Empowered, Skilled and Engaged Citizens

This session's work on AUP's ( acceptable use policies), equitable access and global connections really engaged me and really helped to bring my work in this course into a familiar perspective. My work with young students is based on helping to support their development in foundational skills and attitudes that will sustain their learning throughout their lives. I hope for nothing less than empowered, skilled and engaged citizens, in their local communities and beyond. AUP's, equitable access and global connections informs my understanding of skilled and confident learners and thinkers.

AUP's and teaching students to interact respectfully and responsibly with digital media and communication are clearly foundational skills that as educators we need to model and provide direct instruction with from an early age. Just as we begin to teach the words "please" and "thank-you" as soon as a child begins to speak, we should be teaching about acceptable use, proper digital etiquette and respect for intellectual property as soon as children begin to use these technologies and tools. The most important aspect of this work with young children is to use kid friendly language and concrete examples to help students understand the purpose and importance of using these skills. In addition as teaches we need to model respectful interactions and respect of technology, both in virtual communication and face-to face interactions.


Equitable access is an important issue for our school community. Not only access to hardware and broadband connections but also to the attitudes and habits students are exposed to around the internet and technology from home. The results from an infromal survey I conductd with my first and second graders a couple of years ago demonstrated that students primarily viewed computers, smartphones and the internet in terms of entertainment, not communication, collaboration or knowledge attainment. I realized that it is very important for me to demonstrate and engage students in the communication, colaborations and learning that happens through the use of these and other technologies. Both to broaden and deepen the experiences they may be having with this technology at home.

Finally, as a former Rotary Youth Exchange student I have always been committed to helping my students understand and gain experiences that take them beyond their local communities. Several years ago I decided to begin using a Service-Learning model to engage students in working on making positive impacts in their local communities. With the advancements in communication and collaboration tools making it more  accessible to younger students, I see whole new opportunities for my students to interact and apply their learning with other students from around the world! One goal for next year will be to engage in a project that connects my students with students from another country around a common curricular focus.