Digital Citizenship

What is Digital Citizenship?

Heick (2018) defined digital citizenship as “the quality of habits, actions, and consumption patterns that impact the ecology of digital content and communities”. This includes communicating with respect, respecting other users’ privacy, taking pause to see things from another perspective, adding valuable information/context to a discussion or blog page, supporting others by offering useful feedback, encouraging them, or sharing work they’re proud of, etc. Easy, right?

Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship

Ribble’s nine elements of digital citizenship provide a helpful framework for understanding the major components of digital citizenship. The nine elements have become a standard part of digital citizenship curricula both in Canada and internationally.

Issues of Digital Citizenship

Ohler (2011) shares a few of the issues that a comprehensive digital citizenship curriculum should address.

Balance: Understanding past, present, and possible future effects of technology. Cultivating a sense of balance that considers opportunity as well as responsibility, empowerment as well as caution, personal fulfillment as well as community and global well-being.

Safety and security:  Understanding how online actions might lead to harm to yourself or others. Includes protecting your own privacy, respecting that of others, and recognizing inappropriate online communications and sites (such as sexual material and other resources intended for adults).

Cyberbullying: Understanding the potentially devastating effects of cyberbullying and how it violates ethical principles of personal integrity, compassion, and responsible behavior.

Sexting: Understanding the negative consequences of using a cell phone to take and transmit pictures of a sexual nature of oneself or others.

Copyright and plagiarism. Respecting others' intellectual property rights and reflecting on the legality and ethics of using online materials without permission.

Why is Digital Citizenship Important?

Meeting our students where they are means the blending of their two lives together which also means that we need to set goals that require them to see the technology that is largely invisible to them and to evaluate that technology in terms of its opportunities and responsibilities (Ohlar, 2011). Thus, part of our job is to help students not only use technology, but also question it.

In “Digital Education in Saskatchewan Schools”, Couros and Hilderbrandt (2015) explain that Digital Citizenship is important because “as schools have played a role in preparing students to be citizens in the traditional sense, educators must now ensure that our children are ready to be active and responsible participants in our increasingly digital society.” Knowing that our students spend a significant amount of time on the internet, we need to ensure that we guide students in developing digital skills that they can use for learning and transfer to their personal lives. We cannot rely on the narrative that because students have grown up with technology they will know how to effectively and responsibly utilize technology.

Citizenship requires participation. Digital communities similarly require participation, and we as educators have a role to play in preparing our learners to contribute in these communities in meaningful, accountable and respectful ways. Institutions also have a responsibility to provide a safe space for students to support this participation.

Many education institutions have created Acceptable Use Policies. These policies focus on the use of technology in classrooms but can be restrictive in nature with a focus on controlling unfavourable behaviours. Many operate on the principle that students will lose the privilege of accessing technology if they do not adhere to the rules.

Alternatively, Digital Citizenship policies support the idea that technology is for enhancing learning. In working to build an effective balance between open-access to information and communications to enable student learning and the need for addressing potential student-risk, fundamental conversations may be hosted with stakeholders that examine the values and the culture held within the institution’s administration. Developing a Digital Citizenship policy shifts the language from restrictive or punitive to one of responsibility that focuses on what students should do. Ensuring students are part of creating these policies ensures accountability and ownership. This may also increase engagement. Correctly preparing students to be good digital citizens also means the development of effective digital leaders.

References

Couros, A. and Hilderbrandt, K. (2015). Digital Citizenship Education in Saskatchewan Schools. Retrieved from file:///D:/Downloads/83322-DC_Guide_-_ENGLISH_2%20(1).pdf

Heick, T. (2018). The Definition of Digital Citizenship. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/the-definition-of-digital-citzenship/

Ohlar, J. (2011). Character Education for the Digital Age. Retrieved from https://sshspd.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/59899315/Character%20Education%20in%20the%20Digital%20Age.pdf