by Beth Staats
Quick Summary
Staff from ROI exhibited at the recent Transforming Learning Summit held at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest on August 8, 2019. This conference, for Minnesota's K-12 educators, was a day filled with featured speakers and bre
Staff from ROI exhibited at the recent Transforming Learning Summit held at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest on August 8, 2019. This conference, for Minnesota's K-12 educators, was a day filled with featured speakers and breakout sessions, as well as an afternoon "deep dive" session of 2.5 hours. I snuck away from the exhibit table to attend one session, Digital Skills on a Shoestring, led by Sara Florin, ISD 12 / Centennial Schools District-wide Technology Integration Coach. The session turned into an informal discussion and we were all able to contribute our thoughts, both as parents, and as professionals. Sara shared specifics on the digital skills course taught to middle grades including coverage of these very relevant topics:
- Google/Schoology basics review
- Password safety
- Digital footprint
- Cyberbullying
- Copyright/Fair Use/Plagiarism
- Power of Images/Citing images
- Online Databases and credibility of sources
- Personal vs Academic/Professional Profiles (7th grade)
- Sexting (8th grade)
- Digital Portfolios (8th grade)
Kudos to Sara for getting this information in front of students (and teachers for that matter). It really made me think, especially as a parent of an 8th grader, who is teaching our children about these current, and important skills? Parents? Teachers? Does your school cover these topics? If so, who teaches them? It seems that these digital skills are of major importance considering the current educational landscape as well as the digital use divide.
