3. Google’s Be Internet Awesome
Google offers a free program called Be Internet Awesome that teaches kids about digital citizenship and helps them make responsible decisions online.
Interland, which is part of the Be Internet Awesome program, is an interactive game and world all about exploring digital citizenship topics. Google describes it as “an online adventure that puts the key lessons of digital safety into hands-on practice with four challenging games.” Of course, kids love games, so this is a fun way to teach them about important issues they’ll come across online and help reinforce digital citizenship skills.
The digital citizenship games include:
- Mindful Mountain: Share with Care
- Tower of Treasure: Secure Your Secrets
- Kind Kingdom: It’s Cool to Be Kind
- Reality River: Don’t Fall for Fake
In addition to Interland, the Be Internet Awesome program also includes a curriculum with 10 units. Google, The Net Safety Collaborative and the Internet Keep Safe Coalition collaborated on these comprehensive units.
4. Digital citizenship Workspaces
Hāpara Workspace is a teaching and learning tool that allows educators to share interactive lessons, units and courses. With Workspace, you can quickly create student groups and differentiate instruction or share personalized resources. Learners can explore topics and standards at their own pace, and it’s easy to give formative feedback to learners along the way.
Hāpara users can make a copy of the following Workspaces and modify them for their learners. Or you can grab any of the free resources that are included in the Workspaces.
If you have a digital citizenship lesson idea of your own and are a Hāpara user, create a new Workspace to build personalized pathways for your learners. If your school or district uses Hāpara, and you want to learn more about how to create Workspaces and collaborate with colleagues, sign up for the Workspace micro-credential course. If your school or district does not yet use Hāpara tools, learn more by signing up for a demo.
The following Workspaces help learners in elementary, middle school and high school better understand digital citizenship so they can apply the elements day to day. You’ll find learning goals, resources, formative assessments and extended learning opportunities.
- Digital citizenship: Grade 5: In this upper elementary Workspace, learners explore and define digital citizenship so they can navigate the internet safely.
- What Is Digital Citizenship?: This Workspace for grades 6-8 introduces learners to digital citizenship.
- Digital citizenship: Grade 6: This engaging middle school Workspace includes videos and a variety of activities and formative assessments to help learners understand the elements of digital citizenship.
- Digital Citizenship: Grades 6-12: In this Workspace, learners explore best practices for creating a digital footprint and collaborate with group members on assessments.
- Digital Citizenship: Grades 9-10: In this high school Workspace, learners identify and study digital citizenship as it relates to teenagers.
5. Hāpara Card Talks
Helping kids apply the elements of digital citizenship and make connections to their lives in and out of school helps them understand its importance. Whether learners question rules related to internet usage or need support in how to use social media safely, opening a dialogue is one of the best ways to approach digital citizenship topics.
Hāpara Card Talks allows you to have conversations with learners about digital citizenship issues. It lets learners share their points of view and online experiences, as well as what it takes to be a good digital citizen. The prompts and questions could drive class conversations, small group discussions or a think-pair-share activity. You could also use them as journal prompts so learners have a chance to reflect on the topics independently before heading into a discussion.
Centering staff member discussions around digital citizenship is a great way for adults to build their skills, too. Hāpara Card Talks also include conversation starters for educators. With these educator conversation starters, you can have impactful discussions about:
- How you use classroom technology
- Your relationship to technology outside of the classroom
- Digital equity
- School policies
- Social media and more
How do you address digital citizenship instruction in your classroom or school? Digital citizenship is essential for learners in every grade level, so don’t be afraid to start teaching it in lower elementary. Then continue to build upon those skills and touch upon new digital citizenship issues in higher grade levels. Whether you embed lessons, incorporate multimedia or engage in meaningful conversations, make digital citizenship a priority in your classroom instruction.