Presenting Ourselves Online
The purpose of this lesson is to encourage students to think more critically about the strategies that people use to present themselves on social networking sites. Participants will critically analyze social networking profiles and engage in discussions with peers about the goals of individuals who created the profiles being examined. In addition, students will create a social networking profile for their group and then present it to the class, discussing why they chose to present particular characteristics.

Second Life
Second Life is a virtual culture and community where users can create avatars (images of themselves) and interact with others as they explore the world within this virtual reality program. Avatars can be individualized by users based on a variety of clothing, accessories, and physical characteristics that the user can manipulate. This virtual reality program involves a variety of similarities and differences when compared with the “real world,” and serves as a very interesting context to discuss education and communication in an online world. The goal of this activity is to discuss virtual classrooms with students and encourage them to think more critically about the future of classrooms and technology. Clips from a class held in Second Life will be used as a catalyst for discussion. For those teachers who want to take a next step, students can be encouraged to participate in their own Second Life class.

Sexting
This lesson is designed to create awareness of the consequences of sexting and encourage students to think before they press the “send” button!

Wired For Distraction
This lesson asks students to examine the research as well as the concerns raised in the NY Times article and then to conduct their own informal survey. Students also have the opportunity to develop a response to the NY Times article and to participate in their own technology summit.