Google Wants Your Students to Be Internet Awesome!

In today’s society, most of our students are immersed in technology. From cell phones to devices in school to tablets and computers at home, students are accessing technology constantly. During this interaction, students are liable to encounter strangers, fake news, spam, cyberbullying, and the potential to say or post something they might regret later. Our students today face an online world that many adults cannot imagine. They face continual challenges and the threat of engaging in a bad online situation always there. So how can we, as educators, help students navigate these online situations properly? One option comes from Google’s Be Internet Awesome Digital Citizenship and Safety Curriculum. Google designed the Be Internet Awesome curriculum in collaboration with iKeepSafe with the goal of teaching students the five fundamentals of digital citizenship.

• Share with Care
• Don’t Fall for Fake
• Secure Your Secrets
• It’s Cool to Be Kind
• When in Doubt, Talk It Out

This curriculum provides teachers with two methods to integrate these fundamentals with their students. The first is a fully written curriculum, complete with lesson plans and activities for teachers to bring to their classrooms. The written curriculum covers the five fundamentals of digital citizenship extensively, giving the teacher many different talking points to discuss with their students.

The crown jewel of the curriculum comes in the form of the web-based game Interland. Interactive and fun, the game puts students into situations in which they may find themselves while navigating the internet. In order to advance through the game, students must correctly answer questions from the curriculum. If not having Chromebooks worries you, don’t fret! Interland is available through any web browser, including on iPads!

If you have been looking for a manageable way to create learning opportunities around digital citizenship lesson in your classroom, I encourage you to explore the Be Internet Awesome website where you will find a wide variety of FREE resources that will help you get started today!