The evolution of digital safety to digital leadership

Over the past few years, we have witnessed the shift from teaching about digital or online safety to teaching digital citizenship.

When teaching about online safety, we talked about WHAT NOT TO DO to keep ourselves safe online:

Source Mini Matisse

When talking about digital citizenship, we shifted the the conversation to a more positive emphasis on WHAT WE WILL DO to be responsible and appropriate contributors to the online world:

Source Lessons By Sandy

Even more recently, thanks to the work of educators like George Couros, Kristen Mattson and others, the conversation has evolved to talk about fostering and encouraging digital leadership as outlined in this video produced by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).



This doesn't mean that digital safety and digital citizenship are no longer important. Quite the opposite in fact.  The evolution of these concepts have just laid the ground work for this current conversation about "empowering proactive digital learners".

Source: ISTE

In this era of "fake news", cyberbullying and increasing concern and uncertainty about the impact of social networks and technology on the lives of our students, the need to lay a solid foundation of "respect - educate - protect" that Dr. Mike Ribble has advocated for over so many years needs to create digital citizens needs has never been more important. But we need to go one step further. We put that ever evolving understanding of citizenship into action - to make a difference.  

Our students need to understand that their digital presence can play a positive role in making our world a better place and that their ideas and talents can be used to create a positive change in their communities. But what does this look like in practice? How can we foster this idea to build digital leaders in our classrooms?

I would love to hear what you think about this topic. As educators, we need to figure out together what this looks like in our classrooms. How do we ensure our students are learning the skills they need to be able to live, learn and work in an ever changing digital world?

Please contribute your views to this Flipgrid. Having a growing collection of voices discussing this topic will be valuable in moving this discussion forward.

Meet CBC Saskatchewan Future 40 winner Joanna Sanders

It has been a very exciting week. I am truly humbled to have been named one of CBC Saskatchewan's 2016 Future 40 for my leadership on digital literacy and digital citizenship in the province.  

As part of the prize for this honour, I got the privilege of attending a reception with all of the winners in Saskatoon. To get to spend a few hours meeting and talking with the 39 other amazing young leaders in our province was truly inspiring. Thank you to my nominator and to the CBC for selecting me for this honour. 

Please check out the other 2016 Future 40 winners on CBC Saskatchewan's website. 

The need to inspire and to motivate...

Another local teachers' convention has passed and sadly, I can barely remember what took place when reflecting upon yesterday's event. This meeting is a fantastic and expensive professional development opportunity to have as a local organization to inspire and excite teachers about their profession. Unfortunately, I left feeling tiered and unexcited about the pile of work I had lugged home to complete during my long weekend.

The local leaders at the convention made no use of the screen lit up behind them during their speeches. The screen remained blue in the background, ready to show a video at some point in time about the 75th anniversary of our provincial association. They spoke at one point about being a profession for the 21st century, yet used no technology at all in their speeches. How hard it is to have a few power point slides with images or words that highlight what it was you wanted the audience to remember? I find it funny that we as teachers do what we can to incorporate all multiple intelligences into our classrooms, yet at convention, we model what we are told not to do as educators; stand at the front of the room and talk to the audience with no interaction. Our board provide teachers with laptops and most have cell phones. It would have been easy to have teachers participate in audience polls, a rolling blog discussion or comments up on the screen. Much more engaging, and a model for classroom participation.

I feel disappointed to read on other teacher's blogs from other provinces and countries about their sharing opportunities that take place at their local conventions every year. I question why this type of sharing doesn't take place at our convention. The only time it does occur is when our provincial organization organizes as "Showcase" every few years that replaces the local teachers' convention. Why doesn't our local organzation ask its teachers if they would like the opportunity to present or share something during the breakout sessions?

I know you are probably asking yourself why I don't just join the organizing committee instead of blogging about all of the problems with the convention. Perhaps that is something I will do next year. But I do know that I'm not alone in my opinion of the local convention. So I want to hear other's opinions. What would make a great local teachers' convention for you? What would you like to see or experience at this yearly event? For those of you who may read this from other parts of the world, what makes your local conventions great? It can only get better. Please comment and share your ideas! Let's work together to make this a fantastic PD opportunity for all!

On that note, let me share a couple of inspirational type videos that I have seen a few times at a number of workshops that I've attended in the past few months. There must be a reason that more than one presenter has chosen to include them during their session. Maybe I will feel inspired to get started on that pile of marking I need to get done this weekend... enjoy!

First, a video from Joshua B. Bloom for Teachers at the Foothills College in Los Altos, CA and then posted on YouTube:


Second, a video from Tom Woodward of Henrico County schools in Virginia on YouTube: