Media Company Creates Curriculum For Digital Citizenship

NPR (10/6) reported, "In the wake of a Rutgers University student's suicide, researchers who study youth and the Internet say schools need to do a better job of teaching kids the basics of digital citizenship." John Pelfrey of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society says that legislation "to make the penalties in cyberbullying cases harsher" by itself will not "change bad behavior." He recommends more mentoring and education. To that end, Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Commonsense Media, "a nonprofit that provides information about movies, video games and technology for children, has written a curriculum to help schools teach digital citizenship. It focuses on how to teach youth to think critically about the Internet and make ethical decisions about its use." According to Steyer, schools are behind when it comes to teaching online ethics. "I think that the technological revolution has in some cases outpaced schools' ability to keep track of it," he said.