Help Desk Live-Episode 2 aired on Friday, February 7th and was co-hosted by first year Help Desk staff members Mira Mehdi and Danny Piotti. The episode focused on the importance of digital citizenship education and featured our first guest, Dr. Marialice Curran. Like Dr. Curran, Burlington Public Schools believes the best approach to help students be safe, respectful, and productive citizens in a digital world is through education. And as Dr. Curran pointed out during the conversation, when it comes to digital citizenship education:

“This has to be 365 days a year.
This needs to be conversations not just in the classroom,
but with your peers, outside in the community, with your families,
it is everybody’s responsibility, and it should be happening 24/7.
That’s how I personally feel about it.”

Dr. Marialice Curran-is the founder and co-moderator of the #digcit Twitter chats held every 2nd & 4th Wednesday of the month.

A former middle school teacher and principal, Dr. Curran has been a teacher educator since 1993 and is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Connecticut. She has presented her research on digital citizenship at various international, national, and local conferences including the International Society for Technology Education annual conference, the National Bullying Conference, and was a presenter at the 2012 New England 1:1 Summit in Burlington. A full list of Marialice’s publications, presentations, and professional affiliations can be found here. The archive of the entire conversation with Marialice can be viewed below. It is evident from the conversation that Marialice is an advocate for digital citizenship education, or iCitizenship as she refers to it, and believes that it is something teachers of all grade levels and content areas should focus on for the sake of our future iCitizens of the world. My Help Desk students are excited to serve as co-moderators of an upcoming #digcit Twitter chat and look forward to continuing this critical conversation.