Tag Archives: citizenship

Creating a Digital Bill of Rights in Social Subjects⤴

from @ #OnlyLearning

Have you ever taken a moment to consider what you share online? 

What about all those photographs of your children? Have you even asked your child if they are happy with you sending their digital likeness into the ether, at a time when an ever-greater number of tools are being launched, and used, with minimal thought for their longer term impact.

The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child was written a long time before we had any reason to worry about online presence - after all the the UNCRC came into action in 1992, a year before CERN placed its World Wide Web technology in the public domain and gave birth to the phenomenon of online communication.

Yet the UNCRC has incredible relevance for our children, especially given omnipresent online access and these new AI tools:

  • Article 3 - The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children.
  • Article 8 - Every child has the right to an identity. Governments must respect and protect that right, and prevent the child’s name, nationality or family relationships from being changed unlawfully. 
  • Article 16 - Every child has the right to privacy. The law should protect the child’s private, family and home life, including protecting children from unlawful attacks that harm their reputation.

Consider this recent video from Deutsche Telekom:


One possible solution: A digital Bill of Rights

Philosophy is best not when it tells you what to do, but when it is used to help democratic publics better understand the urgent challenges we face, so that we can make better decisions about what to do, together.
~ Seth Lazar, Tanner Lecture (Stanford HAI, Jan 13, 2023)

In his lecture introduction, Seth goes on to say, "Political philosophy, ultimately, is about how to live together. It depends on properly understanding our social relations. But it is yet to adequately address social changes induced by computing, intensified by AI."

The idea, that we are living in a reality which is no longer aligned with our social contract, is one with which many find they are increasingly ill-at-ease. Great science-fiction has grown from the fear of technological developments which outstrip our ability to control them. But the growth of AI is not the existential threat that we have been led to believe by films and books. The leaders of Big Tech companies are far more likely to be the cause of untold damage (c.f. Instagram's impact on Mental Health, YouTube's algorithmic promotion of extremism, Twitter's polarisation of political views, and all social media's increasing mining for our attention to generate greater revenues)

This demands discourse within our classrooms

Our young people need opportunities to discuss the issues if they are to better understand the impact of these tools, and this Forbes article is a wonderful provocation with which to engage students in the creation of a Digital Bill of Rights, most likely within Social Subjects/RME contexts.

An opportunity which might involve:
  • an examination of the successes and failures of the US Bill of Rights (c.f. The Fugitive Slave laws (1793, 1850)),
  • looking at the current lack of protection students (and all users) have from Big Tech
  • exploration of a new (digital) social contract
  • raising awareness of ethical considerations
  • reworking the sentiment of the Port Huron Statement (1962) in an "Agenda for a Digital Generation"

If anyone is interested in collaborating to create a resource which could be shared with schools, I'm keen to hash out ideas, so please get in touch.


Developing Digital Skills for Citizenship⤴

from @ andrewjmclaughlin

I recently read Stepping into a Virtual Reality Classroom for Teacher Training (columbia.edu) and I was intrigued to see the situation in Myanmar pre-pandemic described in very similar terms to how I have previously described the situation here in Scotland today: 

...teachers often lack not only digital skills themselves, but also the pedagogical breadth to meaningfully engage students in inquiry-based activities that make the most of access to technology

The Myanmar: Connect to Learn project site details the issues faced by their schools when it came to developing digital pedagogies:


It was clear that knowledge, skills and infrastructure were all lacking. The same concerns raised in Scotland. Having just supported an authority with upskilling teaching staff and deploying thousands of devices into the hands of staff and students alike, I feel I have a good understanding of how these three factors impact on education here.

The ongoing work being undertaken by a number of organisations, not least council education departments and the Scottish Government's Digital Citizenship Unit, all focus on equity of access and equity of opportunity. The pandemic brought under the spotlight the negative impact caused by poverty when it came to citizens accessing information (health information, financial services, education).

In both countries, lots has been done. During Covid we saw WiFi provision for the poorest students prioritised, devices deployed and upskilling supported. In schools, we saw teachers engage head-on with developing the digital skills they needed to continue to support their learners, at least in so far as managing a work flow solution to pass work back and forth. But on return to in-person learning, the momentum was lost and many practitioners returned to their tried and trusted ways, eschewing the new digital tools.

Perhaps, most surprising though was the range of solutions proposed. While we recently upgraded the network connectivity of every school, Myanmar was deploying 3G and 4G enabled devices. They, like us, were introducing a development programs both for teaching staff focusing on the use of ICT in the classroom. And while we deliver inputs on SAMR and digital skills, and planned to develop curricular pathways around Computing Science, Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety, the Myanmar project was building a Virtual Reality sandbox where teachers could "gain additional confidence to integrate the use of advanced mobile technologies in the classroom".

  • Are we doing enough in Scotland to build teachers' skills, knowledge and confidence around digital to help them better prepare our young people for the world around us? 

  • Are our young people (and their communities) being provided with the tools they require to be successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens in an increasingly digital world?

If the answer to either of these questions is no, then who is responsible for making Digital a national education priority?

We are in the midst of a mammoth review of all things Scottish Education, perhaps now is time to put pressure on ministers to renew their ambition to provide devices for every learner (and, subsequently, ensure a device in the home of much of our population). With Education Scotland and the SQA under the spotlight, perhaps we can also seek opportunities to enhance the digital landscape across the nation, build our own digital sandbox, create safe spaces to share, collaborate and question. Extricate our schools from the digital fiefdoms where big tech companies have rieved them and cut them off.



Project Evolve – a framework and progression for educators to help equip children and young people for digital life⤴

from

ProjectEVOLVE provides a framework and progression with matched activities and resources, to support anyone working with children and young people to equip them for digital life, from early years to age 18. ProjectEVOLVE takes the hundreds of statements from UK Council for Internet Safety’s (UKCIS) framework “Education for a Connected World” and marries together perspectives, …

‘You know you are a Global Educator when you…’ [a book by @julielindsay] #intelvisionaries⤴

from

Julie opening slide

I’ve known Julie Lindsay online (mainly through Twitter) for what seems like a very long time. I particularly remember some of her early work around the Flat Classroom Project that she co-founded with Vicki Davis (AKA: @coolcatteacher) back in 2006. We also share a joint early influencer in the form of David Warlick (@dwarlick) who was one of the first people to inspire me to think differently about how we use technology in schools back in 2005.

Julie is a passionate educator with a particular interest and specialisation in global education. This specialism is not surprising considering she is Australian but worked across Asia, Africa and the Middle East in a variety of international schools and universities. As well as working physically in these places Julie also has extensive experience of connecting and collaborating with hundreds of educators online.

The Global EducatorJulie was at ISTE 2016 to launch her new book, “The Global Educator”. I read the first few chapters of her book when she gave me a signed copy in Colorado last summer and I finished it off over the recent Christmas break (which now seems like a long time ago!).

Not a lot of new stuff for me personally but I can see what a useful guide this might be for someone just starting out.

Julie proposes six things that might help educators know if they were global educators or not. The six things aren't meant to be exhaustive and are really just really a guide or a self-evaluation tool.

Julie says, you know you are a Global Educator when you…

  • Connect and share – eg: has an understanding of ‘connectivism’ and networked learning, builds a personal learning network, establishes a strong global brand, contributes oneline globally daily as part of established workflow, etc.
  • ‘Flatten’ the learning – eg: learns about the world with the world, is able to sustain connections and collaborations. Understands that learning in a digital world means working with others at a distance and online, etc.
  • Encorage and model global citizenship – eg: fosters global competency through global context, has empathy learning with other cultures, adopts and encourages multiple perspectives, etc.
  • Collaborate anywhere, anytime – eg: collaborates with anyone, anywhere, anytime, in anyway possible, is adept at teacher sourcing, builds on-line global communities, etc.
  • Use online technology – eg: is able to use both synchronous and asynchronous online technologies to bring learners together, knows how to use the web to publish global experiences, is digitally fluent across devices and software, etc.
  • Design futuristic learning environments to connect with the world – eg: is able to design learning in order to develop students global competencies, in conversant with design thinking, understands the importance of collaboration as a global learning objective, etc.

In her book Julie builds on these six principles and goes into more depth about what they mean as well as providing some nice little real life examples. I personally found the list quite re-assuring but it certainly got me reflecting and thinking about how many of my staff would actually be able to tick of some (or all) of these things as regular practice.

Another part of Julie’s work that I liked was her thoughts on an Online Global Collaboration Taxonomy. Show in the picture below:

Global Collaboration Taxonomy

Overall, lots to think about and a guide that I am sure I will dip in and out of from time to time.

‘You know you are a Global Educator when you…’ [a book by @julielindsay] #intelvisionaries⤴

from

Julie opening slide

I’ve known Julie Lindsay online (mainly through Twitter) for what seems like a very long time. I particularly remember some of her early work around the Flat Classroom Project that she co-founded with Vicki Davis (AKA: @coolcatteacher) back in 2006. We also share a joint early influencer in the form of David Warlick (@dwarlick) who was one of the first people to inspire me to think differently about how we use technology in schools back in 2005.

Julie is a passionate educator with a particular interest and specialisation in global education. This specialism is not surprising considering she is Australian but worked across Asia, Africa and the Middle East in a variety of international schools and universities. As well as working physically in these places Julie also has extensive experience of connecting and collaborating with hundreds of educators online.

The Global EducatorJulie was at ISTE 2016 to launch her new book, “The Global Educator”. I read the first few chapters of her book when she gave me a signed copy in Colorado last summer and I finished it off over the recent Christmas break (which now seems like a long time ago!).

Not a lot of new stuff for me personally but I can see what a useful guide this might be for someone just starting out.

Julie proposes six things that might help educators know if they were global educators or not. The six things aren't meant to be exhaustive and are really just really a guide or a self-evaluation tool.

Julie says, you know you are a Global Educator when you…

  • Connect and share – eg: has an understanding of ‘connectivism’ and networked learning, builds a personal learning network, establishes a strong global brand, contributes oneline globally daily as part of established workflow, etc.
  • ‘Flatten’ the learning – eg: learns about the world with the world, is able to sustain connections and collaborations. Understands that learning in a digital world means working with others at a distance and online, etc.
  • Encorage and model global citizenship – eg: fosters global competency through global context, has empathy learning with other cultures, adopts and encourages multiple perspectives, etc.
  • Collaborate anywhere, anytime – eg: collaborates with anyone, anywhere, anytime, in anyway possible, is adept at teacher sourcing, builds on-line global communities, etc.
  • Use online technology – eg: is able to use both synchronous and asynchronous online technologies to bring learners together, knows how to use the web to publish global experiences, is digitally fluent across devices and software, etc.
  • Design futuristic learning environments to connect with the world – eg: is able to design learning in order to develop students global competencies, in conversant with design thinking, understands the importance of collaboration as a global learning objective, etc.

In her book Julie builds on these six principles and goes into more depth about what they mean as well as providing some nice little real life examples. I personally found the list quite re-assuring but it certainly got me reflecting and thinking about how many of my staff would actually be able to tick of some (or all) of these things as regular practice.

Another part of Julie’s work that I liked was her thoughts on an Online Global Collaboration Taxonomy. Show in the picture below:

Global Collaboration Taxonomy

Overall, lots to think about and a guide that I am sure I will dip in and out of from time to time.

Genocide and Srebrenica⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

srebrenica2For anyone working on discrimination, the Holocaust and genocide, there’s a new education resource for secondary teachers based on the Srebrenica experience 20 years ago during the Bosnian civil war. It has been produced by a UK charity, Remembering Srebrenica, and the Scottish edition has just been launched. http://www.srebrenica.org.uk/news/free-education-pack-helps-scottish-children-learn-lessons-from-srebrenica/

– you have to register to get access, on the website’s resources/education packs page.

 

Putting the ‘character’ in 140 characters: my first ScotEdChat⤴

from

Last night I hosted my first #ScotEdChat on Twitter. It is the third chat so far having accidentally started the ball rolling a few weeks ago. The first chat happened on 5th November hosted by @MrsPert1, the second on 12th hosted by @athole. Next week the host will be @DrewBurrett. Having started with basically zero followers, […]