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Keeping Kids Safe Online Month: Promoting Information and Media Literacy to support Civic Engagement

Monday, October 3, 2022

 
Last week State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly proclaimed October Keeping Kids Safe Online Month in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin DPI and DOJ partner to create and curate resources on the Online and Internet Safety website. This website for parents, educators, administrators, and students, provides resources and tools to help stakeholders support safe and responsible creation and consumption of digital resources. It includes a lesson planning matrix to break down the topics into manageable pieces, and is continually updated to provide just-in-time materials and information for planning and programming. We also empower families by providing learning modules (English and Spanish) that take an interactive approach to having conversations and building family media plans about responsible use of online tools and social media. We focus on the importance of protecting personal information, identity, and security of private online information.

Keeping Kids Safe Online month in Wisconsin promotes awareness about integrating learning experiences and online safety and encourages parents and guardians to be involved at home. Integrating Social and Emotional Learning helps ensure students and staff are healthy mentally and physically, and that carries over to their digital lives.

Additionally, this year we have added more emphasis on information and media literacy resources to help students develop an understanding of how to access and check facts and resources online. Civic literacy and engagement in the digital age means all students have access to information to make informed decisions, check resources, and understand how to participate in democratic processes. Check out the educator resource page to find resources connected to integrate practices of information literacy to prepare your students to navigate the digital world with skills and confidence.

In partnership with PBS Wisconsin Education, DPI is offering professional learning opportunities and classroom resources to help support our digital literacy missions. Those include:

Subscriber submission: Janice Mertes, Wisconsin DPI Assistant Director for Teacher and Learning, DPI Future Ready coordinator