Context

Warman Elementary School is a K-5 school with a population of 750 students. Each classroom has a pod of computers. There is one class set of computers in the computer lab and one set in the library. Warman is a relatively affluent community just outside of Saskatoon where most students have internet connections at home as well as iPods, gaming systems and other tech devices.

Warman Elementary School students perform well on large-scale assessments. The school practices levelled reading and the community is supportive of literacy initiatives. This past year, the school focussed on Comprehension Strategies as a goal.

The school does not have a vision for technology. There are no committees or discussions about technology or digital citizenship or teaching digital literacy. There are logistical issues. Classes receive relatively little scheduled time with computers. Last year our computer lab was disabled and turned into a classroom until portables were built. It was back in service in February. The same thing will happen this year as we await two new portables.

As with many schools, there is a range of understanding about digital citizenship among staff. Many were genuinely surprised to learn that it was unethical and illegal to copy and paste pictures from the internet.

This presentation is intended to help each and every staff member to move further along the continuum toward understanding the issues of digital citizenship.