As I noted last week, our 7th grade Digital Literacy course is designed to prepare students for living and learning in the 21st century and is guided by two essential questions:

1. How does your passion affect and reflect who you are as a person and learner?
2. How does technology affect and reflect who you are as a person and learner?

To begin answering these questions, students must come to understand that learning can be informal, social, and networked.  Social networking, the topic of our second lesson, binds these ideas together and is of vital important to Generation Y:

According to Pew Internet, 65% of teens 12-17 use online social networks as of February 2008, up from 58% in 2007 and 55% in 2006, and this upward trend is likely to continue.  Consider these recent findings:

“The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University recently interviewed 895 technology leaders as part of a series of surveys on the evolution and social impact of online technologies. Participants previously opined on the social impact of the Internet by 2020 and the future of cloud computing.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents believed that information sharing will prove to be more than a passing fad for Generation Y as the habit has grown to become an integral part of how burgeoning and young adults find information, seek help, sustain and nurture friendships and remain engaged with their communities.”

While the relevance of online socialization to Millennials is clear, the role and presence of social media in the classroom is imprecise at best.  Students frequently venture into virtual spaces with little or no sense of what constitutes proper behavior, the consequences of their naivety can be severe, and as educators, we need to assume a degree of responsibility.  Just as classroom expectations are introduced, reinforced, and ingrained from an early age, so too should the principles of digital etiquette and responsible use.  And just as classroom rules and procedures are best learned in the classroom, the intricacies of online behavior that can facilitate informal, social, and networked learning are best acquired in a secure yet authentic online environment.

Digital Literacy Learning Network

Every student in my course is a member of the Digital Literacy Learning Network (DLLN).  Powered by Schoology, the DLLN  is a private community that provides (1) a space for student resources and learning activities and (2) an interface for exploring social networking.  As I explained to the students, it is a safe environment–a virtual walled garden–where we can learn together without the pressures of the outside world.  As such, parents, teachers, and administrators are not yet part of the process.  Our first steps (and missteps) will be ours alone to experience; we are a newly-formed team and holding closed practices.  Although some may question that decision, social networking is built on relationships and trust.  Students need to get to know and trust me, and each other, before moving to a wider sphere of influence and interaction.

In social networks, user profiles are essential for establishing  relationships.  As a first activity and introduction to the DLLN, students completed their online profile.  As the students began detailing their interests, hobbies, and extracurricular activities, the question of what types of information should/should not be shared invoked lively conversation.  While everyone was quite familiar with the expression TMI, many were unaware that divulging identifying information (e.g. school, age, address, etc.) is unwise and potentially dangerous.  Although there is nothing in the Schoology profile that would be considered questionable, establishing the “TMI mindset” now will hopefully prevent problems later when such safeguards are not in place.

The students and I still have a long way to go in developing our DLLN; learning to make “friends”, post status updates, send messages, form and join groups, and other networking activities will all come in good time and foster the teaching-learning experience.  For the moment, though, we have taken the first step toward establishing an online space that is engaging and instructional rather than simply didactic and prescriptive.  Social networking IS more than a passing fad; hopefully our efforts will help ensure that responsible online sharing becomes the rule, not the exception.

With our 1:1 Tablet PC initiative entering its third year, I am once again teaching a 7th grade Digital Literacy Course this fall.  Although the responsibilities of managing 10 sections and 159 students (while juggling the demands of supporting the rest of the Middle School) can be rather strenuous, teaching  keeps me grounded as an Instructional Technology Coordinator and allows me to put theory into practice.

In reworking my course over the summer, I decided to draw upon lessons learned from our Summer Teacher Institute and (1)  reframe my curriculum using elements of Understanding by Design (UbD), (2) employ principles of Passion-Based Learning (P-BL) (3) design differentiated learning experiences, (4) utilize student expression styles, and (5) create an online learning network to connect students and faculty.  Given that “Digital Literacy” only meets once every six days, for a total of 8 lessons, it’s something of an ambitious plan but one that I feel the students are ready to embrace.

Goals, Questions, Understandings, and Outcomes
To begin our first lesson, I presented students with the essential questions, enduring understandings, and performance outcomes for the course:

DL_UBD_2010

Last year I began an occasional series of brief posts dedicated to featuring books, articles, and research papers that can foster professional growth.  It’s well past time to revive that concept, and as a first offering for the new school year I emphatically recommend Teaching the iGeneration: Five easy Ways to Introduce Essential Skills With Web 2.0 Tools.  Written by veteran educators Bill Ferriter and Adam Garry, iGeneration directly speaks to the challenges and opportunities of educating our multitasking, hyper-connected youth.  Not simply a book about technology, iGeneration is laden with practical suggestions for using everything from social bookmarking services to wikis and blogs.

As Bill notes in his introduction of the book on The Tempered Radical, ” While you’ll find plenty of handouts detailing best practices for introducing new digital tools to your students, the focus of each chapter—and the strategies that I recommend—stands squarely on the characteristics of good teaching.  Readers will learn about the characteristics of effective persuasion and information management practices.  They’ll explore the characteristics of collaborative dialogue—a communication practice that has been essential for centuries—and take a closer look at the types of problems that students need to solve.”

Although iGeneration is available in hardcover and paperback (and well worth the nominal investment), for a very limited time Solution Tree is making the book available FREE OF CHARGE when you sign up for a complimentary Solution Tree account.    In addition, Meg Ormiston, author of Creating a Digital Rich Classroom, and Adam Garry,  iGeneration co-author, will be joining Bill for a  focused three-day Voicethread conversation, August 26-28, on the characteristics of effective teaching.  Details will be forthcoming and I would encourage you to participate in this exciting endeavor.  In the meantime, grab a copy of iGeneration and enjoy.

Happy Reading!