This article, by Julie King, director of educational technology at The Buckley School (NYC), is the first in a series entitled “What Are The Currents of Connection?” There will be four articles, with the remaining three focused on: a) Are we underestimating the ability of today’s students to juggle narratives, curriculum, and experiences? b) Avenues of engagement: identities and assessment; and c) Who and where are our students online?

In a year that has seen students’ screen time grow exponentially, parents and educators alike are concerned about every minute children spend online. Educators often draw clear lines between learning online and playing online, but that division is far more blurred for students. If we, as educators, understand that curriculum is dynamic — informed by learners themselves — considering students’ digital identity development and community membership can create new avenues and spaces for student engagement in our classrooms. 

Whether learning is mediated by screens or masks, or fully in-person, students’ digital identities and communities exist as an invisible current of thought and emotion in the classroom. Group texts and game notifications await students’ attention; references to their online lives pepper in-class conversations; and connections to who they are in digital…