Collaborative Unit on Digital Citizenship

Emily Horan

Georgia Southern University

FRIT 7739

Identification of Learning Problem

Thomson High School is the only public high school located in McDuffie County.

The students of Thomson High School, much like teenagers in general, struggle with

understanding how what they post online affects their future potential scholarship,

college, and job opportunities. Ms. Westbrook, a 10th English Language Arts teacher,

expressed concerns that many of her students frequently share their social media

account usernames and discuss drama related to posts made by others, and that they

rarely seem to understand the ramifications of their posts. We met to discuss potential

lessons to address this problem and found that students most likely do not know what a

digital footprint is, let alone how it can affect them and how they can manage it. We

decided to choose digital footprints to be the focus of the lesson with the hopes that

students will be more mindful of what they post online.

Learner Analysis

The target audience for this lesson is a group of students from one of Ms.

Westbrook’s 10th grade Literature classes. This group includes twelve students, seven

female and five male students. One student currently is served under an IEP plan. No

students are identified as Gifted. Eight students are currently on a free or reduced lunch
plan. The teacher has shared that most of the students struggle from lack of intrinsic

motivation and will often be talkative during a lesson. Eleven students have their own

smartphone with internet access. All of the students have internet access at home. For

this collaborative lesson, students will be using school-issued Chromebooks.

Instructional Objectives

● Objective 1: Learners will demonstrate an understanding of a digital footprint.

● Objective 2: Learners will demonstrate an understanding of how their digital

footprint can affect future careers and college opportunities.

● Objective 3: Learners will create an action plan based on research on how to

manage their digital footprint.

Task Analysis

Prerequisite skills and knowledge:

1. Ability to log on to computer.

2. Knowledge of personal internet habits and use.

Outline:

1. Log onto Chromebook using student email address.

2. Go to ​https://sites.google.com/georgiasouthern.edu/yourdigitalfootprint/home​.

3. Review introduction found on homepage.

4. Go to Task One Tab

4.1. Take Social Media Survey.

4.2. Watch “What’s in Your Digital Footprint?” and “Follow the Digital Trail”.

4.3. Create Digital “Footprint” Word Art using wordart.com/create.

4.4. Upload WordArt to Padlet embedded on page.

5. Go to Task Two Tab.

5.1. Review “What’s your Digital Footprint?” S’more.

5.2. Read article titled “Social Media Costs this Star Athele his Division I

Scholarship--Now He’s Trying to Educate Others”.

6. Go to Task Three Tab.

6.1. Review “Digital Footprint Resources” blendspace.

6.2. Play Mindful Mountain game.

6.3. Create an action plan.

7. Take Digital Footprints Quiz.

Instructional Design Summary

This collaborative lesson on Digital Footprints will be completely online. The

lesson incorporates a variety of mediums, including news articles, websites, games, and

videos. Students must complete each task before moving to the next task. The tasks

build in complexity and depth of knowledge as students learn more about the topic of

Digital Footprints. The first task is about defining the term while the last task requires

students to create a plan based on their understanding of the topic. The instructor will

lead the lesson while students follow along on their individual Chromebooks. During the
lesson activities, students will be given time to complete the task at their own pace. A

final assessment will summarize the key points of the lesson and allow the instructor to

assess, in combination with the formative activities throughout the lesson, the student’s

understanding of the topic.

The Universal Design for Learning guidelines are embedded within the lessons

as follows:

Engagement: ​Throughout the lesson, students are able to engage with the

content in a variety of ways. In Task One, students create WordArt images based on

their current internet uses and habits. In Task Three, students play an interactive games

to practice safe sharing habits. They also create an action plan to put their new

knowledge to authentic use.

Representation: ​The material of the lesson is presented in a variety of ways,

include videos, news articles, digital posters, and websites.

Expression: ​Students demonstrate their understanding of the topic in a variety

of ways, including a WordArt image, action plan, and online quiz.

Program Evaluation

Students will complete a quiz to demonstrate their understanding of Digital

Footprints, the impact of Digital Footprints, and how to manage a Digital Footprint. The

instructor and the classroom teacher will review these results, along with the results

from the Social Media Survey, WordArt images uploaded to Padlet, and the submitted

action plans in order to gauge the effectiveness of the lesson and if additional teaching

is needed. After further observation from the classroom teacher, it will be decided
whether more lessons on digital citizenship are needed for this group of students. The

feedback from the classroom teacher will also be used to redesign this lesson for future

use.