Reflection

[virginia]

Wiki Editing and Authentic Research
My computer teacher, earlier in the year, assigned each group in my class a topic to research. I was in a group with Ethan, Jordan, and many other students from around the world. We got the topic on Digital Rights and Responsibilities. I think that is the best one i could have chosen to do! I got to talk about cyber bullying, identity theft, and online predators. Some of the strengths of my group were we got an good topic, we were all determined to get the job done, and we did a fantastic job. Some weaknesses were not communicating enough. Honestly, I didn't ever talk to some of my group members from different countries. I regret that, but it's too late to do anything about that now. My PLN (personal learning network) was so helpful doing this project. All i had to do was go on my igoogle page, click on the links, and i had already done my research! I was so grateful Mrs. Vicki showed me how use my PLN to my full advantage. I didn't really use the diigo bookmarks, but I'm sure on my next project I will try to use them. I really enjoyed this learning experience, and I hope I can do it again.

Action Project
Lately our class has been working on an Action Project to help teach kids the importance of Digital Citizenship. My group consisted of Kunjan, Brady, Tyler, Ethan, and Tinsley. We found a website called Woogi World.We felt like Woogi World was the best website to choose because it stressed these important aspects by playing games and having fun. We have taught children the importance of safety, balance, and respect on the internet. You can see some of the things we did on our Woogi World Blog. We chose to teach the elementary because we felt that children this age were getting on the computer a lot, but didn't know how to act or react on the internet. I think our Action Project was a complete success! We accomplished more than we ever would have imagined. The kids loved Woogi World and had a blast learning about the internet. I think one improvement we could have had was more time with the kids. If I could I would have completed all the missions with them so they really would have understood what they really mean. I think all of the schools need programs like this so the kids can learn early on what it means to be a Digital Citizen. If we teach them now later it will be second nature to them. Our team was great! I don't think we could have chosen a better group and they exceeded my expectations!

Digital Citizenship
Digital Citizenship is something that all ages need to know. Kids, teens, and adults need to know how to act and react on the internet. I think kids need to take a class once a week in school stressing the importance of digital citizenship. Actually, it should be in work offices too! I mean if an adult is sealing a business deal with a foreign office over the computer and they don't have proper digital citizenship, they could loose money or worse, their job. Teenagers especially need to take classes on digital citizenship. Teens probably spend the most time on the internet than any age group! They have myspace, facebook, im, email and if they don't know about predators and cyber bullying or how to deal with it; they could be in big trouble. Children also need to be taught the importance of digital citizenship. Kids are getting on websites like webkins, build a bear, and club penguin and don't know proper digital citizenship. This could lead to serious problems if they encounter a petifile or bully on one of these. The most important thing i learned from this experience is how little kids really know about the internet. It was a whole new subject to them when we started talking about digital citizenship. This made me realize how much they really do need classes on this subject and I'm glad I could be the one to teach them!