Running Head: ISSUES IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY 1

Research on Issues in Instructional Technology

Nancy Curran
University of West Georgia
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I chose to research how digital citizenship is taught in classrooms because this is an issue

that I deal with on a consistent basis in my own classroom. My high school students do not

understand the proper ways to interact online in an academic setting. It has been a frustration of

mine that they consistently do not understand how to communicate with others in a non-social

setting. I have also noticed that many of my students do not know how to perform a proper

internet search or how to safely navigate websites to find the information that they need for a

particular project.

Students can use the skills of digital citizenship far beyond the classroom. Its important

that students realize that the world online is one that can provide a lot of wonderful uses but that

there are also many dangers out there that come in many different forms, such as identity theft or

cyber bullying. I am concerned that my students lack the basic skills to protect themselves from

these threats. My other concerns are that my students do not know how to communicate with

individuals who are not their peers online. Many of the conversations that I have with my

students via email or our classs learning management system consist of nearly incoherent

messages. Students need to learn the skill of communication online so that they will be able to

apply for jobs or email their bosses someday. My attempts to teach these things thus far have

only resulted in students rolling their eyes at me and I have not been as effective as I would have

liked to have been.

I wanted to research more about this topic because I am interested in how to best educate

my students about the issue. I have struggled in the past with how to best teach them these topics

and I have never felt that this is a skill that they have mastered. Is this something that needs to be

taught across the curriculum? Would it be best to teach this concept to students starting in
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elementary school? Or should this be something that is taught through community outreach that

spans outside of the school walls with help from parents? I ask these questions because my

current students have been using technology from before they even started school in most cases

and for some reason many of them still lack the basic knowledge of how to use the technology

used in the classroom today?

I found it difficult to find research related to this topic because the concept of digital

citizenship is such a broad topic. I found that I had to narrow my search to how digital

citizenship related to high school students and safety online. Many of the studies that I looked at

described the problem that many students do not know how to stay away from websites with

potentially harmful material or even what to do in the event that they are presented with a

potentially dangerous situation online. Much of the research that I found was related to finding

the problem and had little to do with how to fix the problem. I would like to see future research

that focuses on the most effective types of programs that can be used to teach students how to

interact with others online in a responsible way. Essentially my questions is: now that we have

identified that the problem exists, how do we fix it? Hopefully future research will focus on how

teachers can actually teach students how to navigate in our digital world to make more of an

impact in the future.

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The Efficacy of Social Media Technologies in Academia: A Pedagogical Bliss or Digital Fad?

By Dr. Charles Kivunja

Summary

In an attempt to determine whether to use to social media technologies are effective in the

classroom, the authors are reporting on the current research being conducted by the University of

Australia. This ongoing study is investigating the efficacy of Google Circles Learning

Communities to facilitate teaching, learning, assessing and curriculum development for high

education students. The researchers are attempting to determine if the use of social media in the

classroom will be a passing fad or if the research suggests that there is an increase in student

interaction and therefore learning. The research sought to answer a total of nine research

questions, two of them are listed here as they relate most to my topic. How does the use of

Google Circles Learning Communities social media technologies in teaching impact on students

participating rates in the learning activities? What evidence is there of students engaging in

critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration, creativity and innovation, and

communication?

Analysis of Methodology

This study is still ongoing and the final results will be published in the future. The study includes

students from the University of Australia who are currently working on their Bachelors of

Education. The first trimester included 35 students and the second trimester included 106

students and is attempting to determine how well the students engage with and develop the Super

4Cs of the 21st century: critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication. The data

collected has been collected through the use of both quantitative and qualitative data collection
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which included tracking the amount of times students accessed the systems and how often they

were able to interact with the curriculum and other students. Students were randomly sorted into

Peer Learning Networks (PLNs) to discuss learning interactions and were transitioned from

participating on the Moodle Learning Management System to the Google Circle Learning

Community (GCLC) on a voluntary basis. The researchers felt it important to note that 83% of

the students choosing to transition to the GCLC were students external students participating

remotely.

Summary of Results

The researchers found that moving the Peer Learning Network conversations from the Moodle

platform to the GCLC found a participation increase of 1,640%. They also found that the

introduction of social media technologies helped to build collaboration amongst individuals and

to close the communication gaps that can sometimes occur between internal and external

students. Research also shows that students found the use of the social media tools to be more

interesting, with some of the students describing is as cool in their assessment of the networks.

Finally, the researchers have also found that student interaction has helped students to share their

learning processes and that doing so has increased the level of critical thinking that has been seen

amongst the students.

Opinion

I enjoyed reading this research article because I have been recently using social media networks

in my classroom and asking them to collaborate with one another. I do this in my classroom not

because it makes my life easier for them to turn in assignments, but because I want them to learn

to interact with one another in a digital format to increase their understandings of how to use
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technology for learning. I think that the researchers still have a long way to go to show how

social media can have an impact on student learning. I would like to have seen more about the

types of strategies that were used to foster student discussions and how they have incorporated

digital citizenship into their curriculum to explain to students the proper ways to interact with

one another online.

ISSUES IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY 7

Digital natives and ostrich tactics?: the possible implications of labelling young people as

digital experts

By Ellen Helsper

Summary

This paper from The London School of Economics and Political Science delves into the topic of

labeling students as digital natives while describing teachers and other adults as digital

immigrants. The writer describes these titles as being negative for both parties as it labels the

teacher as being inferior to the student who, based simply on birthdate, is inherently more

advanced in technology. The goal of this article is to describe the study of how different age

groups handle digital issues related to online threats and to infer the possible reasons why

particular age groups were more likely to handle issues by ignoring them, a technique that was

compared to an ostrich sticking their heads in the sand in the hopes that the threat would go

away.

Method

The research method used in this paper entailed surveys that asked the participants about the

types digital issues that they had been exposed during their interactions online. The researchers

then compared these instances across age groups, 14-18, 19-25, and 26 plus to try to determine

the types of issues that each group had been exposed to which ranged from receiving obscene

photos to having credit card information stolen. This survey also contained questions about the

ways that individuals would handle the problems that they faced online. The sample population

for these surveys contained 1,578 individuals in Great Britain.

Results
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The research showed that individuals in the 14-18 age group were more likely to have

experienced risky behavior related to obscene emails, bullying, or potential threats to software.

The surveys also found that people in this age group were more likely to employ the ostrich

tactic, meaning that they will look the other way when negative experiences occur and proceed

as though nothing has happened. Older individuals were more likely to avoid the risky behavior,

however if it did happen they were more likely to take steps to ensure that the experience did not

happen again. The research also stated that older individuals, over the age of 26, were more

likely to have negative experiences related to money or being contacted by individuals from

foreign countries.

Opinions

I feel that the research done in this paper neglects to take into account the differences in the types

of experiences that younger individuals and older individuals experience online. Of course it is

more likely that an individual over the age of 26 is going to have their credit card information

stolen online because they are much more likely be using their credit card information online. I

feel that this is too difficult of a thing to measure across generational lines.

With regard to how younger generations deal with issues online using the ostrich tactic of

pretending that the threat is not present only points out that there needs to be more time spent on

educating students about the dangers that they may be exposed to online and the ways that they

need to work to prevent these types of problems in the future. By identifying a student as a

digital native, we are telling them that they are more knowledgeable about the uses of the

internet than the people that should be responsible for teaching them how to approach this tool in

a safe manner.
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Promote Digital Citizenship through School-Based Social Networking

By Matthew R. Winn
Summary

This research article describes how a suburban school system has decided to implement social

networking into the classroom for all students. All communication in the district now takes place

in the open forum for all to see and the students and teachers are all interacting in a public way

that fosters the idea of digital citizenship because all individuals are responsible for their conduct

online. The study also describes the ways that they have fostered an environment of digital

citizenship by slowly introducing students to the concept and by creating an environment that

supports this concept throughout. The social media sites used by the district include: Social

Engine, Edmodo, and Ning.

Analysis of Methodology

The school system started by introducing the use of these social sites to only the middle school

students because they are new to the use of social networking sites and because they size of the

middle school student body was smaller than that of the high school and therefore would be

easier to control the access and dissemination of content. The schools implemented the sites and

digital citizenship curriculum that was laid out by the county and the teachers provided

qualitative data about the efficacy of the implementation.

Summary of Results

The school district feels that the use of social media in the classroom has provided an

opportunity for all stakeholders to communicate in an open forum. They feel that this access has
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taught students how to safely navigate online communities and how to be better digital citizens

in the future.

My Opinion of the Research

I can appreciate the task that this school system went to in order to incorporate social media and

digital citizenship discussions into the curriculum for students, but I feel that there could have

been more information about the type of resources that teachers were offered when teaching

students about digital citizenship. It would have also been interesting to have data about the

classrooms in the district that may not have been using social networking in their classrooms to

teach the same concepts in the ISTE and NETS standards for students. However, I do appreciate

the willingness that the teachers in this district were willing to implement this new type of

technology with their students. It will be very interesting to see how this will trickle up to the

high school in future years as the students gain more and more experience.
ISSUES IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY 11

Digital Citizenship

By Aytekin Isman and Ozlem Canan Gungoren

Summary

The goal of this research was to create a scale to determine a students range of digital

citizenship so that future work can be done to determine the efficacy of digital citizenship

programs. The researchers note the amount of changes that have occurred in schools due to the

recent advances in the 21st century classroom. Digital citizens must have extensive skills,

knowledge, Internet and technology access and schools must guide the students to be a digital

citizen. It is the hope of these researchers that they will be able to create a tool that will be able to

measure a students digital citizenship for future research.

Analysis of Research Methods

This research took place over the 2012-2013 school year with students to the Faculty of

Education of Sakarya University. The total population of students was 4395 students and a total

of 229 students from the undergraduate program participated voluntarily, representing about 5%

of the student population. In order to create the scale, literature was reviewed about nine specific

touchpoints which was then turned into a Likert-type scale and applied then measured for

validity.

Summary of Results

As a result of this research, a 34-item scale was developed to measure digital citizenship based

on the following nine tenets. The first three were related to student learning and academic

performance which included: digital access, digital communication, and digital literacy.
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Followed by three more related to student environment and student behavior, which included:

digital security and safety, digital etiquette, and digital rights and responsibilities. Finally, the

last three were related to student life outside the school environment, including: digital law,

digital health and wellness, and digital commerce.

Opinion

I found this research article interesting as it lays out the skills that students must have in order to

successfully be a part of our digital society. The nine touchpoints of digital citizenship bring to

light the types of issues that I need to bring to light in my own classroom to help my students to

understand how to better interact with the online world. Hopefully in the future there will be

further research to determine the best type of curriculum to use to teach students about how to be

citizens in the digital world.

ISSUES IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY 13

Digital Citizenship

By Aytekin Isman and Ozlem Canan Gungoren

Summary

The goal of this research was to create a scale to determine a students range of digital

citizenship so that future work can be done to determine the efficacy of digital citizenship

programs. The researchers note the amount of changes that have occurred in schools due to the

recent advances in the 21st century classroom. Digital citizens must have extensive skills,

knowledge, Internet and technology access and schools must guide the students to be a digital

citizen. It is the hope of these researchers that they will be able to create a tool that will be able to

measure a students digital citizenship for future research.

Analysis of Research Methods

This research took place over the 2012-2013 school year with students to the Faculty of

Education of Sakarya University. The total population of students was 4395 students and a total

of 229 students from the undergraduate program participated voluntarily, representing about 5%

of the student population. In order to create the scale, literature was reviewed about nine specific

touchpoints which was then turned into a Likert-type scale and applied then measured for

validity.

Summary of Results

As a result of this research, a 34-item scale was developed to measure digital citizenship based

on the following nine tenets. The first three were related to student learning and academic

performance which included: digital access, digital communication, and digital literacy.
ISSUES IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY 14

Followed by three more related to student environment and student behavior, which included:

digital security and safety, digital etiquette, and digital rights and responsibilities. Finally, the

last three were related to student life outside the school environment, including: digital law,

digital health and wellness, and digital commerce.

Opinion

I found this research article interesting as it lays out the skills that students must have in order to

successfully be a part of our digital society. The nine touchpoints of digital citizenship bring to

light the types of issues that I need to bring to light in my own classroom to help my students to

understand how to better interact with the online world. Hopefully in the future there will be

further research to determine the best type of curriculum to use to teach students about how to be

citizens in the digital world.