Digital Citizenship and the Art Room

Digital citizenship is such a vast subject to explore and there are many potential ways to implement media literacy and digital citizenship into an art curriculum.  I believe, however, that regardless of the approach taken, the most important element of helping our kids to be creative, respectful, digital citizens is to first and foremost practice effective teaching.  How do we effectively teach kids today?  In the art room, this involves many of the methods that we already practice such as offering a variety of hands-on experiences, fostering discussions about art, allowing for both independent and group problem-solving, encouraging a sense-of-self and promoting a positive, respectful atmosphere in the classroom.  

The children in our classrooms today are consistently “wired” and imminently affected by media.  A great start to teaching kids how to speak for themselves and sift through the vast array of information on the internet, may be to allow them opportunities off of the computer.  In the series “Consuming Kids”, Susan Linn discussed the importance of off-screen experiences in the emotional and cognitive development of children.  Linn states, “Creative play offers a foundation of learning, a foundation of critical thinking, a foundation of problem solving, a foundation of empathy and offers ways for kids to make life meaningful”.  She explains that kids today are often deprived of opportunities to exercise their imaginations.   I believe a great way to help children build a solid foundation is in the art room.  A strong elementary art curriculum and an effective teacher will foster all of the foundational elements that Linn describes. 

I have touched on some of the important aspects of art education “off screen”, however, I do understand and realize that our kids are immersed in media and spend many hours online both in and outside of school.  How do effective art teachers then teach media literacy and digital citizenship?  The approach may be different depending on the teacher, the grade level and the activity.  I believe that media literacy has an important place in the art room when we examine images both past and present. 

The video lecture series “Killing us softly” stressed the cultural climate of today’s media that often portrays women as passive, sexual objects.  How do we approach this topic with elementary students?  It can be as simple as choosing images and art examples for class that portray girls and women in a more positive way and counters the portrayal pushed by popular media.  The message of visual images can also be a good topic of discussion with young students.  Comparisons of historical paintings and images from popular culture can foster great discussions and create many opportunities for “teachable moments”.   

Teaching digital citizenship should be a school-wide effort and elementary art teachers can certainly do their part.  This does not mean that we necessarily have to teach entire units based on the ins and outs of digital citizenship.  My son’s school encourages students to be safe, respectful, responsible learners.  In the art room, these goals can easily be encouraged, discussed and modeled in a variety of ways.  We should never underestimate the power of the “teachable moment”. The teachable moment comes often and it is important for teachers to seamlessly introduce the concepts of safety, respect, responsibility and learning when the opportunity arises.  The concept of digital citizenship with elementary students can be introduced along these same lines.  For example, if a teacher is pulling up images for students to view when they work on an assignment, why not take the opportunity to quickly explain how you found the images and demonstrate how to safely browse for pictures.  (i.e. advanced search features on google, kid friendly websites, etc.)  If students are looking for images to use in their artwork or as part of a technology piece, the teacher can make available a bookmarked list of copyright free image search sites.  Take a quick moment to discuss how important it is to respect the art and intellectual property of others both in the art room and from online collections.  Many lists are already available and can be a good start when introducing the concept of “respect for others” to students.  A good list of creative image sources and information about copyright for kids can be found here at the “Teaching Pallette – Perfecting the Art of Education” website.

In the book “Rewired” by Larry, D. Rosen, Rosen explains that children intuitively know how technology works but do not have the skills to disseminate information and make informed decisions about the vast array of information available online.  The hands-on-learning that is so important to the cognitive development of young children is also important to effectively teach media literacy.  Rosen outlines six principles of media literacy that include the idea that media messages are created, may not always be accurate, have a point of view, send different messages, are targeted to specific populations, and are created for commercial reasons.  As art educators, we can assist students with deciphering information by teaching strategies for internet searching and demonstrating how to critically look at the information and images.  One way that an elementary art teacher can introduce the principles of media literacy is through a discussion and demonstration of how to find information on a particular artist.  If a teacher is already spending time researching an artist and finding images related to the artist to display for students, it could be a teaching opportunity to include the kids in the seek and find process.  As a parent, I often help my fourth grade son find information for school assignments.  One strategy that my son and I use is to type “for kids” as part of our google search.  For example, if you type in “Vincent Van Gogh for kids” in the search window, the second result that comes up is a link to a metropolitan museum for art exploration page: http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/van_gogh/intro.html  After we find a good website that has been designed with kids in mind, we often bookmark it in a folder for him to easily access later.  This type of strategy has to be taught and we cannot assume that all parents are actively engaged in their child’s techno savvy learning. 

Media literacy and digital citizenship are concepts that will need to be added to our ever-expanding repoitor as teachers.  In our profession, respect for others, for intellectual property and for ourselves are extremely important.  To be effective teachers, we need to model, teach and encourage these qualities across all academic areas.  

Kilbourne, Jean (2010). Killing Us Softly

Linn, Susan (2008). Consuming Kids: The Commecialization of Childhood.

Rosen, L. D. (2010). Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and The Way They Learn. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.