1. EL Civics: Digital Literacy & Internet Safety
EL Civics Coordinator, Online ESL Coordinator for Torrance Adult School – 12 years
Hired to help integrate technology into the ESL classes
Presented by Karla Frizler, EL Civics Coordinator & COAAP Author, OTAN
OTAN Webinar • April 10, 2015

2. Today’s Agenda Today’s Agenda:
Define COAAP (Civics Objective Additional Assessment Plan)
Wordle.net
Today’s Agenda:
Introduce newest EL Civics objectives & COAAPs
Discuss first-hand agency experience with topics
Share resources available

3. The Need & Process
Identified our agency needs - online communication strategies & online safety (students AND teachers)
Informal research - established need at other CA agencies
CASAS proposal: create 3 COAAPs each for 47 & 48
CASAS approved and made available to all agencies:
Objective 47 (Internet Safety) in
Objective 48 (Online Communication) in
TAS offered 47 in S11 (integrated). Topic has not been top choice in SNA since.
Offered as standalone; promoted to ELL parents in K-12 schools; never filled.

4. New EL Civics Objectives
48—Effectively use online tools to communicate and collaborate with others.
Identify online communication tools & conventions
Interpret an online message
Reply to an
Online Q&A with a teacher-arranged guest speaker
47—Identify strategies and resources to effectively use the Internet safely.
List online safety tips
Describe online safety precautions
Read & interpret privacy settings
Report or write about a cyber crime
Offer 48 before 47
48: What tools do YOU use to communicate with family, friends, students, colleagues?
Conventions = emoticons, acronyms
Interpret message: appropriate style, tone, register for recipient? Does subject line summarize body of message?
3 scenarios to choose from (IH/ADV), provided for IL
47: “Have YOU ever had an Internet safety issue?”
Safety tips: “change password often” (BEG); Define spyware, and how to find/remove it.
Cyber crime: describe crime and how to prevent it (scenarios adapted from news/real life)

5. Internet Safety (47): Feedback
Teachers:
Overall, a very useful and timely topic!
Particularly beneficial for Int Low – Adv
Teachers learned as much as students, but would have preferred more training before topic (overwhelmed by tech details)
Took teachers’ suggestion for training and applied to 48
Students:
Almost 50% created stronger passwords, began deleting from unknown sources
1/3 installed anti-virus software at home, and/or created an account for the first time

6. Internet Safety (47)—Teacher Quotes
Timely/Applicable Topic: “One of the most useful topics we've ever had. The students learned a lot, and were quite shocked at how sophisticated some scams are.”
Relatable Topic: “Students seemed genuinely interested ... Several had experienced online crimes first hand.”
Realia: “Students see the material in their daily lives (e.g. Facebook).”
Curriculum Materials: “Video on Simi Valley website about a girl talking with a man pretending to be a kid made it easy to understand what was going on.”
Show video

7. Internet Safety (47): Student Quotes
“Since taking these EL Civics lessons, I stopped clicking the s I wasn’t sure about.”
“I introduced [the video] to my 11-year-old daughter. I think it will help her to be more cautious when she uses Internet.”

8. Online Communication(48): Feedback
Teachers:
Enjoyable & useful topic—students appreciative
Very important topic to keep up with the times
Sparked interest of older students
Students:
1/3 began using video chat, ing in English and/or following social media discussions
Many appreciated learning how to use emoticons & acronyms to quickly clarify tone of online posts
Some participated in online courses, created blogs, and/or posted comments or reviews online

9. Online Communication(48): Teacher Quotes
“Showing the students real accounts was very effective.”
“Live demonstrations of actual chat sessions were fun, exciting and clarifying.”
“Graphics [screen shots] and PowerPoint presentations were helpful when we couldn’t get online.”
“Conversation questions and vocabulary helped students exchange ideas about which tools to use, how and why.”
Teachers used chat feature in G-mail to talk with me during class time and project conversation

10. Online Communication (48): Teachers– What Needs Improvement?
“Offer hands-on teacher training using a variety of online tools before topic is offered to students.”
“Arrange lab time with instructional technical support to help students create and social media accounts, including proper setup of privacy settings.”
“Provide list of popular/educational/useful free apps and devices they can run on.”
- Unreliable tech created problems.
- Not enough time to use social media.

11. Things to Consider …
Professional development for teachers before instruction begins
Communicate with IT department – understand access limitations before developing curriculum
Write a variety of lessons, some of which can be whole-class/one-computer activities or conceptual (not hands-on)
Use an group or blog to share resources among EL Civics teachers
The medium is the message!
Teachers need to feel comfortable (or at least familiar) with tools and strategies before using them with students
Ask IT department which websites you can access from classrooms, labs, wifi – narrow down to most easily-accessible popular sites

12. Curriculum Materials
Torrance Adult School publishes all our curriculum materials online:
Please use and/or adapt our materials as you wish. No need to recreate the wheel! Just give credit to TAS as original source.
Questions? Contact Karla Frizler, EL Civics Lead Teacher, x. 8419
Conference materials: frizteach.weebly.com
You can find a zip file with all presentations, handouts, etc. for this topic available at my EL Civics website or Weebly site

13. Additional Resources Available
Goodwill Community Foundation (GCF) – free tutorials
OTAN Resources NEW! Shared Moodle adultedcourses.org: “Advanced ESL 2 – Additional Topics” (47 & 48 featured) Upcoming webinars:
Digital Literacy & Citizenship Toolkit (6/11/15)
Agency Resources: Objective 48
San Mateo Adult School EL Civics
(no cited source)
Agency Resources: Objective 47
Milpitas:
Simi Valley (incl. videos):
OTAN Shared Course: Resources can be used in blended or online format.
Enroll yourself under “OTAN Shared Courses” to explore … or request a copy to adapt, via Blair or Penny w/OTAN.
EL Civics Conference & TDLS - presentations