Professional Learning for Busy Educators

Which brings us to the visual above. Sylvia Duckworth got together with Jennifer Casa-Todd to illustrate an interesting twist on this idea–moving from mere “citizenship” to inspired leadership in digital spaces, using two definitions from George Couros.

Digital Citizenship: Using the internet and social media in a responsible and ethical way
Digital Leadership: Using the internet and social media to improve the lives, well-being, and circumstances of others.
The idea behind the shift? A kind of empathy–moving beyond see one’s self, and moving towards seeing one’s self in the physical and digital company of others. As digital technology and social media become more deeply embedded in our lives, and more nuanced in their function, this is a shift whose time has come. The question becomes, then, what’s the next evolution of this idea?

As adults witness the rising tides of teenaged anxiety, it’s tough not to notice a common thread that runs through the epidemic — something that past generations never dealt with. Clutched in the hand of nearly every teen is a smartphone, buzzing and beeping and blinking with social media notifications.

Parents, all too often, just want to grab their teen’s phone and stuff it in a drawer. But is social media and the omnipresence of digital interactions really the cause of all this anxiety?

The short answer is: It’s complicated.