1. Digital Citizenship Middle School
Welcome to our first parent session on digital citizenship. We are excited that you joined us for this session and appreciate your interest in playing an important part in helping your students become responsible digital citizens. Let’s begin by thinking about what that phrase “responsible digital citizens” means.

2. What does it mean to be a responsible digital citizen?
Scan the QR code to access our Padlet and briefly share your thoughts in response to this question. We’ll give you a few moments to do this and then look at your feedback as a group.

3. What does it mean to be a responsible digital citizen?
Let’s take a moment and look at your reflections.
(Click on the link to bring up the Padlet and briefly share a few out loud)
Again, we want to thank you for playing an important part in helping your children become responsible digital citizens.
We are going to begin by exploring the topic of digital footprints.
Padlet Responses

4. What is a digital footprint?
Anyone who goes online has a digital footprint. But what exactly does that mean? In a nutshell, every time we go online we create a trail of where we have been and what we are doing. Web sites visited…Messages sent…Photos posted…Your footprint is “virtually” endless and permanent. Let’s watch this short video to better understand digital footprints. (Click on the link to view the 1-minute video) After the video…Let’s dig in a little deeper to understand exactly what is in a digital footprint and who sees it.

5. What is in Your Digital Footprint?
A digital footprint represents who you are. All the web sites visited, photos and videos shown, links shared, comments posted, games played, things bought…they collectively form a persona for you. This persona becomes how you are perceived by others online. It becomes your reputation. Let’s try an experiment to see exactly what that means so that you, in turn, can help your students understand and manage their digital footprints. 

6. Consider…
What web sites do you visit? What photos and videos do you post online? What links do you share? What are you “tagged” in online? What messages ( s, texts, social media) do you send? What online games and quizzes do you play? What things do you buy online? What advertisements do you visit? What YouTube videos do you watch?
We are going to create a visual representation of what has gone into your digital footprint in just the past week. You will each get a piece of paper and pencil/pen. Directions: Trace your shoe. Now think about what you have done online during the past week…look at our foot on the screen here as a reminder of what different online activities could include. Write those activities inside the outline of your shoe. (Give the parents a few minutes to do this.) When they are done…Ask them: Is this an accurate representation of you?

7. What is Your Sentence?
Let’s look at this brief video about something called “The Sentence Project.” (Show video…It is 4 minutes long, but you don’t need to show the whole thing. Just a minute or two for them to get the main idea. ) Now look at your footprint…what sentence would people say about you simply based on looking at your online activity? Is this who you are?

8. Who is writing your sentence?
Your digital footprint can—and is—seen by people around the world…people you know and people you don’t know. This is important for your students to understand, particularly because the footprint they are creating now can impact them negatively in the future. Colleges and employers are all increasingly checking prospective students online history. We recommend that you do this footprint activity with your student and ask them: What sentence would these folks say about you? Is it a positive sentence? If not, how can you better manage your digital footprint so your sentence is a good one? On our last slide here, we have listed some resources you can use to help you help your students manage their digital footprints. Any questions?

9. Click on the link to complete a form to indicate that you completed this module.

10. Resources
Common Sense Media: KidSMART: