In an era where technology and digital platforms are integral to our daily lives, the role of digital citizenship is becoming increasingly important. This is especially true in educational settings. Equipping students with digital citizenship skills is essential to navigating the digital environment safely and responsibly. February 13, 2023 Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act Introduced in the Senate. The bill aims to strengthen media literacy education, help students counter disinformation, and ultimately strengthen digital citizenship.
The urgency of this educational effort is underscored by findings from a Pew Research Center study. 44% of adults ages 18-49 report being online most of the time. Therefore, schools must ensure that students, regardless of their starting level of digital literacy or degree of technology access outside the classroom, can leverage digital tools in an ethical and informed manner.
“As important moments in life increasingly occur in online spaces, it is also important to prepare young people to become meaningful contributors to the digital world.Digital citizenship helps children stay safe online. It’s not just about helping people solve real-world problems with technology, knowing how to balance their time between various online and offline activities, being a curious learner, and using digital tools. and to deepen relationships with family and friends.” said Richard Clutter, CEO of ISTE and ASCD.
Understanding the importance of digital citizenship led to the development of the five digital citizenship competencies. ISTE-led Digital Citizenship Coalition: Balanced, informed, comprehensive, proactive, and alert.Beyond digital citizenship competenciesISTE offers a variety of resources designed to help educators prepare students to use technology safely, ethically, and effectively. Practicing digital citizenship This is an ISTE U course that allows you to earn graduate-level credits.
EdSurge recently spoke with Christina Scheffel, an educational technology expert who supports teachers throughout the Indian River School District in Sussex County, Delaware, about the importance of teaching digital citizenship. All students in the district, which has approximately 11,000 students and her 900 faculty and staff, Included with Chromebook They can be taken home. Delaware has come a long way. Give students access to technology at homeprimarily through the provision of Wi-Fi hotspots.
EdSurge: Why is digital citizenship so important?
Scheffel: Teachers and students alike are all spending a lot of time online at the moment. Technology is no longer special as we spend so much time online. It has completely penetrated our daily life. Even the youngest students are doing computer-based activities. Therefore, it is very important for us to make them understand from a young age how to stay safe online, how to interact appropriately online, and how to apply the rules of technology etiquette.
I think it is important to start digital citizenship as early as possible. I have a 3 year old and he sees me using my cell phone a lot. It’s important that he understands that I put my phone away to pay attention to him. It’s part of digital citizenship. It’s part of a balanced ability. Therefore, any method that allows you to model good behavior as early as possible is important.
How do you and your technology team support digital citizenship?
There’s a lot of work going on. Initially, due to the pandemic, our main goal was just to help staff and students understand how to use technology. We brought everyone up to speed by providing professional learning about technology and how it is integrated into every aspect of the curriculum.
We need to get over it and start learning how to use technology responsibly as staff, students, and families. We interact with technology as an important aspect of our daily activities. It is our responsibility as schools to ask our students to use technology and prepare them for a world full of technology. [and teachers] So that we can use it safely, effectively, and for good.
To support our staff, we model digital citizenship during professional development to show teachers what they can do with their students to promote appropriate behavior online.
Our approach to involving families has been a learning process. Initially, our district organized a digital citizenship night and distributed promotional materials to engage families, but attendance was low. So we changed our strategy.
Incorporating digital citizenship into existing school activities has proven to be more successful. We have found that parents and guardians receive information better when it comes from their child’s school or from someone they trust – their child’s teacher. They are not going to listen to her IT person at the district office.
The technology team designed and distributed packets of technology tips for students to schools, including rewriting the terms and conditions in student-friendly language. When I entered the classroom to solve an unrelated problem, I saw the teacher printing out the packet to send home and adding a signature line for parents to sign. That way it will reach your family!
What trends have you noticed in your students regarding digital citizenship and well-being?
Last year, we interviewed students from various K-12 schools in our district about their technology habits at school and at home. One of the trends that followed was that many students felt they had to constantly be on their devices because they didn’t want to miss out on time. Fear of missing out on opportunities keeps students glued to their phones, which only increases their anxiety. That behavior has been observed in many adults, myself included. Our technology team is brainstorming ways to address this issue, even if it’s just by raising people’s awareness so we can discuss this issue more deeply.
What is the importance of the five digital citizenship competencies?
balanced What’s important is the balance between online and offline. That behavior can influence whether students have difficulty closing their devices when they shouldn’t have them or whether they try to sneak a glance at their phones when they’re supposed to be participating in class. there is.
informed It’s about gathering reliable information to process what you see online. This is very important in school, especially in content areas where you are writing research papers and citing sources. When I was an English teacher, getting information was an important part of my classes.
comprehensive This is actually part of the citizenship of digital citizenship, which is to treat others with respect and empathy.
engaged It’s all about using technology for good. Often we tend to focus on the negative aspects, but this is because the negative aspects can be quite frightening, especially cyberbullying and other unethical online behavior. Of course. But there’s also a lot we can do with technology.
Alert It’s all about safety, which until now seemed to be the main focus of many digital citizenship initiatives, right? There’s a lot of potential for anyone online, whether you’re a student or an adult, to get into trouble. There are many places where it is important to know how to stay safe.
The five competencies are critical to helping students navigate the digital world, and the public knows it too. Delaware passes media literacy bill, which was created partly because of the issues that arose in digital citizenship. The existence of this law and the push to improve media literacy in classrooms shows that the community recognizes the importance of digital citizenship in our society.
