take home message

   It's difficult to narrow my learning to only two take home messages but I'll suggest two because I think they encompass the topic of digital citizenship and the 2.0 world. The first is that the limits of what school librarians are responsible to teach their students extend far beyond the academic. The skills we teach: critical thinking, research, the ethical use of information, privacy, safety to name a few are as important in the world outside of the classroom as they are in the classroom. Traditionally the tools we utilized in the classroom and the safe use of them remained in the classroom. The advent of the Internet has changed that and classroom tools, ie: the Internet have become life tools. Therefore, our responsibility is ever greater and has farther reaching repercussions. We must teach students how to find information, we must teach them how to create information, and we must teach them how to responsibly use information. These three simple things have far reaching consequences and are far more complicated to teach than the words may imply. I like this quote from the Lorenzo article because I think it articulates a librarian's responsibility very well.
                            In a 2.0 approach, information literacy instruc-
                            tion is integrated across the curriculum. The
                            library serves as an instructional center on
                            campus and as the hub for a campus-wide com-
                            mitment to preparing students with the infor-
                            mation skills needed for success in the 21st
                            century.
http://www.edpath.com/images/IFReport2.pdf

The second lesson is that the digital world exists along side our physical world and online identities are just as important as our physical identities are. We are living simultaneously in two worlds and that means our responsibilities as educators and individuals are doubled. It's also necessary that we recognize online identity is absolutely crucial to the success of ourselves and our students. In order to succeed in the future, our students must have an online presence that they manage skillfully and well. What all of this boils down too is the need to recognize our digital citizenship which is also a global citizenship. The traditional definition of citizenship is: to be a member of a community. Being a member of a community connotes that we understand and accept that our actions have an effect on the others in our community groups. Digital citizenship, though invisible, connotes that our online actions have an effect on the other members of our digital community and in fact probably has a much farther reaching consequence considering the millions of people willingly participating in this online community. The tricky part of digital citizenship is it's invisibility, it can be hard to remember in the moment that what you're putting out there millions of people will be able to see. The relationship feels much more personal than it actually is. Teaching students the ethical use of information is imperative to the health of our digital communities.