Recent articles

Students and teachers need to understand copyright and intellectual property law.

Preventing collisions at the intersection of creativity and copyright

04/18/2019

Topics: copyright, fair use

Creativity powers the best classrooms.

Teachers tapping new ideas and tools create better ways to facilitate learning, while their students gain knowledge, make intellectual connections and…

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Are kids better than adults at teaching digital citizenship?

Are kids better than adults at teaching digital citizenship?

01/22/2019

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While adults can be powerful role models for kids, peers often exert even greater influence.

It’s as true online as it is off. Yet many schools still teach digital citizenship using traditional methods: a lecture here, an assembly there, one more lesson plan stuffed into an already…

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Digital citizenship starts with the person  not the tool!

Digital citizenship starts with the person not the tool!

01/03/2019

Topics: Digital Citizenship

Why do we do what we do? It's an age-old question. From getting too close to a fire to getting online excessively, our decisions aren't always good for us.

There is a model for understanding that irrational, sometimes frustrating, human behavior. It's…

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7 tips for helping students develop emotional intelligence

7 tips for helping students develop emotional intelligence

02/18/2020

Topics: #DigCitCommit, Digital Citizenship, social-emotional learning

Part of growing up is developing empathy, the ability to understand the feelings of others. It starts in kindergarten when we learn to share the crayons. As we get older, we learn to include others on the playground to avoid hurt feelings and begin to relate to those who are different than we…

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The New Digital Citizenship: Empower Proactive Digital Learners [Classroom poster]

The New Digital Citizenship: Empower Proactive Digital Learners [Classroom poster]

10/12/2017

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The new digital citizenship takes students beyond the protective to the proactive. Respect,…

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3 spheres of the new digital citizenship [video]

3 spheres of the new digital citizenship [video]

10/31/2017

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As an educator, you want your students to be good digital citizens — to be kind, safe and secure online. You want learners to become positive agents of change. To use their technology-driven powers to help make the world a better place.

Take learners beyond the…

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5 resources to help students -- and teachers -- understand copyright law

4 resources to help students — and teachers — understand copyright law

01/10/2020

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As educators, we provide opportunities for students to research and create using new media and technologies.

When students create a presentation, make a video or write a report, it…

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How PBL transforms students into digital citizens

How PBL transforms students into digital citizens

12/13/2017

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When seventh grader Gitanjali Rao heard about the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, she was troubled to learn that 5,000 U.S. water systems have problems with lead contamination.

Living in a suburb of Denver, where thousands of homes still receive water through lead…

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You can' 't teach empathy — but project-based learning can!

You can't teach empathy — but project-based learning can!

12/28/2019

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Listening to teen journalists pitch story ideas for their daily school newscast, journalism adviser Michael Hernandez noticed a frustrating trend. Students were coming up with unoriginal ideas that missed the real story, often overlooking the perspectives of people less fortunate than themselves…

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Students sit on mats to meditate in school

6 Ways To Easily Bring Mindfulness Into the Classroom

04/24/2021

Topics: #DigCitCommit, Digital Citizenship

Mindfulness is the practice of paying purposeful, nonjudgmental attention to the present moment. It's a skill that can benefit students far beyond the classroom. Studies have shown the practice enhances focus, may…

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