Dig Cit Institute Partnering with Local School District

BUFFALO, N.Y. - March 6, 2019 - PRLog -- On March 15, the Lake Shore Central School District (LSCSD) will partner with the Digital Citizenship Institute (DCI) to host a school community Digital Citizenship Summit (#DigCitSummitEDU), where students take an active role to teach, inspire and empower other students, teachers and parents how to be safe and smart online, socially responsible and how to use technology for good. The Summit will be held at Lake Shore Middle School from 8 a.m. -- 11:15 a.m. and is open to the public.

The DCI has hosted Summits around the world since 2015, including in the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mexico, Spain, Ireland, and around the United States. At the #DigCitSummitEDU, Lake Shore students and teachers are developing messages that will impact those not only in their own school community, but with the help of DCI, reach others around the world.

Lake Shore is located about 30 minutes from Buffalo NY, and serves around 2,500 students from Kindergarten through 12th Grade. It's a school district that is constantly seeking innovative ways to inspire learning with technology. With this comes a responsibility to teach and learn digital citizenship.

District Technology Integrator, Michael Drezek, explains, "We really want to highlight and focus on the importance of digital citizenship and how it can be embedded into all subjects, and really how everyone plays a role in building effective digital citizens."

After following the work of DCI and seeing the positive impact they have had on school communities around the world, inviting them to Lake Shore is an important step in meeting the goal to empower students and teachers. For Lake Shore, it feels like a natural extension of the great work they've already been doing, as well as a great opportunity to proactively bring their wider community into the conversation around digital citizenship.

Dr. Marialice B.F.X. Curran, Founder and Executive Director of the Digital Citizenship Institute (http://www.digitalcitizenshipinstitute.com/), is excited about the opportunities present at the Lake Shore Summit: "What I love about working with Lake Shore is that it really shows the school community taking an active role for students really owning digital citizenship, and not just passively learning about it."

Melissa Bergler, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, notes a shift in technology and learning: "I noticed that our kids and teachers are talking about using technology in such a very different way. We have always used it well, but now I see our use of technology impacting the school, the community, and our world. Our minds are being stretched in so many ways and our kids are leading the way!"

And it's this idea of students being the teachers that has driven the incredible variety of activities that will be showcased at the Summit on March 15th. For Lake Shore and the group of teachers organizing this work, they want to ensure students lead the conversation. "Students spend a lot of their day hearing from adults, and we really wanted this to be about them, to have a day where we learn together, side by side," Drezek says.

"We know the Institute advocates for building community, integrating technology, and are experts at using technology for good. They are able to highlight examples from classrooms around the world of students 'walking the walk', in order to make digital citizenship meaningful for everyone. This really inspires us," Drezek emphasized.

Working with the team at DCI is critical in bringing Lake Shore's vision into reality.

Deann Poleon, a District Technology Integrator, shares how the DCI supported the digital citizenship initiative: "Through the support of the DCI, we were able to reach the community, the Boys and Girls Club and the Parent Teacher Group in order to share the work and impact of the Summit. Students were shown examples of peers, from around the world, putting their good digital citizenship into practice and improving their communities as a result."

For anyone interested in attending the Summit on March 15, it will run from 8:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at Lake Shore Middle School, located at 8855 Erie Road, Angola, NY. The event will kick-off in the auditorium and continue through student stations throughout the school.

You can keep up to date with the Lake Shore #DigCitSummitEDU at http://www.digitalcitizenshipinstitute.com/digcitsummitedu-at-lake-shore-central.html or via the DCI Twitter (https://twitter.com/digcitinstitute) (@digcitinstitute) on and around March 15th.