Describe the target audience for this series (grade level bands, parents, community members, admin, other teachers at a conference, museum staff, employees, adult learners, colleagues in what industry).

I will be providing a series of professional development opportunities for the teachers in my rural, Maine K-8 school. This will be open to classroom teachers, specialists and support staff. The teachers have a wide range of comfort with technology and one goal identified by the staff and administrators is to incorporate technology into the day to day lives of their students, to better prepare them to be digitally literate and good digital citizens. 

What is a topic you’d like to tackle with colleagues that involves technology integration and education/industry learning?

I would like to provide training for educators by focusing on digital citizenship and utilizing Minecraft Education to support their teaching plan for the upcoming school year. Minecraft Education is designed to help students build creativity, problem solving, and collaboration skills by incorporating real-world issues, computational thinking, and principles of digital citizenship.

What is the evidence that there is a need or a problem in this area?

Children need to learn digital citizenship, they cannot do this if they do not have an opportunity to spend time in the digital world. Additionally, teachers are heavily burdened with a great number of standards and goals to meet over the course of the school year - they are not able to take time away from their teaching to add new content to their curriculum. Minecraft solves this problem by providing a way for students to learn digital citizenship while working on the content that is already being taught in their classrooms. 

How will you design the professional development so it is about an idea (digital citizenship, engagement, autonomy, global collaboration) not about a tool?

While this professional development is about Minecraft Education, which some may view as a tool, it is really opening up a venue for teachers to engage students in the principles of digital citizenship and collaboration while they are teaching the math, reading, or other academic subjects that students need to learn. While some aspects of the professional development will necessarily be teaching educators how to use the tool, it will really be opening up a world of opportunities to teach digital citizenship and collaboration to their students.

Resources

Provide 10 resources for your colleagues on this topic - for each, provide the link, and a two-to-three sentence description of the resource.

• This video from Edutopia is a great resource to share with staff members as part of the initial invitation to learn more about teaching digital citizenship through MEd. It provides a good introduction to the concept of teaching using games and why this is important to children living in the 21st century. It also gives a little background into the development of Minecraft Ecuation.
• This video demonstrates how a school district has incorporated Minecraft into the daily life of their classroom and how it has redefined how they approach teaching and learning in the digital age.
• This video shows an elementary school math class using Minecraft to learn their multiplication and division facts.
• This video shows an elementary school science class learning about and exploring food chains using Minecraft. 
• This video shows how Special Education or ESL students may be supported while using Minecraft through immersive reading and translation tools. 
• This lesson plan created by Minecraft Education is a whole creative writing unit that can be used to guide children through the process of writing a fairy tale. 
• This lesson plan created by Cambridge Mathematics for use on Minecraft Education reinforces the concepts of shapes, symmetry, and spatial reasoning  while students explore the world of ancient Egypt. 
• This learning pathway by Minecraft Teacher Academy lays out the perfect next steps for teachers interested in continuing this training beyond the initial professional development and prepares them to create lessons for their own classroom teaching.
• Teachers can use this link to explore a myriad of pre-made lessons to use with their students.
• Teachers often want to keep parents as involved as possible in their child’s education. This link provides resources for parents about Minecraft Education and how parents can support the development of digital citizenship using Minecraft at home.

Digital Citizenship

What are two elements of digital citizenship that you will focus on during this professional development? Please describe why you selected and how you’ll address.

While my focus is on digital citizenship in general, I will highlight two aspects of digital citizenship in particular: digital communication and digital rights and responsibilities. I plan on addressing the topic of digital citizenship at our first session, introducing my reason for providing this professional development as a way of promoting education in digital citizenship for our students. Throughout the 3 sessions I will return frequently to the topics of communication and rights and responsibilities and highlight ways teachers can utilize teachable moments to draw students’ attention to the need for safe digital communication and how to protect their own rights online. There are countless ways to teach students to be responsible for themselves and their friends in an online setting and I want teachers to be prepared to use those moments whenever they arise. 

Provide at least one handout that you created for your colleagues with regards to your two elements of digital citizenship 

Session Design and Delivery

Design a Google Form (or comparable tool) to assess what your colleagues already know about the topic, and what skill level they have with any tools.

Pre-Survey Google Form

Please answer the following questions.  

• What evidence in the professional development suggests that the learning environment supports andragogical principles?

As our readings suggested, one principle of andragogy is that adult learners tend to be more self-motivated and seek out learning that they believe will be useful or fulfilling. By providing information about my training by email and offering it as an option over the course of several weeks, rather than a required learning for teachers to have no interest in it, I hope to welcome a group of educators who are self-motivated, interested in the content, and dedicated to the challenge of learning a new skill. In addition, adults want to be responsible for their own learning. By utilizing my time to introduce teachers to the digital citizenship concepts of communication, rights, and responsibilities and how Minecraft Education can dually support them in the application of those skills and in their daily lessons, I am hopeful that they will take the next steps to do the training tutorials themselves and receive the certifications offered by the Minecraft Teacher Academy. 

• In what ways does this tap into, and extend adult learner interest or institutional (education or industry) goals?

The teachers and administrators of my school have highlighted digital citizenship as a priority for the upcoming school year - offering this training will be one opportunity for teachers to start on the pathway to meeting that goal. 

• How does the environment and unit offer a variety of ways to explore and express ideas? 

Teachers will be able to talk with their neighbors and table groups throughout the training sessions, They will be able to watch demonstrations, try things out on their own, ask questions freely, and discuss ideas with one another.

• What structures and tools will you use to enable your learners to work collegially and to contribute to the community of learners?

Participants will sit in tables of four, each with their school-issued laptops. The tables will be angled so that all of the educators will be able to see the front of the room and the presentation will be up on the projector.

Invitation to Learn

Design an invitation to a professional development series

Instructional Aids & Supporting Documents

Please create the supplemental slides for at least one 45 min-1 hour section of your professional development.  please hyperlink below:

Provide at least three handouts, visuals, or videos that you have created for the learning, please hyperlink below:

How will you know if your sessions reach the goals? Design a tool to help you gather this information from your learners?

Post-Survey Google Form

Self Assessment

How is this professional development different than what you would have planned prior to EDT 520? 

Before taking EDT 520, I was unfamiliar with many of the different tools and techniques that i have used throughout this professional development. I had no experience with Canva and would not have been able to use it to create the presentation or handouts. I had very little understanding of the components of digital citizenship and would not have been able to convey a helpful definition of any of them to my colleagues. I was also unfamiliar with the need to make my presentation more dynamic by offering opportunities for different modalities and instructional techniques. Understanding the differences in pedagogy and andragogy enabled me to design a lesson plan that allowed for the independence and student-led nature of adult education. I also learned the value of allowing the participants to spend time exploring a new tool and giving them opportunities to talk about it and learn from one another’s experiences.

In this project I hope that you will have the opportunity to show mastery of at least four of these outcomes.  Please mark the four you feel you best demonstrate with this project in the column to the right.

Below, please articulate where and how your work showcases mastery of these outcomes.  Please make sure to cite at least four connections to readings or videos from class that show your depth of knowledge in these areas. 

“Demonstrate fluency with new educational tools, and articulate the affordances and constraints  of such tools to support educational practice.” - I have met this goal by learning a new educational tool, Canva, and have utilized it to create dynamic educational materials to enhance the learning experiences of the learning community. This website, linked in Week 3, helped me to get started on my Canva journey. I used Canva to make my handouts and my presentation. 

“Plan for educational experience (of adult learners) that demonstrates the ability to use educational technology, sound educational philosophy, and plan for local context.” - I have met this goal by creating a lesson plan for a 5 hour professional development course for my colleagues about Digital Citizenship and Minecraft Education. I planned this course specifically to fulfill the goals of my local administration to increase student instruction in the area of digital citizenship. I also used sound educational philosophy in my planning for adult learning, as noted in this article from Week 4, adults thrive when their learning is self-directed. I designed my professional development course to give many opportunities for educators to follow their own lines of inquiry. I also used Minecraft Education, a complex and exciting form of educational technology, and took several Minecraft tutorial courses in order to prepare for this professional development.

“Through various modalities engage in reflective practice and goal setting.” - Throughout my professional development course I embedded a variety of opportunities for myself and my participants to participate in reflective practices and set goals. By assigning a pre-survey to inform my instruction for Days 2 and 3, providing a goal-setting worksheet, providing opportunities for small group discussion and sharing, and a final post-survey, I have given both myself and my colleagues the opportunity to reflect on our learning in a variety of ways and make changes to our instructional plan accordingly. I found Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction from Week 11 to be a useful thought-exercise as I created this professional development - particularly the steps about providing feedback and assessing performance.

“Engage with peers and professional learning network through a variety of modalities to lead and contribute to discussion on educational technology to support deeper reasoning.” - I found the collaborative work work my PLN in Week 12 to be a very useful exercise for me as I developed this professional development lesson. Sharing my thoughts and ideas and receiving feedback from them was very helpful. Creating connections was a useful aspect in the development of this project, as highlighted in this article from Week 6.

My inquiry has been focused on Minecraft Education. I have been interested in learning about Minecraft Education for a long time, but this project gave me the opportunity to look more in depth and really begin to understand the ways that Minecraft Education can be used in classrooms to support learning. Many students are familiar with Minecraft as a game, playing creatively, competitively, and collaboratively with their peers to create worlds, meet objectives, and survive. I was very interested in learning how Minecraft Education could bring together the world of learning and the world of gaming. 

Course Essential Questions

“How might we use technology to enhance real world, collaborative, learner centered education?” – This question connects to Minecraft Education because it is designed as a platform for collaborative, student-led, open-ended educational experiences. It is a tool that teachers can use to give students a safe place to explore and learn real life skills, in a game setting.

Course Outcomes 

“Demonstrate fluency with new educational tools, and articulate the affordances and constraints of such tools to support educational practice.”

Studying Minecraft Education has helped me to meet this course outcome by taking several professional learning trainings designed to support educators in their pedagogical practices. These courses prepared me to teach students how to use Minecraft Education as part of their existing curriculum. It helped me to understand the scope and limitations of the program.

“Read and synthesize literature and research on educational technology to support personal experiences and deepen conceptual knowledge.”

Finding peer-reviewed articles about gaming in education and Minecraft Education in particular has helped me to meet this course outcome. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses that have been revealed by these studies, I have a more thorough understanding of what is possible with Minecraft Education and this can help me set goals and have measured expectations.

Scholarly Articles

I found two complementary articles to be very helpful “Teachers’ experiences of using Minecraft Education in primary school: An Irish perspective” and “Primary School Students’ Experiences using Minecraft Education during a National Project-Based Initiative: An Irish Study” (Slattery et al, 2023)  – These joint articles connect to my study by providing research and results from both teachers and students who participated in a Minecraft Education experience. Overall, the students reported that Minecraft Education provided good opportunities for learning, especially with creativity and collaboration, the program was user-friendly, and that they enjoyed the learning experience. Teachers reported that Minecraft Education helped them with the development of skills and abilities that students need to succeed and the program was effective at supporting curricular content. Teachers also noted that Minecraft Education provided a platform that was both inclusive and equitable.

Slattery, E. J., Butler, D., O’Leary, M., & Marshall, K. (2023). Teachers’ experiences of using Minecraft Education in primary school: An Irish perspective. Irish Educational Studies, 1–20. https://doi-org.wv-o-ursus-proxy02.ursus.maine.edu/10.1080/03323315.2023.2185276

Slattery, E.J., Butler, D., O’Leary, M. et al. Primary School Students’ Experiences using Minecraft Education during a National Project-Based Initiative: An Irish Study. TechTrends(2023). https://doi-org.wv-o-ursus-proxy02.ursus.maine.edu/10.1007/s11528-023-00851-z

“Effects of digital game-based STEM education on students’ learning achievement: a meta-analysis.” (Wang et al, 2022) – This report is a synthesis of the findings of 33 research studies that took place from 2010 to 2020. An analysis of the results of these studies suggests that digital games, such as Minecraft Education, are a promising teaching strategy in STEM education and the studies show that digital games effectively improve learning gains and support increased student achievement. This demonstrates that including Minecraft Education as a part of a teacher’s instructional method, could be a benefit for students. 

Wang, LH., Chen, B., Hwang, GJ. et al. Effects of digital game-based STEM education on students’ learning achievement: a meta-analysis. IJ STEM Ed 9, 26 (2022). https://doi-org.wv-o-ursus-proxy02.ursus.maine.edu/10.1186/s40594-022-00344-0

“The Gamification of Learning: a Meta-analysis” (Sailer, 2020) – This report is another synthesis of research about the effect of digital games on cognitive, motivational, and behavioral learning outcomes. The meta-analysis demonstrated that digital games have a positive effect on all three areas, although the authors recommend that more research be done to demonstrate what aspects of gaming in particular support these outcomes. This demonstrates that, while games are useful teaching tools with positive effects, they cannot be relied upon to fully replace more thoroughly researched pedagogical methods.

Sailer, M., Homner, L. The Gamification of Learning: a Meta-analysis. Educ Psychol Rev 32, 77–112 (2020). https://doi-org.wv-o-ursus-proxy02.ursus.maine.edu/10.1007/s10648-019-09498-w

Inquiry Question

“How can I use Minecraft Education to redefine teaching and learning methods in my school community?” – Following my inquiry question led me to participate in a series of trainings from the Minecraft Education website. I was able to take several courses and came away with the ability to teach children how to participate in lessons, design my own instructional plans within the Minecraft Education platform, and develop a lesson to teach my fellow educators how to utilize it within their own classrooms. There are also trainings about coding and esports. I learned that teachers can utilize Minecraft Education to enhance, modify, and completely redesign their instructional methods. There are innumerable ways that students can follow their own inquiry, work together, and meet goals.

Will I share my learning?

I would like to provide a professional development opportunity for educators at my school to teach them about Minecraft Education using the Minecraft Trainer Academy coursework that I have completed. I think this could be a useful tool that teachers can use. I would also like to join a classroom teacher as a facilitator when they use Minecraft Education in their classroom. 

Best Resources / Certificates

The resources that I found the most beneficial were the training courses provided by Microsoft itself:

Minecraft 101: Let’s build individually

101: Let’s Build Individually - This is designed to prepare students to begin playing in their own world and prepare teachers to deliver their first lesson. Students build something related to their curriculum.

Minecraft 201: Let’s modify together

201: Let's Modify Together - This lesson prepares teachers to bring students together in a Minecraft world to collaborate on a shared curriculum-related problem and provides teachers with training on assessment tools.

Minecraft 301: Let’s build worlds together

301: Let’s Build Worlds Together- This lesson is a more advanced lesson on worldbuilding and prepares teachers to include in-game context, assignments, and small-group instruction.

Minecraft Education: Teacher Academy

Minecraft Trainer Academy - This lesson is designed to prepare a tech facilitator or integrationist to present a Minecraft Education training to their school/learning community, including training materials. The first three trainings are recommended prerequisites for this course.

Minecraft Trainer Academy: Train educators to teach with Minecraft Education in the classroom

Next Steps

My next step is to present my learning to my supervisor and principal and open a discussion with them about offering a professional development opportunity to the staff on integrating Minecraft Education into their classrooms. 

How might we use knowledge of andragogy and pedagogy to enhance our ability to leverage educational technology for teaching and learning?

One way we might use our knowledge of andragogy and pedagogy is by understanding that different learners need different teaching strategies. I had not heard the term “andragogy” before and generally associated the word “pedagogy” with the science of teaching and learning. In reading Knowles “What is Andragogy?” I was intrigued by the idea that a new type of teaching and learning began to be understood following WWII and a differentiation came to be known between self-directed learning (typical of adults) and guided learning (typical of children). As Knowles said, “taking the assumption regarding dependency versus self-directedness, a six-year-old may be highly self-directing in learning the rules of a game but quite dependent in learning to use a calculator; on the other hand, a forty-year-old may be very dependent in learning to program a computer but completely self-directing in learning to repair a piece of furniture” (Knowles, 1980, p. 43). I need to be aware of whether my learners are self-directed learners or more dependent - and this may be different according to age and topic. Choosing programs that can be flexible and providing options for a diverse group of learners will be important.

In The Art of Coaching Teams, the author made a statement that was impactful to me: “adults must feel safe to learn” (Aguilar, 2016, p. 189). While this applies to children as well, of course, we spend less time thinking about making adults feel safe in their professional learning environments. In my own work experience, I have found that many teachers are uncomfortable with certain forms of technology and are anxious about the increasing requirements to learn new skills. Sometimes administrators introduce a new program or technological expectation and teachers are worried about receiving a poor evaluation if they struggle to implement the new goals. As I work with teachers in their professional development, I want to try to keep this in mind and help them to feel less anxious and more comfortable - this reading helped me to notice that they will learn more easily if they feel supported.

Aguilar, E. (2016). Supporting adult learners. In The art of coaching teams: Building resilient communities that transform schools (pp. 183–204). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Knowles, M. S. (1980). The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to andragogy. Cambridge, London: The Adult Education Company.

I work for two elementary schools as a technology technician. My role is designed to support teachers and students, and take care of the devices that they use on a daily basis. I provide recommendations about programs, software, hardware, and repair devices when needed. I also collaborate with teachers to support them in the classroom using technology. My stance on technology is that it can be a great tool for teaching and learning, but must be used responsibly.

My strengths are my understanding of how technology works and my familiarity with common problems that teachers and students encounter and the solutions to those problems. I like to feel that I make students and adults feel comfortable coming to me for help. I subscribe to a variety of email groups in order to keep myself aware of trends in educational technology and make recommendations to administrators when applicable. 

Some areas where I would like to see improvement include providing more opportunities for children to explore technology outside of in-class instructional time. I would also like to improve security and safety for children and adults using our computer systems. 

Some things I would like to explore: 

• Minecraft Education Edition
• Learning best practices for WiFi security settings and VLANs
• Providing an after-school computer enrichment program for students
• Setting up an Esports team at my school
• Implement email security, phishing audits, and 2-factor authentication

Two of these topics are designed around security, by protecting my learning environment from outside attacks that could lead to ransomware. This would protect student data and privacy. The other three topics are all related to increasing the options that students have for extracurricular technological enrichment. There are so many different ways to encourage students to explore the world through technology. 

At this point, I am most interested in exploring Minecraft Education Edition for my Professional Inquiry Project. 

It is related to the Course Question: “How might we use technology to enhance real world, collaborative, learner centered education?” It also includes the Course Outcomes: “Demonstrate fluency with new educational tools, and articulate the affordances and constraints of such tools to support educational practice” and “Plan for educational experience (of K-12 students or adults learners) that demonstrates the ability to use educational technology, sound educational philosophy, and plan for local context."

"Please use Prezi, Adobe Spark, or a screencast to share your review of the communication platform. Leverage multimedia tools to best express your review by taking screenshots or use other visuals, tools (arrows, highlighting) to help us understand the pros and cons of the platform."

Use one or another of these tools to create a screencast... your choice! Please try something new as possible.
This artifact can be something that you will use in your Learner Inquiry Project.

Tell us about your experience in creating this resource.
Why did you select this tool? 
What were some of the useful features? Did you find something frustrating? 

I decided to use MacOS's QuickTime Player. All of our teacher devices are MacBook Airs, so I thought it'd be useful to make a screencast on how to use the built-in option for screen recording. It was tricky figuring out how to demonstrate making a screencast while recording, so I used another MacBook through Remote Desktop. 

The major benefit of using QuickTime is that it's free on Macs and available without an Internet connection or website subscription/registration. It's pretty bare-bones though, so if you want to spice up the recording with edits or transitions, exporting to iMovie is your best bet. The frustrating "feature" is how the program first opens - it's not the most user-friendly. Apple could definitely improve the launch user interface!

I really liked the graphic in the article by Dainora Jociute. The process of asking students the right questions to lead them down a road of inquiry that is useful and checks the boxes of what they need to learn along the way seems complex and a little overwhelming. This graphic helped me to see the process broken down step-by-step and was a very helpful tool.

One phrase that stood out to me in the reading was “Convert curiosity into controlled inquiry” from pg.15 in The Power of Inquiry. I liked this phrase because children are innately curious and constantly asking questions. Good teachers can find ways to control and guide these questions so that learners can both find answers and then ask new questions. Teaching children to follow their own curiosity can help them feel authenticated in their questions and sew the seeds of lifelong learning. 

Identify one point you disagree/or were uncertain with

The reading about Flipped Learning highlights the importance of content, curiosity, and relationships. As a technology tech, I don’t have very many opportunities to build relationships with students. I am hopeful that this will not be too much of a challenge as I begin this project. I’m hoping to collaborate with a teacher in my school, and she has well established relationships with her students and can help me in that area.

Describe the learning inquiry project you are thinking of trying (this will likely be one of the three topics you brainstormed last week - but NOT CONFINED to these) and the How Might We question you like best from your drafting.

For my planned learning inquiry project, students will choose a Native American tribe from the state of Maine and research, take notes, and create a presentation to share with the class about their chosen tribe. Students will choose a tribe, or aspect of historical tribal life, that has significance for them. Students can choose how to present their learning to the class by creating a keynote presentation, picture book, poster, diorama, or in another method.

Original - HMW share our knowledge about Maine’s indigenous peoples? 

Amp up the good - HMW share the impact that Maine’s native people had on this land, its history, and our culture? (I like this one the best!)

Remove the bad - HMW celebrate and honor the land, history, and culture of Maine’s native people?

Explore the opposite - HMW describe the impact of European settlers on Maine and its indigenous people?

Question an assumption - HMW learn from the indigenous people living in our community?

Work the adjectives - HMW find and share accurate information about important historical people and events?

ID unexpected resources - HMW welcome members of the indigenous people of Maine into our classroom?

Try an analogy - HMW make students the teachers in our social studies class?

Play against the challenge - HMW learn from the past and be good citizens of Maine?

Ask your peers for help on some aspect of your planning

I really struggled with writing these HMW questions! What do you all think? Any helpful tips?

In my opinion, using social media in the K-12 classroom does indeed decrease the seriousness of the learning environment, and bleeds together the personal/professional line in a way that is unnecessary at best and dangerous at worst. 

2. Do you use social media in your classroom?  If yes - Share how you have leveraged any social media platform or strategy with your students.  Include the successes, level of engagement, and issues that arose. How might you change the activity for the next iteration? If no - Please explain why not. Share an activity you might try with your students and tell us why it would be engaging and the obstacles you might face.

I have never used social media with students at my job. Children under the age of 13 are not allowed to have social media accounts. TikTok, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, and Facebook all have mechanisms designed to keep children under the age of 13 from making accounts. These companies have made these restrictions in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which is designed to protect children from the collection and selling of their personal information to advertisers. This means that children in Kindergarten through 8th grade would not be able to use these websites at all. I have no plans to utilize these programs at my K-8 schools. While children over the age of 13 are permitted to use social media, many require the use of a smartphone or tablet, which poses a socioeconomic problem. The problems that social media can cause for children in middle school and high school are prevalent and studies suggest that the increase of social media use has coincided with increased self-harm and suicide ideation among young people under the age of 18. In my opinion, opening the door to social media in the classroom is an unnecessary can of worms. 

3. How has the move to remote and blended learning affected your view on peer to peer (colleague to colleague) communication and collaboration? How does the use of social media potentially fit into this new scope?

Both my schools have Facebook accounts where they share information with parents about school events, snow days, and fundraising opportunities. This information is intended for communication with parents, not with students.

While these resources focus on classroom utilization, apply the concepts to your learning environment - does it decrease professionalism or seriousness or possibly inappropriately blur the lines between professional and personal? 

While there are some good ideas shared in our readings this week of ways to integrate learning and social media, I think one benefit of the move to remote and blended learning has been high quality programs that are designed for students to share their learning with one another, teachers, and parents, in a safe way. Programs such as SeeSaw are designed to hold portfolios of student work, allow for comment and interaction from parents, teachers, and fellow students, while maintaining the privacy and protections of students. Of course, these programs are not free and schools that use them will need to plan in advance and budget accordingly.

Planning Preparations

• What are three upcoming units/topics/skills you will be working on with your learners? Describe your learning goals for each of these
• For each topic discuss the way you have been teaching this content
• For each, how might you move towards more learner-centered practices through inquiry?
• For each, play with how you might include more autonomy for your learners.
• Which of these seems to hold the most potential for a redesign to build inquiry for learners?
• How is DC seen, integrated, and discussed (or not) in these units and how it can be integrated now.

In order to complete the Inquiry Unit Project, I have collaborated with a teacher in my school to work together on one (or more) of the upcoming units/lessons in her 4th Grade class. The following table outlines our brainstorming so far.

Digital Citizenship in your classroom/work environment

1. Share your thoughts on the teaching or training of digital citizenship / etiquette / rules in your classroom/work environment. 
2. Is it embedded in the curriculum, its own unit, or something that you do not formally teach/train/manage? Explain why you follow this path.
3. Should digital citizenship be a part of the school-wide (work environment) curriculum?  Who should teach it or train learners/employees? How? 
4. Any other thoughts you want to share about the importance (or not) of digital citizenship?

I work at K-8 schools. In general, any training that students receive in digital citizenship is done at the discretion of the classroom teacher and based on his/her personal use of tech in the classroom. 

In Kindergarten - Grade 5, I have collaborated with many teachers in lessons about digital safety, etiquette, and communication.This is usually informal, due to an issue that has arisen in the classroom, or to introduce a new type of program or app. As students get a little older and enter middle school, we participate in more formal education in preparation to send laptops home with students. These lessons are usually full units, taught formally to students. There is also a parent-education night every year. Middle school teachers collaborate with myself and the technology teacher to teach lessons regarding most of the 9 aspects of digital citizenship. 

Digital citizenship is an important part of a modern-day education. Depending on the topic, training should be given to classroom teachers so that they can deal with daily issues and frequent questions. Technology integrationists should come alongside teachers to team-teach important lessons on safety, privacy, and to increase digital literacy. 

Something that I have been thinking about is teaching children the balance between being safe online, protecting their privacy, and being anonymous. Sometimes thinking you’re too safe online can lead to posting without responsibility. This can possibly lead to joining anonymous communities that may harbor antisocial or racist views.

Welcome to my blog! My name is Tim, I'm a computer tech at Hope Elementary School and Appleton Village School. Both are Pre K - 8th Grade schools in the midcoast Maine area.