This past October, Yahoo! and the Santa Clara County Office of Education brought together 200 Bay Area educators and leading online child safety experts for the 5th Annual Digital Citizenship Summit. Held at the Yahoo! Sunnyvale campus, educators and experts shared ideas, plans, and resources on how to develop a culture of safety and respect in schools. Throughout the day, speakers underscored the five key building blocks needed to successfully implement digital citizenship programs in schools.
- Build a culture of ethics and safety
- Implement a network of support and leadership
- Align policies and procedures
- Provide professional development
- Integrate student curriculum for safety and ethics
Watch the recap video.
The summit opened with Anne Ehresman, executive director from Project Cornerstone, who shared the results of their study on the social and emotional health of youth in our community. In this clip, Anne addresses the importance of having adults who can support kids' curiosity and interests both online and offline.
Charles Leitch, a school attorney and principal at Patterson, Buchanan, Fobes, Leitch & Kalzer, Inc, had attendees both laughing and furiously taking notes during his rapid-fire overview of the growing use of social networking and technology by students in the context of supervisory obligations of schools. In this clip, Charles talk briefly about First Amendment case law as it applies to school policy for Internet use.
The expert panel was another high point for the summit. Heather Cabot, Yahoo! Web Life Editor, moderated the panel which included a stellar cast of internationally-recognized child safety experts and advocates: Marsali Hancock, iKeepSafe; Anastasia Goodstein, Reachout.com; Officer Holly Lawrence, Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety; Charles Leitch, Founding Principal of Patterson Buchanan Fobes Leitch & Kalzer, Inc.; Roarke Lynch, NetSmartz; Larry Magid, ConnectSafely; and Rebecca Randall, Common Sense Media.
Excerpts From the Panel:
Larry Magid, journalist and co-founder of ConnectSafely.org, talks about the increased involvement of youth in the discussion around digital citizenship:
Anastasia Goodstein from Reachout.com talks about how the Internet is a place for teens to talk to other teens about difficult topics including suicide and depression.
Roarke Lynch from NetSmartz discusses the blurring of lines of what happens at school and at home and how this impacts school policy.
Marsali Hancock from iKeepSafe touches on some new resources iKeepSafe is developing for schools.
Rebecca Randall from Common Sense Media addresses the fact that the digital divide is very much alive and we all need to be aware of this and develop programs with this in mind.
Join us for the 2012 Summit
The summit was an engaging and thought-provoking day for both attendees and speakers. We plan to continue the conversation at this year’s summit, which will be held in mid-October. For more information, please contact ysafely-insights@yahoo-inc.com.
Thank you!