This week I’ve given Carl Sagan’s words of wisdom some thought. He stated, “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”
This quote appears as the introduction for a chapter on digital citizenship in schools. I found its placement to be ironic and true.
I’ve been pondering Dr. Ribble’s nine elements of digital citizenship, and Element 9 made me shake my head. Element 9 is Digital Security. I’m a big supporter of digital security and I talk with my students, probably at nauseam in their minds, about protecting themselves online. My students all know my speech on social media and not posting things you don’t want to share with the world. They can all tell you that if it goes online, it is permanent like a tattoo that can’t be removed.
That being said, I was surprised that Dr. Ribble tasks teachers with making sure computers are updated for virus protection and have up-to-date firewalls which ensure safe online use. As a teacher who used to work in a tech department, I have a pretty firm grasp on what a firewall is and how often virus patches are necessary. This being said, as a tech that used to support a large school district, we didn’t want teachers or students running updates unless we directed them to. Some firewall patches or virus updates shouldn’t be applied depending on what system is run on a computer. Furthermore, a critical system like Java releases updates on almost a weekly basis, and frankly some of their updates break more things than they fix. Often a teacher who updates their Java, ensures that older software, which is the reality of most financially strapped school districts, can no longer run. So, from the perspective of a tech, Dr. Ribble instructing teachers to run updates and configurations on their computers gets me a little fired up.
Additionally, I don’t think the average teacher could tell you what a firewall is. I know in staff meetings when the school’s filtering system is explained teachers’ eyes go cloudy and it becomes zone out time.
This all being said, I do think Dr. Ribble is right in listing Digital Security as one of the 9 Elements for Digital Citizenship. I do think it is a teacher’s responsibility to ensure students are using technology safely. For me, as a teacher, this means checking in with my tech department to make sure they have access to digital devices when they need them. Digital Security should mean teaching students strategies for protecting their online identities and maintaining up-to-date virus protection, even it is just mentioning when the school computers are sent patches for virus updates, so students are aware they occur.
This quote appears as the introduction for a chapter on digital citizenship in schools. I found its placement to be ironic and true.
I’ve been pondering Dr. Ribble’s nine elements of digital citizenship, and Element 9 made me shake my head. Element 9 is Digital Security. I’m a big supporter of digital security and I talk with my students, probably at nauseam in their minds, about protecting themselves online. My students all know my speech on social media and not posting things you don’t want to share with the world. They can all tell you that if it goes online, it is permanent like a tattoo that can’t be removed.
That being said, I was surprised that Dr. Ribble tasks teachers with making sure computers are updated for virus protection and have up-to-date firewalls which ensure safe online use. As a teacher who used to work in a tech department, I have a pretty firm grasp on what a firewall is and how often virus patches are necessary. This being said, as a tech that used to support a large school district, we didn’t want teachers or students running updates unless we directed them to. Some firewall patches or virus updates shouldn’t be applied depending on what system is run on a computer. Furthermore, a critical system like Java releases updates on almost a weekly basis, and frankly some of their updates break more things than they fix. Often a teacher who updates their Java, ensures that older software, which is the reality of most financially strapped school districts, can no longer run. So, from the perspective of a tech, Dr. Ribble instructing teachers to run updates and configurations on their computers gets me a little fired up.
Additionally, I don’t think the average teacher could tell you what a firewall is. I know in staff meetings when the school’s filtering system is explained teachers’ eyes go cloudy and it becomes zone out time.
This all being said, I do think Dr. Ribble is right in listing Digital Security as one of the 9 Elements for Digital Citizenship. I do think it is a teacher’s responsibility to ensure students are using technology safely. For me, as a teacher, this means checking in with my tech department to make sure they have access to digital devices when they need them. Digital Security should mean teaching students strategies for protecting their online identities and maintaining up-to-date virus protection, even it is just mentioning when the school computers are sent patches for virus updates, so students are aware they occur.