The LO Down

Earlier this year, we took a look at the Digital Citizenship Project, and how Jon Orech (@jorech) has used Campus Pack to connect students across the nation and prevent cyber bulling.  Here are some additional details on how this project took shape:

High school sophomores serve as cyber mentors for middle school students on the topic of cyberbully protection & promotion of digital citizenship

When it Happened: The first deployment of the Digital Citizenship Project was the Spring of 2011. The project was repeated this past fall with new students, and will continue every semester.

Challenge Faced/Project Inspiration: Illinois state law requires Internet safety instruction for all students in grades 3-12, but was nebulus about the nature of the instruction. District 99 decided that a vertical embedded curriculum be developed. The main topics selected were Netiquette, Digital Citizenship, Cybercrime Prevention and Managing Digital Tattoo (Footprint). In addition to being embedded in existing classes, it was decided that all curriculum be project based with a focus on creating for an authentic audience.

How It Works: During a Personal Safety unit, sophomore health students research the causes and ramifications of cyberbullying and pose essential questions. Through “lit circles” students read and discuss cases taken from “Teen Cyberbullying Investigated” (Jacobs, 2011). Armed with this new knowledge, students post letters on Campus Pack blogs intended for middle school students with personal anecdotes and suggestions for cyberbully prevention and protection. Blogs are sent to participating middle school (MS) teachers and students. MS students read 2-4 posts and respond by commenting and asking further questions. Serving as “cyber mentors” sophomore students continue the conversation, displaying good Digital Citizenship to their “protegees.”

What Sets It Apart: This project matters for two reasons. First, students CREATE (instead of complete) for an authentic audience and purpose. In addition to cyberbully protection, students look in the mirror and ask “I’m behaving responsibly?” The HS mentors guide protegees, pose and answer questions, and engage in authentic discourse with those who genuinely want to know more. Second, both groups of students are assessed, not only on their knowledge of the topics, but also their practice of the behaviors.

Key Beneficiaries/Results:
The first benefit for the high school students was the amount of voluntary revision that was done. HS students wrote and revised more once they knew the audience was younger students.
Another benefit was the knowledge that was learned about the legal ramifications of cyberbullying. HS students scored significantly higher on an assessment measuring knowledge on legal consequences of Cyberbullying after participating in the project.
From the younger students’ perspective, there were also numerous benefits. MS teachers reported that students were impressed that HS students cared enough to write to them. As a result, they were more prone to continue the discussion in a safe, familiar environment, knowing they could trust their mentors. In at least one case, MS administrators are reporting a decrease in known incidents of cyberbullying after students participate in this project.

Surprises, "Ah Hah!" Moments, Next Steps, Advice:
While strong relationships were forged throughout the project, one interaction was truly remarkable. After reading the “mentor’s” post, one MS student confessed that he had bullied someone online. A second MS student berated the first for his actions. Taking the “high ground,” the HS student politely intervened and pointed out that the second student’s behavior was in effect bullying, and asked her to stop. The 2nd MS student apologized.
In the future District 99 plans to:
Develop longer cyber mentor relationships.
Have HS students include pics of self with post.
Skype with groups afterwards to place faces with names.
Develop a Campus Pack blog for teacher communication, resources, conversations.

Reasons for choices of technology: Campus Pack replaced Edmodo for this project. Minimal setup was required for students to write text, add images, and videos to help younger kids understand how to safely navigate the web. With one click, we made blogs accessible and sent links to middle school students nationwide who select and comment on our students' posts and continue the conversation. Assessment is efficient since teachers can read, comment, or collect all posts and comments by an individual student.