Technology coaches model and promote digital citizenship.
ISTE Coaching Standards (2014)
I am grateful that working on this standard gave me a chance to review the work we did in the first Digital Education Leadership class “Values, Ethics, and Foundations in Digital Education,” before we had started our blog posts. Going through those assignments and readings reminded me that digital citizenship should really be the starting place for technology coaches because how we address standard 5 may have the biggest impact of all on our students.
Digital citizenship, like real world citizenship, comes with responsibilities, including advocating for those in need, respecting the rights of community members, and working to better the community we live in. Standard 5 addresses these through digital equity, healthy and ethical technology use, and using technology to promote global awareness and connection.
There is often a question of who owns digital citizenship: is it the classroom teacher, technology teacher, technology coach, or librarian? Because it covers such a broad area and deep philosophical questions, I think it needs more than one or two weeks of 40-minute specialist time. These are big issues that should be woven into ELA and Social Studies lessons in addition to Library and Tech. Technology coaches can act as the conduit, working with specialists and teachers across a school or district to remind them how connected digital citizenship is to many of the essential questions students and adults struggle with both inside and outside the classroom.
