Lesson 1: Online Communication and Digital Risks

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Unit 2: Making Safe and Responsible Digital Decisions

Instructional Content

1. Understanding online communication
   • Online communication includes interactions through social media, online games, discussion forums, and other platforms.
   • These technologies allow students to communicate quickly and collaborate with others. However, online interactions can also involve unfamiliar individuals, misleading information, or requests for personal details.
   • Students need opportunities to recognize when online interactions may create risks and understand how to respond appropriately.
2. Recognizing digital communication risks
   • Common risks include:
     • Sharing personal information with unfamiliar individuals.
     • Accepting messages or requests from unknown accounts.
     • Posting photographs or location information without considering privacy.
     • Sharing another person's information without permission.
     • Assuming that information shared privately cannot be forwarded or captured.
     • Responding to suspicious or manipulative messages.
   • Participants should recognize that risks depend on the context, audience, and type of information involved.
3. Understanding digital footprints
   • A digital footprint is the collection of information associated with a person's online activities. It can include posts, comments, shared photographs, account activity, and information collected by digital services.
   • Digital footprints can influence privacy, reputation, and future opportunities. Teachers can help students understand that online actions may have consequences beyond the moment information is shared.
4. Making informed communication choices
   • Responsible online communication involves considering who will receive information, whether the information is appropriate to share, and what consequences might follow.
   • Students should learn to recognize situations where they need to pause, verify information, protect personal details, or seek assistance from a trusted adult.

Existing Cybersecurity Resources

Access Information: Creating an account and accessing existing resources is free.

1. Common Sense Education – Our Online Tracks
   • An elementary-level digital citizenship lesson examining digital footprints and the information individuals leave behind through online activities.
   • Recommended use: Participants review the lesson and consider how its activities introduce digital footprints to younger students.
2. Common Sense Education – The Power of Digital Footprints
   • A middle school digital citizenship lesson exploring how online activities contribute to digital footprints and may influence how others perceive an individual.
   • Recommended use: Participants examine how digital footprint scenarios can encourage students to consider long-term consequences.

Guided Practice

Material 1: Introduction to Digital Privacy

Purpose: Preparatory Reading

How Do Online Interactions Affect Digital Safety?

Students use messaging apps, online games, social media, and educational platforms to communicate and share information. While these platforms offer opportunities for learning and connection, they also present privacy and safety risks.

Students may receive messages from strangers, encounter requests for personal information, or share content without considering the consequences. These actions contribute to their digital footprint, which includes posts, comments, photos, and other online activities. Some information may remain accessible even after it is deleted.

Understanding digital footprints helps students recognize how their online actions affect themselves and others. For example, sharing someone's photo without permission can violate their privacy, while revealing a school location can expose personal information.

Teachers can use realistic scenarios to help students identify risks, evaluate consequences, and explain their decisions. These activities encourage critical thinking and responsible digital communication.

Material 2: Online Communication Scenario Worksheet

Purpose: Help participants identify communication risks, examine possible consequences, and recommend appropriate responses.

Scenario: A Message from an Online Friend

Participant instructions: Read the scenario and answer the following questions.

1. What potential risks are present in this online interaction?
2. What consequences could result from sharing the requested information?
3. What safer response would you recommend, and why?
4. How could you adapt this scenario into an age-appropriate classroom activity?

A 13-year-old student regularly plays an online game and communicates with other players. One day, a player the student has never met in person sends a private message asking for a photograph and the name of the school the student attends. The player explains that sharing this information will help them become better friends. The student is unsure whether to respond but does not want to appear unfriendly.

Facilitator answer guide

• A strong response should identify the risks of sharing a personal photograph and school information with an unfamiliar individual.
• Participants should recognize that the sender's identity and intentions cannot be verified simply through online conversations. Sharing information could expose the student to unwanted contact or reveal identifying details.
• An appropriate response would be to avoid sharing the requested information, stop engaging if the interaction becomes uncomfortable, use the platform's reporting or blocking features when appropriate, and seek guidance from a trusted adult.
• For the classroom adaptation, participants should recommend an activity that allows students to evaluate fictional situations without disclosing their own personal experiences or information.

Material 2: Classroom Teaching Example

Purpose: Demonstrate how teachers can help students recognize that online actions may leave information that others can access or share.

Suggested grade level: Grades 4–6

Instructions for participants:

Imagine teaching a fifth-grade class. Students receive fictional cards describing online activities:

1. Posting a photograph publicly.
2. Sending a message to a classmate.
3. Commenting on a public video.
4. Sharing a friend's photograph without permission.
5. Posting a school event with a location tag.

Students sort the cards into three categories:

• Actions that may create a visible digital footprint.
• Actions that may involve privacy concerns.
• Actions that require additional information before deciding whether they are appropriate.

Students then explain how the audience, privacy settings, and permission from others affect each situation.

Participant reflection: How would you adapt this activity for high school students?

An appropriate adaptation could involve analyzing fictional social media profiles and evaluating how shared content may affect privacy, reputation, or future opportunities.

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