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Digital Citizenship
Common Sense Digital Citizenship
McDowell County Schools has adopted Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum to teach Internet safety. The curriculum is designed to educate and guide young people to harness the power of the Internet and digital tools so they can become safe, responsible, and respectful digital citizens.
The Curriculum can be found at https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship
What is Digital Citizenship?
Digital media and technology is evolving at a rapid pace, bringing with it amazing opportunities as well as real risks for our children. On the positive side, young people are using the Internet and mobile technologies to create, connect, explore and learn in ways never before imagined. Challenges from harmful behaviors, cyberbullying to digital cheating, are surfacing in schools and in homes across the country. Young people face ethical challenges daily without a roadmap to guide them.
What Common Sense Education Teaches
The core message of the curriculum is one of empowerment: With powerful digital tools that allow for creation and communication comes great responsibility. The curriculum centers on 8 main categories based on the digital ethics research of Dr. Howard Gardner and The GoodPlay Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
What Families Can Do
Common Sense Education takes a whole-community approach to digital citizenship by providing parent resources to help you support your kid’s learning. As we engage in these lessons in class, we will be sending home parent tip sheets, videos, and an occasional activity worksheet for you to do together with your kids. You can visit the Common Sense website at www.commonsense.org for more parent resources.
Please feel free to contact the Technology Department (techhelp@mcdowell.k12.nc.us) if you have any questions. Raising and educating young people in today’s 24/7 digital media environment is one of the most exciting and overwhelming challenges that parents and schools face today. Working together with Common Sense Education, we can raise a generation of kids who become smart, responsible, and respectful digital citizens.