What is a "21st Century Curriculum"? (Part 9 of 9)

The current tagline of Christian Heritage Academy is "A 21st Century Curriculum. An Eternal Perspective." This post concludes a nine-part series explaining what we mean by the first half of that phrase: A 21st Century Curriculum.

9. Teach, verify and enforce good digital citizenry from a Christian perspective and better understand the consequences of digital communication, digital relationships and technological advances on the educational, social and spiritual lives of our students. As I noted, students learn differently now as a result of their exposure to multimedia technology. There are also significant difference and broader consequences to inappropriate digital communications, as well as unique and significant dangers, that students must be aware of. Unfortunately, this area changes rapidly as new communication tools, such as Twitter become commonplace before we understand the consequences of their use. The only real protection is working on the hearts of our students so that they do not try to use technology in an inappropriate manner. This is also a great strength of Christianity as it has focused on understanding issues of the heart for 2000 years. Our school benefits from this focus and our consequent ability to appeal to hearts as well as minds and provide biblical reasons for proper usage rather than merely attempting to stay one technological step ahead. However, we must provide a coherent and current biblical framework for our students, and we must focus on, and explain, consequences of inappropriate digital technology. Our students will say and do things online they would never say and do in person. This clearly outlines the fact that they inherently do not understand consequences and must be taught. The school, home and church need to work together in this area or we will fail, and if we do, the consequences are unimaginable for our families, our churches and our nation.