Keeping kids safe online: Librarians get tips on Digital Citizenship

CENTERVILLE — With the Digital Citizenship program underway in the St. Mary School District, elementary librarians see it as a necessary safeguard for young children navigating the internet.

Elementary librarians met Thursday with St. Mary Schools Technology Facilitator Susan Dupre to discuss the citizenship’s certification program process for educators.

The goal is for each school to become a certified site, which requires only one person to have the certification.

The Digital Citizenship program is designed to empower students to think critically, behave safely and participate responsibly in the digital world, the Common Sense Media website said.

The curriculum includes lesson plans, videos, student interactives, and assessments. Family outreach materials are also available to incorporate a whole-community approach to digital citizenship.

Parents can also access the Digital Citizenship lessons on their child’s school website under the “Parents” tab.

The program is free of charge to the district.

“We’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do,” Dupre said. “I’m very optimistic based on their responses.

“The people who deliver the lessons give me positive feedback. The kids seem to enjoy them. The kids are learning things. They’re engaged. They’re interested.”

Jamie Lancon, librarian at Centerville High School, reported kindergartners through second-graders are open and receptive to the lessons, but their knowledge is limited.

“We knew we’d have a problem with the younger kids,” Dupre said. “And that’s why I try to tell them just relax, do what you can do. We’re trying to start the conversation. That’s all we want to do.

“The good thing about this program is they get these lessons in kindergarten and when they move to first grade they get another set of lessons based on the same topics.

“So, it’s always age appropriate.”

Eight topic areas are covered in lessons:

—Internet safety.

—Privacy and security.

—Relationships and communication.

—Cyberbullying and digital drama.

—Digital footprint and reputation.

—Self-image and identity.

—Information literacy.

—Creative credit and copyright.

The program is proving to be an eye-opening experience for students and educators alike, in the younger grades.

“The students were very receptive to the program,” said LaGrange Elementary librarian Keeri Payton.

“They know so much. When I tell them, ‘when I was your age, I didn’t have a cell phone’ they look at me like ‘God you’re old.’ And so they can’t even imagine.

“I just keep telling them their world revolves around technology.”

“Well, I learned what they didn’t know and what they really needed to know to be … safe, respectful and responsible online,” said J.B. Maitland librarian Ann Breaux.

“I was seeing what they didn’t know, what they interact with and I filled in the gaps.”

One of Payton’s fourth-grade students surprised her and peers when he explained the term spam.

“Well, I guess what surprised me was … he just totally told me exactly what spam was. And it was a person that you would never think knew it. He talked about hacking and hacking into a computer.

“They talked about viruses and know what it really means. They really know a lot more than what we give them credit.”

For Breaux, there weren’t too many surprises about students’ level of knowledge about the digital world.

“Sometimes they don’t know what they know,” Breaux said. “One lesson asked, ‘Do you go online and chat in games?’ Everybody said, ‘No, I don’t have any games.’

“Then somebody said, ‘Wait, I have a Club Penguin account.’ I said, ‘Ding.’

“They didn’t realize what they did know. But once I explained it to them, they were like ‘oh, that’s what you mean.’ They didn’t know what chatting online was but they were doing it.”

Payton related life incidents to help students connect with the digital content.

“I was able to relate it to a lot of real life things …,” Payton said.

“So, I was able to speak to my children. Some were nearby where the shooting happened. And I was able to bring in the lessons with them on how it started, so said it started on social media.”

These lessons teach students that when you’re in person you can see someone’s face, Payton said.

When you’re on the computer and someone is writing things, you can interpret it so many different ways and you take things differently, she said.

“It can erupt into something,” Payton said. “And the children were able to identify. I tried to explain to them that social media can be good, but it can also be bad.”

Students are putting into practice lessons learned from the digital citizenship program.

One Maitland student identified something inappropriate on the computer. It was an advertisement for a sports bra with a sports company.

“I was like yes, that’s not really appropriate,” Breaux said. “And what it made me do, I talked to our technician and he said try Chrome ad blocker. Now we have Chrome blocker on and we don’t see an ad. But it showed me that they’re getting it.”

After teaching children “safe, respectful, responsible, what do you do, tell a trusted adult …,” Breaux said. “They’re getting it. And a lot of times when you’re in the library you don’t see them getting it. I’m so proud of them. We want our kids to be safe no matter where they are.”