Global Digital Citizenship:Kidspiration

In what learning environments would the technology resource I presented be appropriate?

• Safe, Ethical, and Legal use of Technology: Kidspiration is a safe resource to use in the classroom because it is a program that is downloaded onto the computer. The students will not need to load the internet to use this program. Since the program is pre-made and downloaded, the students will not be able to venture off to other place or websites that may be inappropriate. 
• Socially Responsible Digital Use: Other than inputting your name (for printing purposes) Kidspiration does not ask for any personal information so it allows students to be socially responsible. There is no area where it asks for a password, birth date, and also does not allow you to talk with others which could prevent cyberbullying in the program.
• Equitable access of Technology: Kidspiration can provide equitable access to those who have visual impairments because it gives you the option to turn on the volume and the program will talk to you. It will read what area you want to access out loud so the student can use the audio option to navigate the website.
• Global Awareness & Cultural understanding: Kidspiration is a great resource for global awareness and cultural understanding. First off, it provides an option for students to insert pictures for a sort of "clip art", which could help English Language Learners who do not necessarily know a word for something, and can use a picture in its place instead. It also supports global awareness and cultural understanding because there are many Social Studies activities that allow students use maps, cultural comparisons charts, learn about explorers, other tribes and many more activities.

In what learning environments would the technology resource I presented NOT be appropriate?

• Safe, Ethical, and Legal use of Technology: Even though the program is pre-downloaded and safe to use when the program is open, when the teacher is not near by, the student can always exit or minimize the program and pull up the internet, or some kind of computer game instead. There is no way to monitor all students at every moment on this program.
• Socially Responsible Digital Use:  There is an option for "open a file" which allows the student to upload a document or picture into Kidspiration. The student could upload a picture or document that is inappropriate or unrelated to what they are doing. Or they could open up an internet browser to select an inappropriate picture and then open that with the "open a file" tool.
• Equitable access of Technology: This program would not provide equitable access to students who have physical impairments. Since this program requires a lot of typing and use of moving the mouse to interact within the program, this could be difficult for those students. They will not be able to access the technology the same way as their peers.
• Global Awareness & Cultural understanding: Even though the program gives students templates and activities to complete, the program does not provide students with information on other cultures or global understanding. The students will have to use another program  or resource to find the information they need for their activity or template, it is not all in one central location.

How might it be modified to be appropriate?

• Safe, Ethical, and Legal use of Technology: To make Kidspiration a safe resource, the teacher can disable the internet during the use of Kidspiration. They can use other resources to get their information like peers and text books, but they will not be able to venture off to the internet where they can potentially look up inappropriate and harmful information.
• Socially Responsible Digital Use: Before students use the program, you can make sure that no harmful files or pictures are downloaded onto the computer. The teacher can scan the computer to make sure the students do not have inappropriate things that they can select when they hit "open file" within the program.
• Equitable access of Technology: For students who have physical impairments the computer can be modified to assist them, or you can have the class work in groups where each person is assigned a different task that still allows them to collaborate with the program. The keyboard settings can be modified to be able to hold down a key longer, and the mouse can be modified to slow down or speed up depending on the students impairment.
• Global Awareness & Cultural understanding: You can provide students with a text book about other cultures/global understanding, and also have them work in diverse groups. This way students can use the book for their work, and use their group to get different ideas from people with a different background or ethnicity.