Digital Native or Net Generation are terms that are used to
describe the group of individuals who have been surrounded by the Internet and other
digital technologies since the start of their lives (Jones& Healing, 2010). Because of this era, as future educators, we
must know and understand how the Internet and other digital technologies affect
our students. In detail, educators
usually focus on using the Internet and digital technology in resourceful ways,
but can sometimes forget that the two modes can be as disastrous as it is useful. The following digital project assignment that
included materials on fair use, copyright issues, digital safety and privacy,
cyber bullying, textual harassment, sexting, pharming, and phishing makes a
good template for a unit on digital safety that can lead to legal issues.
As I mentioned about educators teaching their students to use
technology in resourceful ways, my educational experiences with technology have
always been positive. Unfortunately, digital technology has its bad side, and this
assignment made me realize that students need to know about these topics
because they are affected by it all the time, whether they are at school, home,
a coffee shop, or even at the grocery store. Also, some students today are
already feeling the effects of these negative outcomes that come from digital
technology. According to an article by Barry A. Farber, Gavin Shafron, Jaleh
Hamadani, Emily Wald, and George Nitzburg, they mentioned that “. . . sexting
culture puts considerable pressure on teenagers to join in this [sexting]
activity” (2012). For this reason, I think that these topics
mentioned above could fit into a cohesive, educational unit which can be
beneficial to students in this generation because they can relate to it on a
personal level.
To be more specific about the digital safety unit, I would teach
textual harassment and sexting as my first lesson because most students at the
secondary level would relate more to this topic than the others. Beginning a
unit with textual harassment and sexting would be a good way to get the
students interested in the digital safety unit.
I would then follow that lesson with cyber bullying, phishing and
pharming, fair use practices and copyright issues, then digital safety and
privacy.
In addition to the sequence of lessons, most of the activities I
would choose would be interactive or I would use videos similar to the ones that
were presented by other groups. For
example, with phishing and pharming, I would have students look for interactive
games that will help them improve their knowledge on phishing and pharming. One
useful game would be “Safety Land” created by AT&T. It gives a fun way for students to interact
with phishing content and scenarios without the negative repercussions.
Aside from the digital safety content, the project required a
group effort to complete. In order for
the group to efficiently share files, website links or other digital material,
the group used Wiggio as a means of communication. Other suggestions that would be helpful in
the group project would be Gmail. With a
Gmail account, the entire group would have access to all the tools that Gmail
provides, including Google Forms and Google Spreadsheets. These tools would be
very helpful if someone in your group does not have access to Microsoft Office
because Google provides tools that have similar functions to software’s like Word,
PowerPoint or Excel.
Overall, this digital project assignment was very insightful when
discussing the negative parts that the Internet and digital technology has to
offer. Most of the content covers all
the aspects of digital safety that could get you into legal issues including
emails, websites, cellphones, social media, or fair use of copyrighted
material. Besides the material, the only thing I would change would be the
amount of time allowed to discuss the material in the presentation. Although I
know that we will face this time restraint in future meetings as an educator,
these topics have such an important message to deliver that more time is needed
to present them.
Ultimately, having Internet and digital safety added to your
educational unit can serve as an integral role in informing students on both the
positive and negative aspects of the Internet and digital technologies. Because we live in a Net Generation of Digital
Natives, it is our responsibility as educators to adapt to society and educate
our youth about the social norms about technology and the Internet.
