Common Sense Media and edWeb.net Announce a New Professional Learning Community on Digital Citizenship

SAN FRANCISO, CA - October 7, 2013 - Common Sense Media, the national nonprofit dedicated to helping kids and families thrive in a world of media and technology, has launched a free professional learning community around Digital Citizenship on edWeb.net, a professional social and learning network for the education community. The community kicks off its free monthly webinar series during this year's National Digital Citizenship Week.

The Digital Citizenship community is a place that provides ideas and discussions about how to help kids be safe, responsible, and respectful participants in a digital world. The community will help educators and their students stay connected, share ideas, and get support from colleagues on issues such as cyberbullying, privacy, digital footprints, copyright and plagiarism, information literacy, and Internet safety.

"edWeb has active professional learning communities around many of the new technology-driven types of learning, like mobile learning, flipped learning, and ebooks," said Lisa Schmucki, Founder and CEO, edWeb.net. "We understand that today's learning ecosystem has different parameters from the traditional classroom, so we are pleased to partner with Common Sense Media to help teachers educate their students about digital citizenship so their online experiences will be safe and rewarding."

The community provides a series of free webinars with host Kelly Mendoza, Senior Manager, Professional Development, Common Sense Media. The fall series focuses on these key topics surrounding digital citizenship:

• October 24 - Empowering Students to be Digital Citizens (Register)
• November 13 - Teaching Copyright and Fair Use to the Remix Generation (Register)
• December 11 - Kids' Online Privacy and Digital Footprints (Register)

The first webinar, Empowering Students to be Digital Citizens, will be at 4PM ET on Thursday, October 24th. Attendees will learn about free CCSS-aligned curricular resources for both low and high-tech classrooms to teach digital citizenship, as well as how to implement digital citizenship in their schools.

"Common Sense Media's groundbreaking K-12 Digital Literacy and Citizenship curriculum is used by a growing network of more than 110,000 educators nationwide," said Mike Lorion, General Manager of Education. "We look forward to connecting with the engaged community of edWeb educators who are committed to teaching students 21st century skills to be safe, smart and responsible in the digital world."

Educators can join the free Digital Citizenship community on edWeb to stay informed about upcoming webinars, join in on discussions with peers and mentors, and gain access to valuable resources. Every educator who joins the community will gain access to free downloadable Digital Citizenship posters to use in their classroom.

For more information, contact:

Kelly Mendoza | Sr. Manager, Professional Development, Common Sense Media
415-553-6786 | [email protected]

Lisa Schmucki, Founder and CEO, edWeb.net
908-407-2755 | [email protected]