Here are the final three pillars in our Good Digital Citizenship curriculum:

6.) Digital Health & Wellness will help students learn eye safety, repetitive stress syndrome, and sound ergonomic practices that need to be addressed in a new technological world.  Beyond the physical issues are those of the psychological issues that are becoming more prevalent such as Internet addiction.  Users need to be taught that there inherent dangers of technology. Digital Citizenship includes a culture where technology users are taught how to protect themselves through education and training. Learning Targets include Addiction to being connected – understand human need to connect face-to-face, demonstrate steward use of technology, Pornography –discuss and develop strategies that deal with the dangers of online addictions, embracing identity in Christ, evaluate the importance of communication with parents, psychological issues dealing with all aspects of social networking and learning safe social networking skills.

7.) Digital Commerce will teach students the need to understand that a large share of market economy is being done electronically. Legitimate and legal exchanges are occurring, but the buyer or seller need to be aware of the issues associated with it. The mainstream availability of Internet purchases of toys, clothing, cars, food, etc. has become commonplace to many users. At the same time, an equal amount of goods and services which are in conflict with the laws or morals of some countries are surfacing. Learning Targets include understanding how people purchase/sell goods online, develop awareness of online opportunities for fundraising, become aware of digital finance pitfalls vs. hard currency, review examples of online fraud, investigate prevalence of illegal downloading activity on students’ devices, connect stewardship and service with online selling of goods and services, demonstrate discernment as online consumer, research implications of digital piracy.

8.) Digital Security (self-protection) teaches that in any society, there are individuals who steal, deface, or disrupt other people. The same is true for the digital community. It is not enough to trust other members in the community for our own safety. In our own homes, we put locks on our doors and fire alarms in our houses to provide some level of protection. The same must be true for the digital security. We need to have virus protection, backups of data, and surge control of our equipment. As responsible citizens, we must protect our information from outside forces that might cause disruption or harm. Learning Targets include Online security & safety learning parameters for who/when to share passwords, pictures, and other information online, understand how/why of logging on and off properly, build awareness about social media and privacy, maintenance of “digital footprint” – how to delete/preserve information as necessary, learn dangers of identity theft and how to prevent, develop awareness of longevity/accessibility of digital information, discussions on gaming and the privacy and safety concerns/risks that go with gaming online.

As you can see from this outline, LCS middle school is committed to in-still in our students:

– to make smart decisions:  never give out personal information online,

– to solve problems by communicating politely & appropriately with others,

– listen to and understand more than one point of view,

– understand that parents and teachers will have rules about their computer time,

– learn from others online,

– balance computer time with other positive elements in their life such as family time, reading, recreation and work.

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