Program teaching students to be good digital citizens

Over the last few years, the instructional technology specialists with Vestavia Hills City Schools have been working more and more to incorporate technology and digital resources into the learning environment.

This year, the team launched a pilot program to incorporate digital portfolios into the overall district curriculum.

“The digital portfolios are designed to provide an online platform for students to display the work they take pride in,” said Coordinator of Technology Jan Garfinkle.

Beginning with second, fifth, sixth and ninth grades, students were introduced to online platforms last fall through their classes.

In elementary school, students use Seesaw, a platform done through the class teacher. Students are able to choose the work they’d like to put on their Seesaw page, and once teachers approve it, the work is posted. Parents are able to see their child’s page through a private link provided by the teacher.

Once students move into middle school, they begin creating pages on sites such as Wix, Weebly or Google Sites. The pages are still not public, but can be used by students to present their work in class and by parents to see what their child is working on.

“We’ve approached it as, this is kind of their platform,” Garfinkle said. “We’re trying to make them understand the value of what this is, how it can be used and how it can be changed.”

As students progress through the school system, their digital portfolios move with them, and anything removed is saved on the student’s Google Drive, thanks to the district’s partnership as a Google Apps for Education system.

“This opens up an opportunity to be able to grow and change at any time,” Garfinkle said.

Since the beginning of the pilot program, Garfinkle said additional teachers have requested to be added to the program.

Marjorie Hay, a junior, has been working on her digital portfolio throughout this year, and said while it still needs a little fine-tuning, she has enjoyed the experience so far.

Hay said she is interested in science and engineering, and that having a digital portfolio shows more about her education than grades can.

“There’s a difference between knowing something and applying it,” she said. “Showing that you have experience applying the knowledge you learn from math and science I think is a very good thing for people.”

Some things, like Hay’s participation in Science Olympiad, can be brought to life through photos and videos posted on her personal website, which she thinks will set her apart.

Garfinkle agreed.

“There’s lots of great things that they can really use with it,” she said.

In addition to providing an avenue for students to showcase work throughout their educations, Garfinkle said the program also hopes to teach students about smart online behavior.

“Our biggest goal, of course, is digital citizenship, and what should and should not be put out for the public,” she said.

This can take a variety of forms, from reminding students the power of their online footprint to encouraging them to use a positive online presence as a tool.

“Having a good, clean digital footprint is a really big thing,” Hay said. “It does matter.”