A small group of Leyden students will try to educate teachers on online behavior during presentations at two conferences over the next few weeks.
Five students working with Assistant Principal Andrew Sharos at West Leyden High School will present on the topics of digital citizenship and building school culture online. The presentations will take place at the Illinois Computing Educators conference in St. Charles Feb. 26 and 27 and the Future Ready Summit on March 7 in District 212.
Maggie Parker suggests the perspective of students on technology might be different from that of adults.
“Totally,” Parker said. “Teenagers generally feel more comfortable using technology. Since they grew up with it, it’s less foreign. Teenagers are more likely to overshare (on social media) and overstate things.”
“Even teachers were hesitant when the Chromebook laptops first came out,” said student Alexis Garcia. Garcia is referring to Leyden District 212 issuing a laptop computer to each of its 3,400 students two years ago. “It’s so involved in (teenage) culture. In our daily habits.”
“Teenagers are really sensitive to what’s going on online,” said student Yartiza Velasquez. “Rumors and gossip. And now everyone can see it. They take it more personally.”
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines citizenship as the qualities that a person is expected to have as a responsible member of a community. For digital citizenship, the three presenters talk about making their online personas as true as possible to their real selves.
An online persona, Garcia says, “is only a snapshot of who you are. That’s why you need to be careful. If I’m only posting about cheerleading, people might think I’m only about cheerleading. I’m an AP student, I volunteer in the community. Online, what you post follows you.”
Gaining skills to interact online is becoming — or perhaps already is — as important as being able to face to face.
“The language that you use, the way you phrase a tweet,” said Sharos. “It’s just like eye contact or how you shake hands.”
To build school culture online, the district has a dedicated Twitter account that students run for a week at a time. The district has also created the hashtag #LeydenPride to allow online readers to consolidate tweets about District 212.
More broadly, the teen presenters hope to show adult educators that the world won’t end if students have more control over messaging.
“We are showing other teachers that if they give students the chance, more than likely they will come up with positive results,” Parker said.
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“That’s the fear,” said Sharos. “You turn the keys over to students and all hell breaks loose.”