Learning outcomes

    Content

    Technology skill(s)

Students will...

1. Sign and post a Digital Citizen Agreement Pledge.

Respect and Protect Yourself

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In order to participate in the Middle School Laptop Program, you will sign a Digital Citizenship Agreement (DCA). In this lesson, we hope you will gain an understanding of what it means to be a good digital citizen. At the end of the lesson, you will sign the SAS Digital Citizenship Agreement and post a photo to your blog.

Read the two sections of the DCA titled "Respect Yourself" and "Protect Yourself".

Respect Yourself I will show respect for myself through my actions. I will select online names that are appropriate, I will consider the information and images that I post online. I will consider what personal information about my life, experiences, experimentation or relationships I post and the impact that will have on me in the future.

Protect Yourself I will ensure that the information, images and materials I post online will not put me at risk. I will not publish my personal details, contact details or a schedule of my activities. I will report any attacks or inappropriate behaviour directed at me. I will protect passwords, accounts and resources. I will find a healthy balance between online and offline activity.

Let's do a think pair share discussion.

THINK - On your own, take a minute or two to think about what it means to respect and protect yourself online. What does that mean? And what does it look like on an every day basis? Jot down some notes on paper.

PAIR - Share your thoughts with your neighbor.

SHARE - Pair up with another pair and discuss in your group. Do you all agree on what it means to respect and protect yourself? Discuss and write down some examples.

What are the most important things we should remember from this section?

Now in a whole group - One person from each group of four, please share the two top things your group decided are important to remember from this section.

Respecting and protecting yourself means creating a positive digital footprint as you go through middle school.

Watch this video about the digital footprint you are leaving online? As you begin middle school, think about the question asked in the video and discuss with the class.

Respect and Protect Others

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Start by watching this video

As a class, briefly answer this question:

How do you think it feels to be bullied, and why?

What are some of the similarities and differences between bullying and cyberbullying?

Read the short story about Kevin and José. On your own piece of paper, quickly draw a diagram of this event. Share your drawing with your group.

On the diagram of the event you drew earlier, sketch in your proposed solution. Draw yourself as a character. What would you do?

We all know what the right answers are for situations like Kevin's. If we all know what to do, why does bullying still exist both in person and online?

Have you ever purchased and downloaded a song from iTunes?

Have you ever shared a song file you purchased with a friend?

Have you ever downloaded a song you did not purchase?

Have you ever stolen a music CD from a store?

Have you ever used a photo from Google Image Search in a school presentation? Did you publish that presentation online?

Have you ever used a purchased iTunes song in a video you made and put online? Is that ok since you purchased the song? (Hint: no)

What is stealing? Which of the above scenarios would you say involve stealing?

If it's on the internet, is it stealing to take it?

What is copyright?

This lesson is about copyright: what is it and how can we avoid violating it. 

We use copyrighted material every day. We enjoy media as consumers. (We watch videos and listen to songs and read websites.) And we also download and use media for our own creations. (We make blog posts, presentations, and music or art mashups.) On the other hand, everything we produce as creators is also automatically copyrighted material. No one else can take my writing or drawing or music creation and use it without my permission.

Please read the part of the DCA that deals with copyright.

Respect Intellectual Property I will make sure I have permission and I will properly cite the creator of the original work any time I use media from any source. I will use and abide by the fair use rules.

Protect Intellectual Property I will only use software and media others produce with their permission. I will use free and open source alternatives rather than pirating software OR I will purchase, license and register all software. I will purchase my music and media, and refrain from distributing these in a manner that violates their licenses. I will act with integrity.

Creative Commons

Copyright is complicated. To help simplify the it, we only use content licensed with Creative Commons. Please read the following information about Creative Commons.

Photo used with permission from Wikimedia Commons.

Creative Commons is a way for people to give permission for other people to use their work while giving them credit. When someone posts a picture online, that person OWNS the copyright to that picture. No one else can use it without that person's permission. Creative Commons means the creator of the work is giving us permission to use it as long as we give him or her credit.

Because there is SO much great content (photos, videos and music) that is licensed with Creative Commons, we want you to use only Creative Commons content when you need to download materials for school projects. It is NOT ok to simply do a Google image search and use any photo that you find.

Use one of the four options on the SAS Guide to Copyright Friendly Media when you need content for your project. 

(Click the photo to go to the actual guide where all the links are clickable.)

No matter which of these methods you choose, ALWAYS give credit by providing the creator's name and link for the media.

BUT, what if you REALLY want to use part of a YouTube video or a photo that is not licensed with Creative Commons? What should you do? Why not try contacting the author/creator of the content you want to use and ask permission.

The two most important things to remember from this section of the DCA are:

Only use media you have permission to use and always cite it. (Use Creative Commons content!)

When you purchase music, movies, software etc, do not give it out freely to other people. (And don't use it in school projects!)

Your turn to explore Creative Commons

You can now open your laptops! Here's your challenge.

What is something you are interested in?   Sports? Video making? Ice cream? Experiment with the different search methods above and look for photos related to an interest you have.

1. What are some search terms you might use?
2. Use the SAS Guide to Copyright Friendly Media and click the links for instructions for each method. Try a few different search methods. (Hint: Click the "Use Google Insert Image" and figure out how to search Google Stock photography. It's beautiful!)
3. As you find photos, notice who created the photo. When you use these photos in projects that you do here, you will need to cite your source as shown.

Respect and Protect Property

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Read this section of the DCA

Respect Property I will respect the property of others including school IT property such as networks, hardware, software, or other user’s files and data. This includes, but is not limited to, the creation, uploading, or downloading of computer viruses or other malicious software and abuse of bandwidth through the likes of peer to peer file sharing and multiplayer online gaming.

Protect Property I will follow all SAS Laptop Use Guidelines so that I am prepared to learn every day. This includes, but is not limited to, coming to school with a fully charged battery, carrying my laptop in the school approved case, not leaving my laptop unattended, and backing up my data on a regular basis.

Much of this section is being discussed in other BootCamp lessons (charging your battery, keeping your laptop in its case, taking care of your laptop, etc.) But there is one other thing you should know from this section. Please watch this video of Mr. Green explaining peer to peer and torrenting software.

Blog post title - Digital Citizenship Agreement Pledge

Labels - Copy and paste ALL of the following core labels into the label area of your blog post.

gr6, homebase, bootcamp, math, pe, ela, science, ss

Now copy and paste YOUR elective class labels separated with a comma. Don't copy them all.

art, band, chinese, choir, coding, cooking, dance, drama, french, japanese, spanish, strings, support, teched, video, learning, coding

Blog body - 

Insert your Photo Booth selfie photo.

Now copy and paste the following pledge into the body of your blog post. Insert your name in the space provided.

As a responsible Digital Citizen at SAS, I,  -----Your Name Here-----, promise to respect and protect myself, others, and intellectual property while learning, sharing, and collaborating online.

Your blog post draft should like this:

When you're ready, click Publish!