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Digital Citizenship

Seven Picture Books with Digital Citizenship Themes

by Pattie Nix
written by Pattie Nix

Nowadays computers and iPads are as common in the classroom as pencils and paper. When students leave our classrooms, they go home to play on their own personal devices. Teaching healthy digital habits can’t wait; it has to begin the minute we hand a Chromebook to a kindergartener. Teaching healthy digital habits or digital citizenship, as we like to call it, doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated, though. In fact, it can be as easy as sharing a fun read-aloud with your class and using a picture book to teach digital citizenship.

Why Picture Books Work for Teaching Digital Citizenship

Picture books are the perfect, unlikely tool, for teaching digital literacy. Even topics like online bullying and responsible use can be easily taught using the right book. Picture books can be both fun and thought-provoking. Sharing a book on digital citizenship and responsible technology use through a read aloud helps build community with your students and facilitate important conversations on this topic. A picture book lesson can take as little as 15 minutes and requires little to no prep. Here are seven of my favorite picture books for teaching healthy digital habits and digital citizenship to our littlest learners.

1. Unplugged

Out of the many books available about limiting screen time, I use Steve Antony’s “Unplugged.” The message is clear in the text and the illustrations. When Blip the robot is plugged into her computer the illustrations are black and white. When Blip gets unplugged and falls down the stairs and out the door, the illustrations are in color. Children quickly see the point that Antony is trying to make, life online is dull compared to life in the real world.

2. Nerdy Birdy Tweets

“Nerdy Birdy Tweets,” by Aaron Reynolds, is a favorite for teaching responsible use. We all fell in love with Nerdy Birdy in Aaron Reynold’s first book about friendship, and the friendship lessons continue in the second book featuring Nerdy Birdy and Vulture. Students will first notice that Nerdy Birdy is ignoring his friend Vulture while playing an online game. Then Nerdy Birdy posts an embarrassing picture of Vulture on social media. Even though the post is funny, Vulture’s feelings are hurt. After reading this book, I give my students a cell phone template and they write down at least one way to be responsible, one good digital habit, on a cell phone. Then, for fun, they decorate the phone template and we hang them in the hallway.

3. The Fabulous Friend Machine

I use “The Fabulous Friend Machine,” by Nick Bland to teach about the dangers of talking to strangers online. A friendly chicken named Popcorn finds a phone. She is excited that there is someone on the phone messaging “hello,” so she says “hello” back. All day and night, Popcorn messages her new online friends and ignores her barnyard friends. Finally, Popcorn decides to meet her new friends only to discover they are wolves who want to eat her.  After this read-aloud, we make posters showing ways to stay safe online. 

4. TEK, The Modern Cave Boy

“TEK, The Modern Cave Boy,” written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell, is always a hit with my students. With a similar theme as “Unplugged,” TEK’s message of limiting screen time is set during prehistoric times. TEK the cave boy spends all his time playing on devices and never leaves his cave. TEK misses out on all the winter fun during the Ice Age and never learns any dinosaur names! Then, one day a volcanic eruption shakes TEK up and helps him see the big beautiful world he has been missing. After reading TEK, students can make a list of activities they would miss if they spent all of their time on a device.

5. #Goldilocks, a Hashtag Cautionary Tale

“#Goldilocks, a Hashtag Cautionary Tale,” written by Jeanne Willis is a familiar story with a digital twist. Goldilocks breaks into the cottage of the three bears and posts pictures of all the damage she does to their house on her social media. The more things she tears up in the bears’ cottage, the more “likes” she gets. Goldilocks is eventually caught and punished because of the pictures on her phone. After a class discussion, students write down ways to be responsible with their digital footprint and note good digital habits on paper footprints that we hang down the hallway.

6. Troll Stinks

“Troll Stinks,” also by Jeanne Willis, is another book that puts a spin on a familiar tale. Before reading, make sure your students are familiar with the story of the “Three Billy Goats Gruff.” In “Troll Stinks,” two billy goats find a phone and have fun taking selfies and calling friends. But then, the billy goats make a bad decision and use the phone to send unkind messages to the troll. The goats are very surprised at the end when they actually meet the troll. This is a great book to use to talk about online bullying and being good digital citizens.

7. Once Upon a Time Online

Once Upon a Time Online Book Cover

“Once Upon a Time Online” by David Bedford is a fun book to teach responsible use. Familiar fairy tale characters find a laptop that falls from the sky. Cinderella uses it to buy clothes for the ball and Rapunzel finds a prince online. But as the story continues, the characters get in over their heads and it takes the fairy godmother to fix all the problems they create. Students will giggle while learning important lessons about the important digital habit of getting parental permission before using certain apps and websites.

These seven books are just the tip of the book iceberg! There are many more picture books that teach digital citizenship lessons and promote good digital habits through read alouds. If you are not using picture books yet, start today. And don’t miss out on this quick and effective way to reach even your youngest students.

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Content CreationDigital CitizenshipDigital LiteracyELAREnglish Language ArtsWriting

What You Need to Know About Copyright

by Renee Bogacz
written by Renee Bogacz

Most people don’t find themselves breathless with excitement at the prospect of learning about copyright. If you were to play a word association game with the term copyright, you would likely get responses such as boring, confusing, unnecessary, or annoying. While those emotions might be legitimate, the truth is, understanding copyright is a necessary evil for both teachers and students. Let’s break it down into the most useful pieces of information.

The most basic way to explain copyright is this: It’s a law that protects people who create by giving them the right to control who can use their creations and how. The following are protected by copyright: 

  • Books
  • Stories 
  • Articles
  • Blog Posts
  • Song Lyrics
  • Musical Composition
  • Works Of Art
  • Photographs
  • Video Recordings
  • Audio Recordings

Essentially, if it is highly creative, it’s protected by copyright law. 

How do you know something is copyrighted?

A common misconception is that a copyright symbol must be present to show that a work is copyrighted; actually, once a work takes tangible form, it’s covered by copyright. So if you scribble a poem on a cocktail napkin, it’s copyrighted. Every picture you take with your phone is copyrighted. You don’t need the symbol, and you don’t need to officially register your work to have copyright law apply.

A common misconception is that a copyright symbol must be present to show that a work is copyrighted; actually, once a work takes tangible form, it’s covered by copyright.

How can you use a copyrighted work?

Copyright law can be pretty unforgiving. To use a copyrighted work, you would have to determine who the copyright holder is and get permission to use the work. That can be time-consuming or even close to impossible. The internet makes it more confusing because it looks like everything is freely available to use. It can be really difficult to track down a copyright holder online because so many things, especially images, get shared over and over again. So if you’re about ready to give up ever using anything copyrighted ever again, don’t fret! There are a couple of things that make it much easier for educators to work easily within copyright law!

Fair Use

One nice option is Fair Use. While not an official part of copyright law, it still allows copyrighted works to be used for some very specific purposes – one of which is education. Now, that doesn’t mean you can run to the copy machine and make copies of a novel for your students instead of buying them! Fair Use says that copyrighted works can be used for educational purposes if used in small amounts (as opposed to in entirety) and if the impact doesn’t harm the market for that item. Since Fair Use isn’t officially part of copyright law, there aren’t any hard and fast guidelines for using works and calling it Fair Use. That makes some people nervous because they just don’t know when they may have crossed a line and used too much work or used it inappropriately. 

Creative Commons

Luckily, there is another option that can be useful in the educational setting. That’s Creative Commons. This does work within existing copyright law, so it can be much clearer to understand what can and cannot be done with a copyrighted work. Creative Commons licenses were developed to give copyright holders clearly communicated control over certain aspects of their work, ranging from fairly lax requirements to pretty stringent. Creative Commons licenses indicate the following things:

  • Attribution: all licenses require you to give credit to the original creator of the work; this also allows you to adapt, remix, and build upon someone else’s work.
  • ShareAlike: this indicates that you are allowed to adapt, remix, and build upon another person’s work and then share your creation using the same licensing the original creator used.
  • NoDerivs: this allows you to use someone else’s work but you can’t adapt it.
  • NonCommercial: this allows you to adapt, remix, and build upon someone else’s work, but you can’t do it commercially.

There are actually six different Creative Commons licenses, using different combinations of the above elements. The least restrictive would be Attribution (do what you want, just give credit); the most restrictive would be Attribution-NonCommericial-NoDerivs (share someone’s work only as it is, non-commercially, and with credit given).

List of creative commons licenses

Because teachers and students alike use copyrighted materials daily for education, it’s important to have a basic understanding of what copyright is and how to work within it. Here is an excellent resource from the Learning Technology Center of Illinois that serves as a great guide for educators when it comes to Fair Use and Copyright. 

For the younger learners, simply teaching them that anything they didn’t create on their own belongs to someone else and having them share where they found it will be sufficient. As students get older, however, they should learn the nuances of copyright, become familiar with Fair Use and Creative Commons, and learn ways to formally document their use of any copyrighted materials in school projects. 

Copyright violations become increasingly severe as kids get older and become adults. Anything from a failing score on an assignment or a failed course to disciplinary measures like expulsion could happen to a student, depending on the severity of the violation and the student’s age. As an adult, it could cost someone his or her job or even result in fines or jail time. That’s why starting early instruction on copyright is so important. 

If you’ve decided that copyright is fascinating, welcome to my world! If you’ve decided that copyright is fascinating, welcome to my world! Here are a few great resources for you to keep the learning going!

Kids Can Care About Copyright, Too! Think kids can’t understand copyright? Think again! Learn how to break down copyright so it’s easy to understand, and discover tools your students can use to respect copyright!

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Digital CitizenshipDigital LiteracySocial Media

Resources for Teaching Students to Fact-Check

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

Teaching students to evaluate, analyze, and think critically about information is absolutely essential. With advancements in technology, communication, and artificial intelligence, it’s easier than ever before for falsified information, photos and videos, and news to spread like wildfire, presented to the world as fact through social media and other avenues. Let’s take a look at some resources for fact-checking, vetting, and analyzing information. But first, let’s look at why it’s so important for students to learn how to assess source credibility. 

What Is Fact-Checking? 

Fact-checking is the process of assessing the credibility, accuracy, and validity of information. The goal is to determine whether information is true or false and whether or not a source is trustworthy and credible. It’s become so important to intercept misinformation that Duke Reporter’s Lab reported a total of 378 fact-checking projects operating in 2022, up from 186 in 2016, and down from 391 in 2021.

Why Is Fact-Checking Important? 

There is a lot of information out there about misinformation and disinformation, its spread, and its impact. With our students being subjected to so much so often, as in daily – especially via social media – teaching them ways to fact check and identify credible sources is more vital now than ever before. We can be a part of changing statistics and helping our students be better informed. And we can do the same for ourselves!

Statistics on Misinformation and Fake News

If you want to dive into 18 gut-wrenching statistics on fake news and misinformation, take a look at this recent article (January 27, 2023) published by TechJury. It references sources from PEW Research, Business Insider, The Economist, and more. They offer some key statistical takeaways, mostly from 2020-2022, with two sources cited in the article from 2016.

Another study, conducted by Poynter Institute for Media Studies, MediaWise, YouGov Inc., with support from Google, found the following: 

  • 62% of respondents think they see false or misleading information online every week.
  • 39% of respondents across countries say they have unintentionally shared false or misleading information.
  • 55% of respondents say they have shared false or misleading information because they say they thought it was true. A third say they shared impulsively.
  • The largest share of respondents in the US are only somewhat confident (36%) that they can identify information as false or misleading. 

Additionally, a 2016 study by Stanford University on student ability to evaluate information showed that 7,804 students across 12 states had difficulty discerning sponsored content from actual news. They also had trouble “identifying where information came from.” The study consisted of five “tests” for middle school students, high school students, and university students. The authors of the study mentioned that, at every level, students lacked preparation and may focus on content rather than on sources when it comes to determining reliability. A more recent 2022 study by Stanford University showed that student ability to identify questionable websites increased twofold with just six, 50-minute lessons. 

That said, let’s look at some resources to use with students to boost their skills when it comes to recognizing false information. 

Resources for Student Fact-Checking 

1. Civic Online Reasoning (COR)

News Literacy Project
Screenshot by Emily Horn | Civic Online Reasoning

This is the curriculum that was tested in Stanford’s 2022 research study, which demonstrated that six, 50-minute lessons can positively impact students’ ability to discern credible information. The curriculum is based on three questions:

  1. Who’s behind the information?
  2. What’s the evidence?
  3. What do other sources say?

There are lessons (lateral reading, sponsored content, news vs. opinion…), assessments (website reliability, home page analysis, article evaluation…), and collections (for the history classroom, for the science classroom, classroom posters, click restraint…). This resource is of great quality and extremely relevant! Highly recommend. 

2. News Literacy Project 

I love this resource! The News Literacy Project has been around since 2008. As a nonprofit (like TCEA), it has a nonpartisan mission for news literacy and a vision for everyone to know how to identify credible news sources and information. New Literacy Project has a lot of resources for educators, including: 

News Literacy Project
Screenshot by Emily Horn | News Literacy Project

Checkology: “Checkology is a free e-learning platform with engaging, authoritative lessons on subjects like news media bias, misinformation, conspiratorial thinking and more.” For more information, read this.

The Sift Newsletter: “The Sift, NLP’s free weekly newsletter for educators — delivered during the school year — explores timely examples of misinformation, addresses media and press freedom topics, and discusses social media trends and issues. It also includes links, discussion prompts, and activities for use in the classroom.” 

Resource Library: “NLP’s resource library includes lesson plans, classroom activities, posters and infographics, quizzes, training materials and videos for educators teaching news literacy.” (Grades 4-12+)

Professional Learning: “The News Literacy Project’s professional learning emphasizes teaching educators essential news literacy concepts they can integrate into the curriculum to provide their students with the abilities, knowledge, and confidence to navigate an increasingly complex and ever-changing information landscape.”

3. PBS Learning: Be MediaWise 

PBS Be MediaWise
Screenshot by Emily Horn | PBS Be MediaWise

PBS offers resources and lessons for grades 6-12 on media literacy and fact-checking which are part of the Poynter Institutes’s Teen Fact-Checking Network. When you go to the site, you will need to change your city in order to proceed. You can share Be MediaWise lessons to your Google Classroom, to students using a link, or to your social media. Lessons offered range from ChatGPT and out-of-context quotes to checking scientific claims and how misinformation spreads. They also offer supporting materials like background reading, handouts, activities, discussion questions, and/or vocabulary.  

4. Five Websites for Fact-Checking 

There are numerous websites available to help students and teachers fact-check information. Here are a few of the top sites for fact-checking:

“When misinformation obscures the truth and readers don’t know what to trust, Snopes’ fact-checking and original, investigative reporting lights the way to evidence-based and contextualized analysis. We always link to and document our sources so readers are empowered to do independent research and make up their own minds.”

“Fact-checking journalism is the heart of PolitiFact. Our core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing. The reason we publish is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy.”

“We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship and to increase public knowledge and understanding.”

“AllSides™ is a media solutions company that strengthens our democratic society with balanced news, media bias ratings, diverse perspectives, and real conversation. We expose people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world — and each other.”

“This tool allows you to easily browse and search for fact checks. For example, you can search for a politician’s statement, or for a topic. You can also restrict results to a specific publisher. You can search by keywords and see a list of matching claims and the corresponding fact checks. Keywords can be anything from specific topics to full politician quotes. Basically anything you would also put into the regular Google Search bar.

How do you plan to equip students and build their judgment when it comes to discerning the accuracy and validity of information and the credibility of sources? If you have any resources or activities to add, please showcase them in the comments, and thanks for reading! 

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"Panel from Diego Rivera's mural at Unity House, depicting the growing conflict over slavery that eventually led to the Civil War. Also included are references to the Mexican War and the discovery of gold in California. Important figures include Henry Da" by Kheel Center, Cornell University Library is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
ChromebooksCommunicationDigital CitizenshipWeb 2.0 Tool

Openverse: An Open Source Creative Commons Search Tool

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Looking for images, photos, and audio that won’t get you into trouble with the copyright police? If you read Dr. Cynthia Piña’s blog on Intellectual Property 101, you would have found a host of great solutions. One offering in that blog entry, Creative Commons (CC) Search, changed its name. CC Search is now called Openverse, joining Wordpress as an open source project.

Source: “Saturn’s Rings in Ultraviolet Light” by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

A Managed Commons for Media

Wordpress acquired CC Search in 2021. Openverse, the revised label under Wordpress, offers more than 600 million creative works. This library of photos, images, and audio are available for you to use at no cost. All images are Creative Commons licensed, or in the public domain. Dr. Piña explains:

Creative Commons is a kind of license that is open and flexible. This means that media licensed under Creative Commons is more available to share and reproduce by others…. Public domain refers to materials or works that do not have copyright protection.

Alluding to The Tragedy of the Commons, Word Press’s Matt Mullenweg says this:

Word Art generated sheep with words, "Tragedy of the Unregulated Commons"
Word Art generated sheep with words, “Tragedy of the Unregulated Commons”

“…the canonical example is as a shared field in a town, and it doesn’t belong to anyone, so anyone can use it. And when too many farmers took their sheep there, they would overeat the grass, and then there was no more grass left because it was being overutilized, and there was no one owning the field to say, Hey, we need to practice a more sustainable amount of sheep….

The idea is like a shared resource that gets overused and then disappears. With software, we have the opportunity to have the opposite. A wealth of comments where every person using the thing actually has the opportunity to make it a little bit better.”

The Tragedy of the Commons has seen some pushback on the main concept. In the 1980s, revisions suggested this wording:

“Under conditions of overpopulation, freedom in an unmanaged commons brings ruin to all.”

For those who want access to media they can use for a short-term project, Openverse offers a solution. A managed commons that anyone can find and use without fear.

Filters available in Openverse to narrow search results

Revisiting Boolean Logic

Even with the right filters, finding the right image to use can be difficult. Using Openverse to find content seems obvious. You go to the Openverse.org website, then type in what you are looking for. That said, you can take advantage of Boolean logic. You may be familiar with AND, OR, NOT but Openverse gives you more search options.

Openverse.org, a great media search tool for adult professionals, not so much for K-12 children, who may encounter inappropriate content.

You can combine keywords or search terms. These operators make it easier to find what you are looking for. More options are available online in this tutorial.

  • + signifies AND operation
  • | signifies OR operation
  • – negates a single token
  • * at the end of a term signifies a prefix query
  • ( and ) signify precedence
  • ~N after a word signifies edit distance (fuzziness)

You can put phrases in quotation marks. Here are some examples:

classroom+teacher

This search should yield any images that include a classroom AND a teacher. As you can see from the screenshot below, the search isn’t that strict.

student|teacher

This combination shows images that include a student OR a teacher, but not always both.

classroom -desk

Searches for a classroom, and does not show a desk.

In spite of the near misses, Boolean searches and operators can be helpful. You can see that below in the revised search:

classroom AND teacher -empty

See classrooms that have a teacher in them but are not empty.

Sound on Openverse

Looking for amazing sounds? You’ll find amazing tunes, songs, and more in Openverse’s search results. The Sound of Some captivated my ear. Search on music and you may not be able to lay your headphones aside.

And, who knows what wings this poetry may give your imagination.

“Poetry: a poem by liber” by liber(the poet); is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Finding amazing images that don’t violate copyright, and suit your needs, can make work easier. Isn’t that worth a little logic?

Feature Image Source

“Panel from Diego Rivera’s mural at Unity House, depicting the growing conflict over slavery that eventually led to the Civil War. Also included are references to the Mexican War and the discovery of gold in California. Important figures include Henry Da” by Kheel Center, Cornell University Library is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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accelerating learning
CommunicationDigital CitizenshipDigital LiteracyEnglish Language ArtsMathematicsMicrosoftReadingSocial-Emotional Learning

What Are Microsoft’s New Learning Accelerators?

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Announcing a host of new tools, Microsoft seeks to accelerate learning and reporting in the classroom. These tools expand on their ongoing effort to reimagine education with technology. Their tools seek to empower teachers and students with coaching and progress tracking.

“We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.”

Source: Microsoft Blog, 01/23/2023

What will resonate with educators in Microsoft’s February announcement? These are AI-powered tools blended into Microsoft 365 products, including Bing, Teams and OneNote. PowerPoint, Word, and Immersive Reader have also been supercharged. These Microsoft 365 integrated tools, a.k.a Learning Accelerators, target critical skills, including:

  1. Reading and Literacy
  2. Information Literacy
  3. Mathematics
  4. Speaking and Presenting
  5. Social-Emotional Learning
Immersive Reader now features Reading Coach.

1. Reading and Literacy

Reading Coach and Reading Progress focus on helping “students practice fluency,” ostensibly through individualized instruction in critical literacy skills. Included in Teams and Immersive Reader, students get guided reading support. They can practice reading with exercises that aid with a variety of skills, such as:

  • Pronunciation
  • Syllabification
  • Reading Speed
  • Vocabulary Recall

Additionally, teachers are able to track students’ reading skills. This allows them to provide timely feedback that is actionable. With Reading Coach, teachers can upload a reading selection of their own or browse a catalog. The catalog allows you to filter by these criteria in search of “the perfect passage:“

  • Grade Level
  • Genre
  • Lexile Level
  • Word Count

These two Learning Accelerators offer a few more features of interest in the classroom.

2. Informational Literacy

Worried about fake news and misinformation finding their way into the classroom? You may need to be. Consider these statistics:

  • 62% of all Internet information can be fake
  • 80% of US adults have consumed fake news
  • 64% of US. adults believe that fabricated information causes much confusion about basic facts (source)

Worse, NPR reports that 80% of students surveyed believe fake news is actual news. Getting to the truth involves teaching critical thinking skills.

We tempted the AI chatbot [ChatGPT] with 100 false narratives from our catalog of Misinformation Fingerprints™. 80% of the time, the AI chatbot delivered eloquent, false and misleading claims about significant topics in the news, including COVID-19, Ukraine and school shootings.

ChatGPT generated false narratives — including detailed news articles, essays, and TV scripts — for 80 of the 100 previously identified false narratives. For anyone unfamiliar with the issues or topics covered by this content, the results could easily come across as legitimate, and even authoritative.

(Source: NewsGuard)

Microsoft’s Search Coach seeks to assist students in distinguishing fact from opinion. Their goals include assisting students with the following:

  • Forming effective search queries
  • Finding trusted sites
  • Thinking critically about search results in ad-free environments

Students can find Search Coach in Microsoft Teams. They can then rely on filters such as domains, date range, operators, and other sites. Search Coach includes NewsGuard results, a search progress component. Search Coach allows teachers to:

track the development of information literacy skills. It creates a window into students’ search activity and behaviors.

3. Mathematics

Math is not far behind reading in Microsoft’s Learning Accelerator Suite. Scheduled for release in the 2023-2024 school year, Math Coach and Math Progress (along with Speaker Progress mentioned below) will become available in Microsoft Teams. You can watch a demo of Math Coach and Math Progress in this @petrijamsen TikTok video:

@petrijamsen

Quick view of the new upcoming Math Coach #teams #microsoft #microsofteducation

♬ alkuperäinen ääni – Petri Jämsen

4: Presenting and Speaking

PowerPoint, Teams, and LinkedIn now feature Speaker Coach and Speaker Progress.

Preparing students to speak can be tough. Microsoft’s Speaker Coach and Speaker Progress offer information and analytics. Teachers and students can now measure speaking performance using criteria such as:

  • Pitch
  • Filler Word Usage
  • Pacing

Find these two Learning Accelerators in PowerPoint, Teams, and LinkedIn.

5: Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Recognizing the importance of SEL, Microsoft has another enhancement for its digital classroom. Microsoft Teams, a learning management system, now has a reflection tool for students. Students are able to identify and express how they feel in “safe and fun ways” through emojis, emotional vocabulary, and a “Feelings Monster.”

With Learning Accelerators, Microsoft is making its student learning surveillance efforts more transparent. Data tracked and reported includes students, classrooms, and schools.

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cyber workforce
Coding/Computer ScienceCybersecurityDigital CitizenshipDigital Literacy

Free K-12 Cyber Workforce Curriculum

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Worried about cybersecurity and preparing students for the future workforce? Let’s explore a new resource and some ways to stay up to date.

Preparing the K-12 Workforce

Every day, thousands, if not millions, of people get emails from spammers. Some of the spammers are advertisers, hawking their products. Others offer advertisement-laden livestreams and webinars. Consider this one example on cybersecurity:

Tech workforces are changing fast. Is your workforce keeping up? Join us [date] on LinkedIn Live. Watch thisfuture-ready digital workforce informational webinar. Learn how to evolve your tech workforce to meet the future tech demands your organization needs. You will learn how to make it thrive. You’ll get rich, er capitalize, on your digital tech workforce transformation.

You get the idea. What if there was a way to engage K-12 students and prepare them to be that tech workforce? Let’s explore a new initiative – expanding cybersecurity education nationwide.

Did You Know?

TCEA offers a Cybersecurity for Educators: Data Guardian online, self-paced course. With this course, you can learn the essentials of protecting yourself and confidential data. It’s geared for classroom teachers, district professionals who aren’t cybersecurity experts. You need to know what’s in this course and put it into practice. Don’t be the reason for the next data breach in your organization.

Why Is It Important to Prepare Students?

I attribute my failure to learn how to code to a terrible mathematics program. Who could know that not learning math in middle school would have long-lasting effects? And the sooner we learn how math and coding relate, the better. That failure, whatever the reason, has resulted in a profound gap:

Cyberseek reported there are around 1.1 million people employed in cybersecurity in the United States. Over 700,000 unfilled positions are currently available. Worldwide, the cyber workforce shortfall is approximately 3.5 million people. (source)

A question many Americans ask is, “How do we prepare our children for a future in information security?”

Preparing Our Children to Be Secure

Getting our children ready means asking, “What do they need to know now to be ready for the future?” To find that out, check with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Screenshot by author

Jen Easterly, CISA Director, says that the K-12 cybersecurity education program is going nationwide. The program began in Louisiana through a grant and focused on high school students.

The CYBER.ORG Range is accessible to all K-12 students but is primarily geared toward high school students interested in learning core cybersecurity concepts and curriculum.

With over 750,000 open cybersecurity positions and continued cyberattacks on both the public and private sectors, it is more critical than ever to expand access to cybersecurity education.

Source: Cyber Innovation Center

The goal of CYBER.org is to empower educators to teach cyber with confidence. This should result in students with the skills and passion needed to succeed.

Free Cyber Curricula

You can find free cyber curricula on CYBER.org, including lessons, for use in K-12 settings. Some examples of the resources found on the site with a quick search include:

There’s a lot more content, organized by grade level and subject, that you can see. Subjects include:

  • Career & Technical Education
  • Computer Science
  • Cybersecurity
  • Engineering
  • Humanities
  • Math
  • Robotics and Coding
  • Science

These materials also encompass K-12 grades, so there is a wealth of information. Entry points abound for any educator who is seeking to prepare students for the future.

Screenshot by author

Engaging Students Early

One of the intriguing resources available via CYBER.org? Coding Fundamentals.

Coding Fundamentals introduces students to the foundational concepts of coding and cybersecurity. It does this through hands-on lessons. Students at differing grade levels learn the fundamentals in one of two ways: Microsoft’s MakeCode block-based language and/or through Python text-based programming.

Cybersecurity lessons include brute force attacks, dictionary attacks, and on-path attacks (formerly known as man-in-the-middle attacks).

MakeCode Block is recommended for grades 4-8 (beginners). Python is recommended for grades 8-12 (intermediate).

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Get your students, and your own children, learning the fundamentals.

Feature Image Source

Screenshot by author

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CybersecurityDigital Citizenship

Cybersecurity for Everyone– From Students to Senior Citizens

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

There are great cybersecurity tips for adults, but what about kids? Scammers and online criminals are actively targeting kids to obtain not only their personal information but also to gain their parents’ or guardians’ information. And as we know, our youth are growing up in a world where they are connected to the internet 24/7, which means we need to give them the tools and knowledge to be safe and secure online.

Did you know once scammers obtain a child’s personal information, they can:

  • Open up new lines of credit?
  • Try to obtain a family member’s credit card or bank account to make fraudulent purchases?
  • Sell their information on the dark web?

Five Security Tips for Students

So what do we need to share with our students so they can be informed, protect their personal data online, and not fall victim to identity theft? Here are five tips to get you started at home or school. Both teachers and parents should be having discussions with our youth to make sure they have the information and resources they need to protect their personal data.

  1. Create screen names and email addresses that do not include your first and last name.
  2. Create passwords with letters, numbers, and symbols.
  3. Don’t respond to emails from strangers.
  4. Do not share your password with anyone except a parent/guardian.
  5. Do not leave your computer or mobile device unattended.
Infographic highlighting 5 cybersecurity tips for students from the article text

Cybersecurity Scenarios

Remember, scammers use a variety of platforms to try and extract information by email, phone calls, social media, and online websites. Another way to open up the lines of communication on the topic of cybersecurity is to share and discuss situations that students could encounter. Teachers and parents, try out these scenarios, so our young people know what scammers are seeking. After each scenario, have a conversation and ask, “What are the red flags, and how should we handle this situation?” The answer to every scenario is to show an adult as soon as possible and never correspond with the message.

  1. Avery has posted a skateboarding video on ThePipe video site and received the following comment: “You are so talented. Click on this link to win a fabulous XYX board. Just enter your last name, address, and phone number to be entered into the drawing.”
  1. A new friend, Braxton, on CracklePopChat DMs you: “Post a video of you getting home from school and then your parents getting home from work. I am gathering information for my Science Fair project, due in two days, and I need to gather data ASAP.”
  1. Your new friend, Celia, on the popular online gaming site, PruneSpace, sends you a link to a new free gaming site, Dario Cart 100: “Just click on the link and enter your current username and password for the popular game you are playing right now, and you will have free access for one year. The offer expires in an hour, so don’t wait!”
  1. Your “Uncle David” on RightAwayGram posts a cute baby picture and asks everyone to post their own birthdate.
  1. You receive a phone call. The caller says: “This is Google Security calling to let you know there have been several attempts to order items on your mother’s credit card. To stop this fraudulent behavior, please verify the school you attend and your mother’s place of work. We will put a stop payment on her account.”
  1. You receive an email from the accounts@soccialsecurityadminstrattion.net. The email states: “We are emailing you to let you know your social security number has been found on the dark web. Please send us your social security number so we can freeze your account until this issue is resolved.”

Cybersecurity Resources for Students

CISA provides the following:

Screenshot of Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign website.
  • Parent and Educator Tip Card
  • Chatting with Kids about Being Online Booklet
  • Family Cybersecurity Presentation
  • Kids Presentation
  • Spread the Word Guide

Cyber.org has an introductory course for students in grades K-12. The course has two main topics: security and digital citizenship. Educators will need to answer a few questions before access is granted.

Screenshot of cybersecurity basics website from cyber.org.

Cybersecurity for Senior Citizens

Our children are not the only target of cyber criminals. Unfortunately, our senior citizens are often targeted as well. I know this to be true as my neighbor (in her 80s) paid $5000 because she received a phone call. The person on the phone stated that her grandson had been jailed in Mexico. My neighbor is a very spunky and intelligent woman, but criminals know how to pull at your heartstrings to extract cash. They can be very convincing, persuasive, and sometimes threatening and frightening.

AARP shares an online article on seven actual phone call pitches that were reported on the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline. The caller topics include:

  1. Medicare
  2. Phone company
  3. IRS
  4. Arrest of a Family Member
  5. Amazon
  6. Utility Company
  7. Social Security Administration

I highly recommend sharing these scenarios with your older family and friends. The dialogue is spot on as these are actual situations that happen frequently, and they also have advice on what to do. Think of it as cyber stranger danger!

We need to share, share, share to help everyone stay safe and secure online! Have any other ideas or resources to share? Throw them in the comments so we can all add to our cybersecurity toolbelts.

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CybersecurityDigital CitizenshipDigital Literacy

Three Resources to Boost Kids’ Digital Safety

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Wish someone had your back as a parent or educator when it comes to cybersecurity so that when you had questions, you knew where to go to find the answers? Or do you wish that someone suggested the questions and answers because you don’t even know what to ask? If so, you’ve come to the right place. TCEA.org’s TechNotes blog offers a lot of suggestions and resources for cybersecurity. What’s more, we’ve rounded up some information sources you don’t want to miss.

Let’s take a look at three amazing resources– all available for free. These resources can help you deal with tough topics. And they can offer suggestions for safeguarding your digital life.

Resource #1: Firefox for Families

Screenshot by author

The makers of the Firefox browser, Mozilla, have put together an incredible resource. Designed for parents, it has the following objectives:

  • To make awkward tech conversations with kids less awkward
  • To offer starter topics to get things rolling

The topics include a host of easy to read issues you need to know about:

  • Privacy
  • Mental Health
  • Bullying
  • Public wifi
  • Passwords
  • Private Mode

One of the most important components is The Super-Official Family Tech Agreement. This agreement is a PDF that resembles a contract between the child(ren) and the parent(s) or caregiver(s). It addresses various key tenets of digital citizenship without engaging in pedantry. Its four main tenets include:

  • Be yourself and stay safe.
  • Talk to me!
  • Oh, the places you’ll please never go.
  • The endless suckiness of time sucks.
Screenshot by author

As you can imagine, Firefox for Families worked hard to keep the content light-hearted. And they covered a wide variety of tough topics, offering parental tips along the way.

Some of the parental tips they offer?

  • Turn off location services for apps.
  • Talk with children about how their social apps make them feel.
  • Agree to report online bullying to school administrators.

The Firefox for Families TechTalk website also offers great factoids, such as:

  • Sixteen percent of students in grades 9–12 have experienced cyberbullying. (Source: Stopbullying.gov, 2019 US Study)
  • Data harvesters have captured more than 72 million bits of personal data. This is by the time children turn 13 years of age.

This is a great resource to share with parents of young children, as well as middle and high school students. The topics Firefox for Families addresses in this resource are timely. What’s more, the nurturing conversation the contract offers focuses on building trust.

As a parent, building trust is an approach I recommend more than “big brother” approaches. Of course, it all depends on how your family works.

Resource #2: Google Safety Center

kids' digital life
Google Safety Center, iPhone Screenshots

The Google Safety Center offers a variety of resources and tools centered around:

  • Security and Privacy
  • Family Safety
  • Leadership

Family Link

The Family Safety component offers tips on how to set ground rules with Family Link. This is a way of saying, “Google can help you watch what your children do online.” For parents who want to trust AND verify what children do online, you will want to learn more about Family Link.

Family Link helps you manage your children’s accounts and devices as they explore online. You can manage apps, keep an eye on screen time, and help set digital ground rules for your family.

With the Family Link app, you can set daily limits and bedtimes for apps to “stop working.” You can also get app activity reports that let you see what your children are up to. Family Link is an app that you can install on both iOS and Android devices.

Kids Space

The Google Safety Center highlights other apps that can assist younger children. For example, Kids Space offers content to “help children discover, create, and grow.” It’s available only for Android tablets. Kids Space’s website also offers a parental guide to get you started.

YouTube Kids

Another kid-friendly space Google manages is YouTube Kids. YouTube Kids offers family-friendly videos, as well as parental resources. One of those resources includes tools you can use as a parent to control what your children can see, as well as a timer. You can also block what children have access to.

There are a lot of resources and tools in the Google Safety Center. Be prepared to spend some time exploring and taking action.

Resource #3: Be Internet Awesome

Another digital citizenship-friendly offering from Google, Be Internet Awesome offers a game. The game, “Interland,” teaches digital safety and citizenship to kids. Kids help fellow “Internauts” fight against hackers, phishers, oversharers, and bullies.

kids digital life
Screenshot by author

Besides the game, the Be Internet Awesome website offers the following:

  • Family Tips and Activities
  • Family Guide to Supervised Experiences on YouTube
  • Google Families curated content (including resources from PBS Kids and Common Sense Media)
  • A Family Pledge in English and Spanish
  • Family Link Parent’s Guide
  • Internaut Papercraft Activity Template
  • And a lot more.

While most of the links work, some, like the Family Safety Contract, are broken. This suggests the site may need some updating. In the meantime, check out CommonSense Media’s Family Media Agreement (PDF).

More Resources Available

Want access to more amazing resources? You might explore these websites:

And to learn more about safeguarding your kids’ technology use, explore the FTC’s website.

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CybersecurityDigital Citizenship

Creating Passwords for Elementary Students

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

What do the following have in common? Here’s a hint: They have to do with passwords.

most common passwords

Hopefully, red lights and sirens started going off in your head. These made the list of most common passwords in 2022. Yes, you read that right! The next most common included a pet’s name, a significant date (like a birthday or anniversary), and a sports team. Go, Astros! In this day and age, we all have to do better. That said, how do we help our young students create a strong password?

Three Basic Rules for Creating a Good Password

  1. Use a minimum of eight letters (16 characters or more is best!)
  2. Include lowercase and uppercase letters
  3. Include numbers and symbols
creating a good password

Two Methods for Young Students

1. Memorable-Random Method

You are hopefully asking, “What is this?” Ian, Levy, National Cyber Security Centre, UK, Technical Director recommends “combining three random but memorable words. Be creative and use words memorable to you, so people can’t guess your password.”

This is the perfect spot to bring in AutoDraw. Autodraw is a web-based tool that pairs machine learning with drawings created by Selman Design, a design studio in New York. The best thing about Autodraw is it is free! This handy-dandy tool works on your phone, computer, or tablet. I love this little tool, as it turns my unrecognizable drawings into great pictures or icons.

Using Autodraw, have your students sketch three random pictures. They can then write their unique passwords on index cards for the teacher to keep. See my three examples below. Make sure students include at least one capital letter and a number; for your older elementary students, add a symbol!

memorable-random password method

2. The Sentence Method

This method is also described as the “Bruce Schneier Method.” The idea is to think of a random sentence and transform it into a password using a rule. For example, take the first two letters of every word to create your password. For the younger students, I would suggest having them create a sentence of five to six words and use each word’s first letter. And remember, to make it stronger, add a number that has meaning, like their birth month or a favorite number. 

sentence password method

Using the website “How Secure is My Password?” if you check “password,” you’ll see it would be cracked instantly. And the password “MDTfhb!12” would be cracked in three weeks. Now I realize “MDTfhb!12” is not the strongest, but this is a start in helping our students use best practices when creating passwords. *SMAGP2day1# (So, make a good password today)! And yes, it would take two million years to crack this one!

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Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship Week Resource Roundup

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

For the past ten years, Digital Citizenship Week, started by Common Sense Media, has taken place the third week in October. This year, it falls on October 17-21. In honor of this ever-so-important topic, I’ve compiled a resource roundup! While Digital Citizenship Week is great, we can incorporate and highlight tenets of digital citizenship throughout the year. Hopefully, these resources will provide you with activities, lessons, and templates you can use all year long.

1. Resources for Creating a Digital Citizenship Program

Resources for building a digital citizenship program

Do you want to incorporate more digital citizenship into your curriculum? Check out this article by Jenna Conan Simpson. She offers tips for integrating it into your program and links to free curricula, paid curricula, and tons of free resources.

2. Student Online Life: Targeted Digital Citizenship Education

Librarian Nancy Jo Lambert discusses how librarians lead the way in supporting other educators to ensure students are becoming responsible digital citizens. She offers tips for leading information literacy, modeling good behavior, and includes a Goose Chase, Google site, Google folder, and quiz for teaching digital citizenship.

3. Five Free, Ready-to-Use Resources for PK-12 Lessons

5 digital citizenship resources for PK-12

In this article, written by yours truly, I highlight a curricular framework for PK-12, resources from the Global Digital Citizen Foundation, Common Sense Education, The Social Institute, and Nearpod. There are also a few additional resources shared for lessons, teacher education, internet safety, and more.

4. Google-ize Your Digital Citizenship

In a great post by Diana Benner, she shares Google projects using Google Drawings and Forms. All you have to do is click the link to snag the templates. She also links to some resources by Google for online safety, digital citizenship, and digital literacy.

5. A Digital Citizenship Framework and Lessons

digital citizenship framework

Lori Gracey, TCEA’s Executive Director, outlines why this is one of the most critical skills to have today and why it’s up to educators to ensure their students have mastered it. Lori starts with a framework and then moves into lesson ideas and resources from multiple sites and organizations.

6. Empowering Students Through Digital Citizenship and Social-Emotional Learning

Today’s students need access to social-emotional learning to help them become empathetic digital citizens in a tumultuous digital world. In this article, Dina Perez discusses developing digital citizens, technology-based solutions, providing voice and choice, and social-emotional learning.

7. Celebrate Digital Citizenship Week

digital footprint activities

Diana Benner shares a slew of activities! In this article, you’ll find templates for teaching students about their digital footprints and a Three Kind Things Ghost Activity. She also shares an example Flip activity you can replicate. At the end of the post, she offers you additional resources and websites to explore.

I hope you find some activities, lessons, and templates that will work great for Digitial Citizenship Week and beyond in your classroom and school. Have any others you’d add to the list? Leave us a comment!

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