Introduction

Welcome to A Day in the Life of the Jos, a game where students help the brother and sister team Jo and Josie make decisions about situations they encounter online as they go about a typical day in their lives.

The modules in A Day in the Life of the Jos are represented as five days in a month in the lives of Jo and Josie, with each day covering a topic that research has identified as being important for youth:

• October 2: Defusing the Drama (Cyberbullying)
• October 6: Who’s Watching Me Now? (Data Privacy)
• October 16: Think Before You Share (Privacy and Reputation)
• October 22: Other People’s Pictures (Privacy Ethics)
• October 28: Fool Me Once… (Authentication)

Each day is further divided according to scenarios with issues or challenges that Jo and Josie encounter. These scenarios, which are based on genuine problems that youth ages 11-14 may face when using digital media, help students start to think critically about issues relating to online privacy and marketing, responsible Internet use, authenticating online resources and Internet safety. As students determine what actions should be taken by Jo or Josie, they receive feedback on the consequences of their decisions to help them learn key skills and knowledge. Each day ends with a recap of the choices players have made. Pilot testing has shown that students learn the most from this resource when they are encouraged to spend at least fifteen minutes per module.

Students can complete one lesson at a time or work through multiple lessons consecutively. While some lessons reference others, they can be completed independently. However, we also recommend that students not move on to another module immediately after finishing one, but wait until the teacher has led a class discussion about the chapter just completed as well as any of the optional activities tied to that chapter. (Students who have completed a module early should be encouraged to try again and beat their previous score while waiting for the rest of the class to finish.)

For an overview of A Day in the Life of the Jos, watch the introductory video below.

You can also read through the A Day in the Life of the Jos Teacher Guide.

Today’s lesson on cyberbullying covers key topics such as engaging in bullying, witnessing bullying, and being a target of bullying.