Collaborative

Title of Unit

Curriculum Area
Developed By

Unit on Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship

Grade Level

Technology
Laramy Wells, Chris Wascak, and Diana Brown

Time Frame

12th Grade
20 students
8 males and 12 females
6 African Americans, 3 Caucasians, and 1
Hispanic
3 days (50 minutes each)

Identify Desired Results (Stage 1)

Content Standards
NETS:
NETS:
NETS:
NETS:

3b: Students locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
3c: Students evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
5a: Student will advocate and practice safe, legal and responsible use of information and technology.
5d: Student exhibits leadership for digital citizenship.

Understandings
Overarching Understanding
Students will understand that just because information is online
doesnt mean its true.
Students will understand the importance of strong passwords.
Students will understand how to recognize online scams.
Related Misconceptions

Information found online is reliable as long as the source

appears legitimate.
You should utilize the same password for every
account/website.
Emails from banks are always official.

Essential Questions
Overarching
Why is it important to be alert
and check sources while
exploring online?
Why is it important to be a
good digital citizen?
How do I protect myself and
my digital reputation while
exploring online?

Knowledge

Skills

Students will know

Students will be able to

Topical
What makes a strong password
and why should I keep my
passwords private?

guidelines on what information they can and cant trust.

guidelines that keep their passwords safe.
how to take action if they find themselves being scammed.

evaluate and compare online information sources for

accuracy, relevance and bias.
apply their knowledge of reputable online sources to
determine which sites are credible and which are not.
create strong passwords.
protect themselves from scams.

Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)

Website Evaluation
Goal
Audience
Situation
Standards

Choose 3 websites from a given list to evaluate based on given criteria.

Teacher
Doing a project about life on other planets. You need 3 valid websites to collect information.
NETS: 3c: Students evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to
specific tasks.

Create a Strong Password

Goal
Role
Audience
Situation
Product/Performan
ce
Standards

Create a strong password that meets the guidelines from the lesson and that no other student can decipher.
Responsible User
Potential Hacker
Each student will create a password that they feel cannot be cracked. The password must contain a meaning
and the student will be asked to repeat their password at the end of the third day.
Each Potential Hacker will be allowed to ask the Responsible User one question. Based on the answers to
the questions, each Potential Hacker will try and guess the Responsible Users password.
NETS: 5a: Student will advocate and practice safe, legal and responsible use of information and technology.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Cyber Security Edition

Goal
Role
Audience
Situation
Standards

Answer 15 questions about online scams and tricks to win a million dollars.
Game Show Contestant
Game Show Host (Teacher)
Online game resembling Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Lifelines just like the show. The teacher will
monitor all computers via LanSchool to identify the first contestant to win.
NETS: 5a: Student will advocate and practice safe, legal and responsible use of information and technology.
NETS: 5d: Student exhibits leadership for digital citizenship.

Other Evidence
Students will participate in online discussions throughout the different lessons.

Learning Plan (Stage 3)

Where are your students headed? Where
have they been? How will you make sure
the students know where they are going?

Students will complete a Pre-Assessment to discover their present knowledge on the

varying topics. The entire unit will be completed using Canvas (our schools
Learning Management System) through the use of modules. The students will know
how many topics and pages they will need to complete in the unit.

How will you hook students at the

beginning of the unit?

Each day the students will be given a brief lecture and overview of the online
module. The students will be told what to do and what will need to be completed.
Website Evaluation: Students will be asked to think about their favorite movie.
They will need to be specific about why they thought it was good. What did you look
for? They will discuss with their neighbor.
Protect Yourself: The class will begin by showing a clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live in
which people are tricked into giving out their passwords.

What events will help students experience

and explore the big idea and questions in
the unit? How will you equip them with
needed skills and knowledge?

Online Tricks and Scams: Imagine you are walking down a crowded street and a
complete stranger approaches you and says you have just won a free tripall you
need to give him is your name, age, address, phone number, and passwords to your
social network accounts (Google+, Facebook etc). Would you believe him?
During the Website Evaluation lesson, students will actually be led through two
examples. They will be provided with an example of a professional, legitimate site
that would not be a good source of information and an example of a site that
appears to meet all of the necessary requirements however is completely phony.
The password lesson will have students exploring the various requirements needed
for creating strong passwords. Students will also be given a link to a few password
generator sites.
Infographics have been provided to assist with the information on online scams.

How will you cause students to reflect and

rethink? How will you guide them in
rehearsing, revising, and refining their
work?
How will you help students to exhibit and
self-evaluate their growing skills,
knowledge, and understanding throughout
the unit?

How will you tailor and otherwise

personalize the learning plan to optimize
the engagement and effectiveness of ALL

All material will be provided via a website that students can access at home as well
as printable handouts that summarize many of the guidelines discussed in the
lessons.
Students will be provided the opportunity to participate in classroom and online
discussions. The online discussions will help students who are not comfortable
speaking in class. Students will not be able to see the other students responses
until after they post. Commenting and liking will be enabled in the discussion posts.
The students will begin by stating their knowledge of Internet safety and what it
means to be digital citizen. Later in the unit, they will participate in a discussion
about what they have learned and how their ideas have changed or been proven.
Students will also get to test their knowledge of creating a strong password by
providing a meaning password that no other student can break regardless of the
information they collect from the user.
As stated before, students will have the ability to participate in classroom and online
discussions. The online discussions help students who are not comfortable speaking
in class voice their opinions.

students, without compromising the goals

of the unit?
How will you organize and sequence the
learning activities to optimize the
engagement and achievement of ALL
students?

Students can work on the material in class or at home and all of the content can be
viewed from their smartphones.
The learning activities are laid out in modules on the learning management system
Canvas. This provides the students with a visible and linear layout of information.
Students will begin at the top of the page and must work page by page and item by
item. The module is setup where every page of information must be viewed,
discussions must be participated in, and assignments must be completed before the
student can proceed in the modules. If a student runs into a problem or needs more
information, they can message any of the three instructor through Canvas.

From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
ISBN # 0-87120-313-8 (ppk)