More than ever our nation needs responsible men and women who can meet the challenges of this world with confidence and embrace all its people with compassion. The next generation must include those who think critically and resolve to stand for what is good and right.

Our School cherishes academic rigor, encourages and praises meaningful individual achievement, and fosters virtue. Our independent education prepares young people for higher learning and for lives of purpose and service.

In the 21st century, being able to “meet the challenges of this world” also includes the online world where we learn and socialize.  Citizenship and Ethical Literacy, commonly referred to as Digital Citizenship, describe the character and actions of members of this new digital society.

Growing Up Online

Addressing citizenship and ethics in the contemporary sense can be challenging.  The familiar concepts of community, rights and responsibilities, and moral principles still exist online, but their intricacies within that environment are largely unknown to adults.  Earlier this year, PBS aired the Frontline documentary “Growing Up Online,” a candid and insightful look at how the Internet is transforming the experience of childhood.  For those who have not yet seen the program, it is available here and provides parents and educators a window into a world that Frontline describes as being “largely hidden from adults.”

While resources such as the documentary can make these issues more visible and salient, incorporating Citizenship and Ethical Literacy into the curriculum requires a framework.  We’ve selected Gerald Bailey and Mike Ribble’s Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship for our seventh grade 1:1 program.  These themes, however, can be applied to students of every age within any academic setting.

Themes of Digital Citizenship

For many, the concept of Digital Citizenship is limited to Internet safety and cyberbullying. While these are certainly important topics, the issues of citizenship and ethics are multifaceted. Bailey and Ribble have identified nine general areas or themes that define digital behavior, organized into three general categories:

Student Learning and Academic Performance
1. Digital Access: full electronic participation in society
2. Digital Literacy: the process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology
3. Digital Communication: electronic exchange of information

School Environment and Student Behavior
4. Digital Security & Safety: electronic precautions to guarantee safety/physical well-being in a digital technology world
5. Digital Etiquette: electronic standards of conduct or procedure
6. Digital Rights and Responsibilities: those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world

Student Life Outside the School Environment
7. Digital Commerce: electronic buying and selling of goods
8. Digital Health and Wellness: physical and psychological well-being
9. Digital Law: rights and restrictions

Using these themes, we developed a Digital Citizenship program for seventh grade advisory.  Each month, students, teachers, and parents collaboratively explore one of the nine elements.  Learning together and from each other, they develop a collective sense of what it means to be a good Digital Citizen; everyone is a learner in this endeavor.

Broadening the Concept

Our seventh grade team has worked hard to establish the importance of Citizenship and Ethical Literacy, and we can benefit from their experience as we seek to broaden Digital Citizenship throughout the School.  Regardless of the framework or approach, it is in everyone’s best interest to nurture citizenship and ethics.  Those who “think critically and resolve to stand for what is good and right” must do so in whatever world they find themselves.

A Whole New Meaning

As with the other literacies we’ve explored, Information Literacy is not a new concept.  The issue did not come into national prominence, however, until the 1989 Presidential Committee on Information Literacy Report from the American Library Association.  Their definition of Information Literacy is perhaps the most commonly cited and easily understood:

To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. The information literate individuals are those who have learned how to learn.

While this definition is nearly 20 years old, it is still applicable today and is not substantially different from those being applied in other countries.  The challenges of locating, evaluating, and effectively using information in the 21st century, however, give the definition a whole new meaning.

Information Abundance, Relevance, Reliability, and Richness

Abundance: We live in an age of information abundance.  The technology firm IDC determined that the world generated approximately 40 exabytes of new information in 2007; that’s approximately 300,000 Libraries of Congress.  This summer, Google announced that it had indexed one trillion unique URLs and estimated that the web was growing at a rate of several billion pages per day.  Locating information is not the problem; locating relevant, reliable information is the real issue.

Relevance: For many students, the Internet is a familiar yet overwhelming space.  Of the several hundred million searches performed each day, many (and quite possibly the majority) are done without any degree of sophistication.  Students must be taught how to formulate effective queries, both in terms of how to search and where to search.   If they are to truly learn how to access relevant information, their toolkit must be expanded to include resources beyond the World Wide Web.

Reliability: In this post-Gutenberg economy, where we publish and then filter, the task and importance of evaluating information has never been greater.  Anyone can publish anything, and with complete anonymity.   While this may not mean the death of culture as some would assert, it does mean that students need to learn to be discriminating consumers of information; they can no longer equate published with reliable.

Richness: Applying credible information to simplistic problems does little to foster literacy.  Students must be given opportunities to investigate rich questions that require multiple resources, promote deep thinking, and help students “learn how to learn.”  Only by going beyond that which can be Googled will our students develop Information Literacy in the modern sense.

Next Steps

To move forward, we must reconsider our approach to information abundance, relevance, reliabiity, and richness.   Information problem-solving strategies such as The Big6 can useful in framing the research process, and we must be intentional in guiding students through the processes of locating, evaluating, and using information effectively.  Tomorrow will bring a few billion more web pages and several thousand new books; it would seem there is no time like the present to get started.

• Information Management and Research
• Digital Citizenship
• Communication and Collaboration in a Global World
• Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Design

While these themes are by no means a comprehensive definition of all that a mobile computing environment has to offer, they will be our framework moving forward. Since each of these topics deserves attention, I would like to begin by addressing Information Management and Research and highlight the other themes in the near future.

A Three Step Approach

In a 1:1 program, information access is ubiquitous. Consequently, teaching students to effectively locate, access, and utilize information has never been more paramount. For this to occur, however, requires that we (1) adopt a unified research strategy, (2) extend our students’ toolkit beyond search engines and index cards, and (3) partner teachers, instructional technology and the library. Together, we need to guide students though explorations of probing questions that are central to our curriculum and require myriad resources to answer.

Step 1: A Unified Research Strategy

In keeping with the approach used in the Lower School and Upper School, we are adopting The Big6 as a unified research strategy. Developed by Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz, The Big6 in an information problem-solving strategy comprised of six stages with two sub-stages under each:

1. Task Definition
1.1 Define the information problem
1.2 Identify information needed

2. Information Seeking Strategies
2.1 Determine all possible sources
2.2 Select the best sources

3. Location and Access
3.1 Locate sources
3.2 Find information within sources

4. Use of Information
4.1 Engage
4.2 Extract relevant information

5. Synthesis
5.1 Organize from multiple sources
5.2 Present the information

6. Evaluation
6.1 Judge the product
6.2 Judge the process

By utilizing a common approach across all grade levels and academic subjects, students will develop their research skills efficiently and effectively. Although in-house professional development will be provided, The Big6 in Middle School: Teaching Information And Communications Technology Skills by Barbara Jansen is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn more about how The Big6 can be utilized in the classroom.

Step 2: Expanding Our Students’ Toolkit

Google is a great search engine, but unfortunately is quite frequently the only tool students utilize when conducting research. If they are to truly learn how to locate and access information, their toolkit must be expanded to include other resources. Fortunately, our library maintains a fine collection of print materials and more than two dozen general and subject-specific electronic databases are available.

In the past, “information management” was largely accomplished through the use of bookmarks and note cards. Although there is no shortage of digital tools that can support students, we will be primarily be utilizing del.icio.us and OneNote. Social bookmarking and electronic notebooks can vastly simplify the challenge of organizing and synthesizing information. Everything the students need can be located, accessed, and managed using the Tablet PC…provided their teachers, instructional technologist, and librarian work together and coordinate their efforts.

Step 3: Partner Teachers, Instructional Technology, and the Library

For many years the classroom, computer lab, and library were viewed as separate and distinct entities. Students were taught content in the classroom, learned about technology in the lab, and did research in the library. In a 1:1 environment, these barriers no longer exist physically or pedagogically.

Anytime-anywhere learning requires that we take a holistic view of the role of information literacy in the curriculum. The expertise that each of us possesses in terms of content, skills, and processes is complimentary and over time can merge into a powerful triumvirate. As the lines blur, our students will ultimately come to realize that learning is not compartmentalized but instead a ubiquitous opportunity.

Ideas into Action

The three steps I have outlined will take time and effort to bring to fruition. To begin the process, next Friday the 7th grade Tablet teachers will attend a full-day workshop and learn more about The Big6, visit the library and explore the available resources, and work in small groups to develop and refine their curriculum in light of the four themes. There is much to do, but we are committed to the cause and willing to grow and develop along the way.