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Digital Citizenship Reflection

Kijuana Carter
EDLD 5316 Section E02_12
Lamar University
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DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP: A REFLECTION

Digital Citizenship was a very interesting course and I learned many things that are

relevant to my profession. The week we went over copyright infringement was the most eye-

opening and useful. I knew what constituted plagiarism, but honestly never cared too much about

copyrights. As a former teacher from areas with no resources I never thought about the

ramifications of Googling and attaching anything I find to a lesson. I was pleased to know that

many of the ways I was using found materials is free use for education purposes, but it's good to

now know the specifics. This is also the biggest accomplishment I've experienced in the course.

A Counselors Take on Cyber-Bullying

As a counselor, one of the things that I feel is relevant to my everyday life is the

psychological effects that cyberbullying has on students. Anxiety disorders are very connected to

bullying and cyber bullying and counseling is often needed for the aggressor as well. Given this,

I often look to the research in helping the bully and the victim alike. Problems of childhood, such

as anxiety, are receiving greater research attention than previously, and outcome research is at a

crucial, challenging, and promising stage of development (Hannesdottir & Ollendick, 2007;

Suveg et al, 2009). Many studies indicate that children with anxiety disorders demonstrate

emotion dysregulation in various ways. Anxious children frequently try to avoid events and

situations which produce intense emotional arousal and that, at times, includes school.

Additionally, the schools bare a large responsibility in helping children given anxious children

are likely to have anxious parents and children’s anxiety can become more intense through

parental socialization processes if the parent models maladaptive emotion regulation skills

(Girling-Butcher & Ronan, 2005;Hannesdottir & Ollendick, 2007; Suveg et al, 2009). Because of
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this, often time parents are at a loss of how to help their children and getting the parent resources

for outside support becomes necessary.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been widely used in clinical and research

settings to treat children with anxiety disorders and cognitive distortions. Several large-scale

studies have been conducted to investigate the efficacy of CBT for children and adolescents with

various anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder (Hannesdottir & Ollendick, 2007).

There are CBT programs for childhood anxiety disorders to address the behavioral avoidance

that are characteristic of these disorders and there are also programs for reducing anger and

aggression in the aggressors. As a counselor, I am tasked with getting this information to parent

to help bullies and the victims of their bullying.

Challenges with Digital Citizenship EDLD 5316

The challenges I faced in completing this course was the amount of classwork required

and lack of clarity in the directions. If you actually watch the videos and read the assigned

material, there is not a lot of time to devote to completing the assignments. I actually prioritized

reading all of the information over completing the assignments to the degree specified and

forfeited my 4.0 in the last class of my degree. Or, when I thought I completed the assignment to

the degree specified, it was listed somewhere else that something else was the actual expectation.

It seemed like a lot of busy work and duplicate assignments. If I could change anything, I would

make the journal reflection and the discussion the same thing. Also, the assignments ask for a lot

to only be a small portion of the final grade. Working professionals would probably skip a lot of

the reading to complete the assignments if they prioritized their grade over really learning the

material, but I found the reading very informative. My best work in this course would be week
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one and the culminating project. I believe it was my best work because I know in my heart that

those where assignments where I put in my best effort. Week One was spring break and Week 5

only needed a culminating project. I am not trying to complain with the aforementioned, but

wanted to respond honestly.

Connecting My Learning

Through completing this course I can connect much of my learning to my outside the

classroom experiences as a counselor. Cyber-bullying, for example, is relevant to everyday life.

Kids and adults alike are participation in poor digital citizenship. One scroll through Facebook or

Twitter will illuminate the hatred and insecurity many people willingly display on social media.

To grow as an educator I must continue to find new ways to teach students how to use the

Internet appropriately. I have to continue to evolve my lessons to reflect the evolution of

technology. In fact, cyber-bullying was my favorite aspect of this course because it allowed me

to really reflect on my own behaviors.

Final Project Choice

I chose to complete my final project as a webpage because I thought I could actually use

it after this class is over. I also chose this form because I can alter it as technology evolves.

Additionally, prior to this class, the required portfolio was TK20 so I was very confused as to

which format to use as an “e-portfolio”. Given that only this class would be included in this new

portfolio that I had to create just for this class, I wanted to expand this into something that I can

continue to grow into more than an assignment. Also with a website I can add video, links, and

interactive materials that will engage the user.

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Summary

Overall, if I had a chance to speak with a friend about this course I would suggest reading

the next weeks reading early to allow time to complete the assignment to its full specification. I

liked the topics in this class and found the information relevant to my career as an educator. I

would like to say thank you for that experience.

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References:

Girling-Butcher, R. D., & Ronan, K. R. (2009). Brief Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for

Children with Anxiety Disorders: Initial Evaluation of a Program Designed for Clinic
Settings. Behaviour Change, 26(1), 27-53. doi:10.1375/bech.26.1.27
Hannesdottir, D., & Ollendick, T. H. (2007). The Role of Emotion Regulation in the Treatment
of Child Anxiety Disorders. Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review, 10(3), 275-293.
doi:10.1007/s10567-0