New resource aims to help students think critically about digital situations
Today’s increasingly mobile and connected world presents both opportunities and challenges for students and educators.
On one hand, students have the ability to connect with peers and experts across the globe. On the other, this more open type of communication can expose students to unsafe online situations.
Digital citizenship–the idea that students have the opportunity to create a positive and powerful digital footprint, and must know how to conduct themselves while interacting online–aims to teach students about leveraging the power of the internet while also remaining safe and responsible.
(Next page: What Digital Bytes will offer users)
Common Sense Education’s new Digital Bytes tool aims to do just that.
Digital Bytes teaches teens digital citizenship through student-directed, media-rich activities that tackle real-world dilemmas. Teens learn from the experiences of their peers then create collaborative projects that voice their ideas for making smart, safe choices online.
Digital Bytes is ideal for afterschool programs, community centers, or blended-learning classrooms that need short, relevant activities that teach digital citizenship and critical thinking about media consumption and creation.
Using the Digital Bytes website, teens choose a topic, or “Byte,” that resonates with their interests. They learn from the real-world experiences of others who’ve encountered digital dilemmas that raise questions such as:
- Why does cyberbullying happen, and how can you stand up for yourself and others?
- When is it OK to copy something from the Internet?
- How can the internet help you launch a new project or bring a community together?
- Why should you care if websites track what you do online?
Teens then express their ideas for how they’d respond to these questions by creating multimedia projects, presentations, and videos that showcase their authentic voices and talents.
Material from a press release was used in this report.
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