (T) 5 class periods
2 What’s Private (S), Everyone Wants Friends (M), Is That Fair (M), The Power of Writing (A), Subject 7 class periods
Category Searching (R), Using Keywords (R), What’s the Big Idea (T)
3 Filling out a Form (S), Whose Property is This (M), Good Manners Everywhere (M), Finding Good 7 class periods
Sites (R), Ask a Librarian (R), Things for Sale (R), My Cyberspace Neighborhood (T)
4 Private Information (S), Safe Talking in Cyberspace (S), Powerful Passwords (S), The Power of 13 class periods
Words (M), Group Think (M), Be Comfortable (M), Citizens of Cyberspace (M), Purchasing Power
(A), Choosing a Search Site (R), Rating Websites (R), Homework Help in a Hurry (R), Great
Communicators (T), Cyberspace Country (T)
5 Handling Email and IM (S), Privacy Rules (S), Speak Out (M), Whose is it Anyway (M), Do the Right 11 class periods
Thing (M), Good Email Manners (M), Emailing for Homework Help (R), What’s at the Library (R), A
Place to Advertise (R), What is a Network (T), Imagining the Future (T)
6 Private and Personal Information (S), Savvy Online Talking and Messaging (S), Cyberbullying 1 (M), 8 class periods
Cyberbullying 2 (M), Cyberbullying 3 (M), Investigating Search Engines and Directories (R), Smart
Keyword Searching (R), Great Moments in Communications (T)
7 Smart, Safe, and Secure Online (S), Strong Passwords (S), Dealing with Cyberbullying (M), Power 8 class periods
and Responsibility (M), Using Real Time Data (A), Making Search Decisions (R), Identifying High
Quality Sites (R), Cyberspace World (T)
8 Check the Privacy Policy (S), Privacy What’s the Big Deal (S), Considering Copying (M), Can you 10 class periods
Hack it (M), Good Messaging Manners (M), Online @ the Library (R), Sticky Sites (R), How to Cite a
Site (R), Information Highways (T), Debating the Future (T)

15. Classroom Teachers
• One digital assignment or task per
week
• Connect the digital assignment or
task to a Cybersmart skill

16. Examples
• Have students create a blog at the beginning of the
year and then each week add a post that relates to
what they are doing in class
• Have students perform research of some kind
• Have students carry out a chat of some kind with a
group or partner that is about a topic relating to
class
• Have students create a visual of some kind using a
digital program
• Have students make a short video
• Have students email the teacher a response of some
kind
• Have students record a voice narration about a
certain topic
• Have students create a powerpoint and add a new
slide each day about a particular topic or unit

17. Parents
• Assist students in completing the
“Home Connection” portions of
Cybersmart curriculum
• Assist students in finding computer
access either at home, at school, or
in the community

18. Works Cited
• Ribble, M., Bailey, G., & Ross, T. (2004). Digital Citizenship:
Addressing Appropriate Technology Behavior. Learning and leading
with Technology, 32(1), 6-12. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from
http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/1stLL.pdf
• Bullying Statistics: Fast Facts About Cyberbullying | Covenant Eyes.
(n.d.). Internet Safety through Accountability & Filtering | Covenant
Eyes. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from
http://www.covenanteyes.com/2012/01/17/bullying-statistics-fast-
facts-about-cyberbullying/
• Teenagers. (n.d.). Media Use Statistics Resources on media habits of
children. Media Literacy Clearinghouse: Resources for K-12
Educators. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from
http://www.frankwbaker.com/mediause.htm
• CyberSmart! Student Curriculum. (n.d.). CyberSmart! Student
Curriculum. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from
http://cybersmartcurriculum.org/