Plugged in. Online. Connected. Our students are using technology resources in increasingly connected ways through online communication tools and social networks. As a result, digital citizenship was a common topic of discussion at NECC this year.

With more students online at home and in school, educators are actively seeking resources to help students learn how to safely interact and connect online. BrainPOP and Promethean teamed up to promote Internet Safety, and provide educators with rich resources for supporting digital citizenship in their classrooms.

Resources for Online Safety

As Director of 21st Century Learning at BrainPOP, I presented a flipchart on Online Safety in the Promethean booth at the conference! The flipchart, titled ‘BrainPOP Online Safety’ is available on Promethean Planet & highlights BrainPOP resources on online safety. BrainPOP’s many resources include our movie, quiz, fyi’s, timeline, and interactive pages.

The flipchart also features ActivExpressions, used to solicit background information about time spent online and engage students in dialogue about online safety. At NECC, the flipchart was used to showcase our BrainPOP quiz integration with ActivExpressions, too! Attendees actually took the BrainPOP quiz on Online Safety with the ActivExpressions student response devices.

Helping Students Make Safe Online Choices

The flipchart itself walks teachers through an entire lesson on Internet Safety. Many teachers joined us at the Promethean booth to learn more about how to teach their students safe online choices including: keep your identity a secret, avoid talking to strangers, protect passwords, be nice, and get help – 5 smart tips shared by Tim and Moby in the movie.

The flipchart encourages students to apply the new online safety rules featured in the movie to computer scenarios featuring Tim and Moby. It culminates with the development of class internet safety rules or a list of safe sites, such as BrainPOP with the free BrainPOP Internet Safety poster.

The flipchart links to a variety of additional BrainPOP resources to support the development of digital citizenship, including a special Digital Citizenship spotlight that will be featured in September for back-to-school. Topics include: blogs, computer viruses, copyright, cyberbullying, digital etiquette, email and IM, social networking, and more. BrainPOP Junior, for K-3, offers topics on Internet Safety and bullying. The flipchart also features a brainstorming web graphic organizer from BrainPOP Educators, our free online community for educators.

Celebrating 10 Years of BrainPOP with ActivExpression!

In addition to promoting digital citizenship, BrainPOP also had something to celebrate at the conference! Tim, Moby and the whole BrainPOP gang turned 10! To celebrate, we held a “BrainPOP Turns 10” event on Tuesday afternoon at the BrainPOP booth. BrainPOP enthusiasts competed in a BrainPOP challenge – a BrainPOP trivia quiz taken with ActivExpression devices! The grand prize was a 12-month premium subscription to BrainPOP and netTrekker, along with a set of 32 ActivExpressions, for the school of the winner’s choice. We also sang happy birthday to Moby and ate yummy BrainPOP themed treats!

Offering Rich Resources for Educators

NECC is always a powerful conference, as educators from across the nation and the world make connections that impact classroom practice. 21st century learning, web 2.0 technologies, and important topics such as digital citizenship were woven throughout conference sessions and conversations at NECC 2009. I look forward to next year’s event in Denver, where BrainPOP and Promethean will continue to offer rich resources for educators!

Dr. Kari Stubbs
Director of 21st Century Learning, BrainPOP

* Editor’s comments: You can follow Kari on Twitter and also download an exclusive BrainPOP resource pack on Planet.