Google Summit on Digital Safety and Citizenship at Google HQ, Pittsburgh

On March 22, 2018, a group of educators from all over PA assembled at Google HQ in Pittsburgh for the 6th iteration of Google's Digital Citizenship Summit. I was unsure of what I would be able to gain at the summit, as we were made aware that the information would be geared toward middle grade teachers. But the conversations we started and many of the resources we received could apply to teachers at any grade level.

We began and ended with sessions lead by Larry Magid. Mr. Magid has created numerous resources for students, parents, educators and seniors surrounding the topic of digital safety. His first talk focused on connectsafely.org, an organization for which he is president and CEO, located in tech hub Silicon Valley. ConnectSafely offers news, resources, and guides all surrounding the topic of digital safety. Some of the guides Larry shared with us are for parents, educators, and seniors. Our final session with Mr. Magid was a "Fireside Chat," during which a Googler lead a Q&A not only with Larry, but also with the educators. I enjoyed this interactive session, hearing from experts both in the classroom and in industry.

Other sessions included an overview of Google's Be Internet Awesome with Googler Rob, and another was lead by several teachers at McGuffey. The teachers at McGuffey had implemented a number of Be Internet Awesome lessons, including the Interland game, in their middle school. The game is neat, and I imagine middle schoolers would really enjoy the entertaining reinforcement of digital citizenship skills. In Rob's session we had a chance to test out the game for ourselves. I did hear some educators mention that the game may be a little young for middle school and perhaps be even more engaging with elementary-level students.  The age group that I work with, high school students, are not the target audience for Google's digital citizenship resources; however, the other guides and resources we received are relevant at any level.

Overall, it was an engaging workshop that started important discussions on media literacy and digital safety. We all need to be more cognizant that we are incorporating these skills and teachable moments into our digital lessons.