Digital Citizenship In The Classroom

As we know, society today is highly digital. We can do almost anything online - communication, shopping, learning, teaching, etc. This is the society that our students are growing up in, and often we assume that means that they know what they're doing online; however, since this society is all they know, there's a tendency for them to forget or not understand the dangers that can be present online or how they should be conducting themselves online. This is also a new age for parents, as most parents did not grow up with the digital access that we have today, and therefore don't know how to teach their kids to use it effectively. This task has ultimately become a teacher's responsibility to help students understand digital citizenship.

Mike Ribble has outlined in his website the "Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship" which are:

1. Digital Access - the equitable distribution of technology and online resources

2. Digital Commerce - the electronic buying and selling of goods, and the tools and safeguards in place to assist people in using money in the digital space

3. Digital Communication and Collaboration - the electronic exchange of information

4. Digital Etiquette - refers to the electronic standards of conduct or procedures and deals with the process of thinking about others when using digital devices

5. Digital Fluency - the process of understanding technology and its use

6. Digital Health and Welfare - the physical and psychological wellbeing in a digital world

7. Digital Law - the electronic responsibility for actions and deeds and has to do with the creation of rules and policy that address issues related to the online world.

8. Digital Rights and Responsibilities - those requirements and freedoms extended to everyone in the digital space

9. Digital Security and Privacy - the electronic precautions to guarantee safety

Digital Citizenship encompasses all nine of these factors and they all should be present in a well-rounded education of digital citizenship.

As a future teacher, I believe that digital citizenship should be an ongoing process of learning. These principles should not be taught just in one go, but taught throughout the students education. Since technology is constantly changing, students should constantly be learning about how to be safe.

Since I am a science teacher, a lot of these principles fit in well with the Health curriculum, and others are a bit trickier to combine into learning. Despite that, these are some ideas/resources of how I would teach/approach digital citizenship.

1. Digital Access

   Despite this being a social world, a lot of students or schools still may not have access to certain digital tools - if at all. One way to address this is to always have a plan for what to do when students may not have access to digital tools. For example, assigning research projects are great for science because it allows students to learn on their own and learn about things that are interesting to them. In saying that though, we have to be aware that some students can only use internet at school, so they may need extra time or different resources if they are required to work on the project outside of class time.

2. Digital Commerce

   Digital commerce is tricky to teach directly in a science classroom. However, I do think that learning about research skills could be beneficial in this area. Teaching students how to research online effectively can actually translate into helping them decide whether or not a source online is reputable to buy from or not.

3. Digital Communication and Collaboration

   Communication and collaboration is a huge aspect of science, and has been greatly improved as technology has improved. Looking at how digital communication has benefitted the science community could be a great way to model the effective use of technology. We can also look into ways that easy access to communication and collaboration online has lead to skewed science (ex. pseudoscience).

4. Digital Etiquette and  (7) Rights and Responsibility

   This element fits in really well with the health 9 curriculum (USC9.2). I think it's important in this element to have discussions about morality and what it means to be in the online space. It's really important to have students understand that there is someone else on the other side of the screen.

5. Digital Fluency

   Again, this could be taught along with research practices, and in showing students how to find reputable sources.

6. Digital Health and Welfare

   Students have a lot to think about when it comes to health and welfare online. When discussing health and welfare, it's important to talk about relationships online, balance in using digital tools, how people are treating each other, how to examine things in the media, etc.

7. Digital Law

   This is another one that fits well into the health curriculum. When discussing this though, I think it's important to not use scare tactics for students. Scare tactics often are not effective, and they also may make it harder for students to speak up when they are in situations that may involve the law. It's important for students to understand the laws, but also be able to have somewhere to go when they are in trouble. A good standard of practice when discussing this would be to have discussions and ensure that students know they have a safe space to talk should they need it.

8. Digital Security and Privacy

   Doing a lot of research in science requires looking at many different websites. This may open students up to viruses and other unsafe things on the internet. Teaching students about researching habits and internet safety before doing any of these types of projects can also translate into using those habits outside of the classroom.

   
   

   One website that I found in my searches is called Common Sense Education. This is a free website to help teachers with teaching digital citizenship. It provides multiple resources such as videos and lesson plans for every grade level, including lessons for AI Literacy, relationships online, cyberbullying, etc.

   
   

   Is there any websites you recommend for teaching digital citizenship in the classroom?