4.1.3 Digital Health

Learning how to efficiently manage time becomes crucial when trying to ensure the most balanced blend of technology and well-being. From my experience, after almost five years being involved in online teaching and learning, time management and organizational skills are inherently tied together in order to get the most from technology while simultaneously safeguarding good health. It is essential to develop strong organizational skills both in the professional field and in the personal domain so that time is used efficiently.

I am currently completing a professional development online course, and there are a couple of strategies that I try to use consistently when managing my time. The first strategy, and the most difficult one for me, is prioritizing. Although it can be very hard to say no to some of the things I enjoy the most, it does pay off when I realize how much I have been able to accomplish during a certain period of time. The second strategy that works very well for me is establishing mini-deadlines. This allows me to complete my work a couple of days ahead of the “real” deadline, which helps make things a lot less stressful. Living ahead of schedule is certainly very rewarding when unexpected things occur.

4.1.2 Digital Safety and Security

Due to the fact that nowadays technology is a big part of our students' lives, I believe that digital safety and security needs to be taught explicitly. As Mike Ribble suggests in Passport to Digital Citizenship, students should have the opportunity to analyze and explore why they should use technologies in a certain way. Using the explicit direct instruction model, I provide guidance to my students about what constitutes safe and responsible Internet use, and how to recognize dangerous and inappropriate situations.

Digital Safety and Security Tag Bundle

4.1.1 Digital Rights and Responsibilities

Every Digital Learning Community (DLC) must ensure that citizens within the community have access to an environment where Acceptable Use Policies protect members as well as the community itself and where individuals uphold laws. An effective way to establish and maintain a DLC where citizens observe, support, and ultimately benefit from Digital Rights and Responsibilities would imply explicitly addressing and discussing that with digital rights come responsibilities. 

From my experience, in an online learning environment, copyright laws tends to become an issue that requires particular attention. Common Sense Media offers a fantastic Digital Literacy and Citizenship Classroom Curriculum with many great ready-to-use lesson plans on several digital citizenship topics including copyright. I plan to use one of the lessons in which students learn to follow five simple tips to ensure that they respect copyright laws when they want to use someone else's creative work:

1. Check who owns it.
   
   
2. Get permission to use it, if necessary.
   
   
3. Give credit to the creator.
   
   
4. Buy it, if necessary.
   
   
5. Use it responsibly.
   

3.1.2 Digital Resources and Netiquette

Respectful attitudes and behaviors are not only appreciated, but also necessary for civility in a digital learning community. I think it is essential that students understand the parallel between a physical classroom environment and a virtual classroom environment. In fact, the core rules of netiquette from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea can be interpreted as classroom expectations or classroom rules. There are certain behaviors that are expected and other behaviors that are not acceptable in an academic environment, physical or virtual. It is for this reason that establishing clear netiquette expectations is essential in a digital learning community.

Netiquette Poster

3.1.1 Access to the Digital Community

Broadband access is, undoubtedly, a primary factor when analyzing access to a digital learning community. Researching this factor in my area corroborated my prediction that both availability and speed connection were above average. 

Broadband Access

However, what it seems to be a barrier that could impede my students' opportunities to access digital learning is income disparity. I teach in a school district in which a high percentage of students qualify to receive free or reduced lunch. Often times, they share with me that the only way they can connect to and use the Internet at home is their smart phones. This, obviously, represents a huge limitation when they try to complete assignments and projects after school. In order to mitigate this barrier, I always try to find digital platforms, tools, and resources that will work on their phones. Additionally, three days a week, I am available after school at the computer lab for those students that have transportation and wish to take advantage of our school's resources. 

44.6% do not have broadband access because of cost (we can assume that not having a computer or an inadequate one is also because of its cost) 

 

 

1.1.3 Ideal Digital Learning Community

In order to create an ideal Digital Learning Community (DLC), a variety of digital tools and resources should be integrated so that teachers and students can have meaningful opportunities to communicate and collaborate. The key to make a DLC attractive and welcoming is to take into consideration the needs and interests of the targeted audience. These needs and interests should be approached as dynamic variables, always subject to change as DLCs members' knowledge grows and expands to different fields of study as well as digital means of communication and collaboration. It's precisely for this reason that DLCs are ideal to provide rich instructional and learning experiences.

My Vision of the Ideal DLC

1.1.2 Joining a Digital Learning Community

After exploring many different Digital Learning Communities (DLCs), I focused my attention on those that had the potential to offer a wider variety of language and cultural instructional resources. I created a DLC tag bundle in Delicious to have easy access to them. 

Digital Learning Community Tag Bundle 

The DLC that I've decided to join is Connexions. Connexions is an open space that integrates a myriad of cross-curricular materials that students can use independently. I found it particularly interesting because, from the Spanish language and culture learning perspective, students can find all the resources that they need to revisit and enrich the concepts and skills taught in the classroom.

Making a DLC like Connexions more appealing to students can be achieved by showing and modeling its effectiveness as well as its endless possibilities in other subject areas. It is important that we teach our students how to efficiently connect different sources of information, so that they can construct their own learning and become self-directed learners.

2.1.1 Collecting Reputable Digital Resources

Social bookmarking tools are a great way to access bookmarks anywhere and at anytime. I have used Delicious for several years. I like the way Delicious allows me to tag the bookmarks and group them by tags. Social bookmarking is a great tool for networking and sharing bookmarks with anyone especially other teachers and even students.
My Delicious Tag Bundles

In the same way that social bookmarking is a great tool for teachers to keep track of resources and share them, students can also take advantage of this tool. Students can use social bookmarking to collaborate on projects with other students in their school or in other schools. For each thematic unit that we study, I like to see my students compiling a list of resources using Delicious. They bookmark the sites that they find more useful and interesting, and organize them by tags (vocabulary, grammar, irregular verbs, culture, etc). Students also network and benefit from seeing their peers' bookmarks and using their tags. Students can expand their research by adding new and relevant resources that their peers have found.

As I just mentioned, when we begin the study of a new thematic unit and students start their research, I have them bookmark and tag resources that are key to the achievement of the learning goals. These sites must meet certain criteria such as accuracy, objectivity, currency, and reliability. I explicitly teach my students that it is imperative that they follow these criteria in order for them to maximize their learning and benefit from using social bookmarking. They do understand that using social bookmarking and sharing their bookmarks allow them to use their time more efficiently, and that's an advantage that they don't want to lose. Active teacher monitoring is key to make sure that there are not inappropriate or irrelevant sites added to their bookmarks, and that all students are making significant contributions.

1.1.1 Digital Citizenship Character Traits

After reading the Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship (http://digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html), deciding which three are more essential hasn't been easy. I will start with netiquette. I think it is essential that students understand the parallel between a physical classroom environment and a virtual classroom environment. In fact, the core rules of netiquette from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea can be interpreted as classroom expectations or classroom rules. There are certain behaviors that are expected and other behaviors that are not acceptable in an academic environment, physical or virtual. It is for this reason that netiquette should be enforced in online instruction through establishing clear expectations as well as consequences for infractions. This will help ensure safety in the virtual learning environment.
Digital literacy is also crucial. As facilitators of online learning, we must reinforce digital literacy through challenging and engaging learning activities that will help our students reach digital proficiency. Reaching this level of digital literacy will enable learners to have that full and meaningful electronic participation in society that is called digital access.
It is also important that students understand copyright laws. Common Sense Media offers a fantastic Digital Literacy and Citizenship Classroom Curriculum with many great ready-to-use lesson plans on several digital citizenship topics including copyright. I plan to use one of the lessons in which students learn to follow five simple tips to ensure that they respect copyright laws when they want to use someone else's creative work:

• Check who owns it.
• Get permission to use it, if necessary.
• Give credit to the creator.
• Buy it, if necessary.
• Use it responsibly.
  

Finally, digital communication, as the electronic exchange of information, becomes key in the virtual learning environment. Preparing students for the 21^st century means equipping them with the tools that will enable them to communicate effectively and take responsibility for their own learning. As globalization and complexity increase in this new era, it is essential that students develop strong technology and communication skills as well as critical and creative thinking skills. It is out responsibility as educators to provide a nurturing and technology-rich learning environment that promotes student motivation and fosters student engagement.

In summary, due to the fact that nowadays technology is a big part of our students' lives, I believe that digital citizenship needs to be taught explicitly. As Mike Ribble suggests in Passport to Digital Citizenship, students should have the opportunity to analyze and explore why they should use technologies in a certain way. Using the explicit direct instruction model, we can provide guidance to students about what constitutes safe and responsible Internet use, and how to recognize dangerous and inappropriate situations.