Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) is defined as “the process through which children and adults apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”
Many states, schools and districts, have adopted SEL standards, to foster self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making in students. The philosophy of SEL teaches that personal and social development should be regarded as a core competency because personal and social maturation are intrinsic to the learning process of children and adolescents.
SEL standards should always be a consideration during the planning and implementation of technological initiatives, given how easy it is for students to distance themselves from “real life” when they’re online. When online, it’s easy to forget that there is an actual human being on the receiving end of our actions; it’s easy to dehumanize others and behave in a socially inappropriate or irresponsible manner.
Gaggle Safety Management can assist schools and districts using G Suite for Education, Office 365 and learning management systems to meet SEL Standards in the following ways:
Self-Awareness & Self-Management
When students exhibit poor self-management skills by misusing G Suite for Education or Office 365, they receive notifications from Gaggle Safety Representatives. These violations detail why their actions were inappropriate and warn them that administrators will have access to future incidents.
Minor incidents can include inappropriate language, inappropriate images and other relatively harmless misuses of school resources. This serves as a reminder that their actions affect other people, and it prepares students for the use of communication tools in college and workplace environments.
Social-Awareness & Relationship Skills
Gaggle provides schools and districts with notifications of more serious instances of conflict among students, including intentions of violence; harassment or cyberbullying; plans to sell and/or use drugs or alcohol; or communications involving hate speech. Our policy is to notify school or district Emergency Contacts in these situations, because they often require in-person resolution at an individual level. We believe in giving schools and districts the ability to intervene positively and counsel students in their relationships with one another.
Responsible Decision-Making
Gaggle saves lives; but we’re also about improving lives. We assist schools and districts in shaping the moral horizons of their students and in fostering digital citizenship. With that said, responsible decision-making is perhaps the most challenging goal of SEL. It’s not simply a matter of modifying the behavior of students, but guiding their value system so that they respect themselves and others in their decisions.
By providing students with an awareness of what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior, and by providing schools and districts with the means for positive intervention into serious incidents, we help with the long process of shaping the young minds in the classroom.
When you plan and implement technological initiatives for the classroom, it’s important to maintain a broad view of education. Knowledge is power because it’s empowered with personal and social responsibility. Educational resources, likewise, should be empowered with resources that promote social and emotional learning.
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