Moving forward, technology will always be familiar to students, but there are some things that students today may need to familiarize themselves with when it comes to being a digital citizen. What is digital citizenship for kids, what type of information should students be careful to share, what does one need to know about copyright, and what is cyberbullying?

What is Digital Citizenship and Why is it So Important?

According to the International Society for Technology in Education, or ISTE, digital citizenship goes beyond the ability to use technology responsibly. It is about being an active and contributing citizen of the digital world. Students need to learn how to show respect to others, even when they are hiding behind the comfort of their computer screen.

With the ability to connect to millions of people worldwide, there is so much to learn about when it comes to understanding and respecting others from different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs. The technology world is a very powerful one, which is why learning to be a positive digital citizen is so critical.

Digital Citizenship to Teach Your Students

Private Information

When it comes to technology and privacy, there are many things users need to fully understand. Because of this murk, personal privacy can be at risk. There is one organization who has created a landing base of information to help students better understand their safety and rights when it comes to sharing information.

The website, Teaching Privacy, is an informative website created by computer science professors partnered with educators at the University of California-Berkeley. The website breaks down privacy into ten principles, creating a sort of digital citizenship curriculum.

These principles include “You’re Leaving Footprints”, “Information is Valuable”, “Someone Could Listen”, and “Privacy Requires Work,” to name just a few. For every principal, there are articles included that provide examples of situations where someone misunderstood their privacy rights.

For example, one article wrote about how a man tried, and failed, to sue his family over an unwanted Facebook photo he was tagged in.

The website also provides educators with ideas on what they can do to ensure privacy in all areas, as well as a guide on ways to better control your own privacy. What it means to have “private information” on the internet is hard to understand, but this particular resource sheds a much-needed light on it.

Copyright 

Computers make it so easy to copy, paste, share, and create. Convenient and easy, but it also can make a thin line between casually sharing work and breaking laws. Copyright is the legal concept that art, writing, images, music, and more, belong to the people who create them.

This means that any original content one creates is their personal property. If others copy their work and pretend it is their own, they can run into legal trouble. If you are going to refer to someone else’s work, be sure to cite where you got the work from to give credit to the owner.

If you are going to use, change, or copy someone else’s work, you will need permission from the owner. This license you obtain will give you the permission needed to use their work. When in doubt, be sure to include where and who you got the information from in order to avoid any chance of copyright infringement.          

Cyberbullying

Bullying is not an unfamiliar word. In fact, it gets thrown around so often that sometimes people only understand the surface level definition. According to the American Psychological Association, bullying is a form of aggressive behavior where someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort. Bullying can be both physical and emotional.

Now enter the internet. Information is now able to be spread within seconds. Which means bullying has taken on a whole new life. Think about how easy hurtful comments can be posted on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. Or pictures that can be shared without someone’s permission.

With the prevalence of social media platforms, opportunities for harassment are endless. This new form of bullying described above is known as cyberbullying. This form of bullying has unique concerns as it can be persistent, permanent, and hard to notice. All states have laws that require schools to respond to bullying.

So, if you hear or see something, say something.

Technology is a huge part of our lives, and educational technology is a huge part of teaching. We work with it, learn with it, and play with it.

Students from here on out will be digital natives; us educators must teach students what it means to be a digital citizen and know digital literacy.

This way, students will learn how to positively contribute to the technological world and be respectful of all the members that make up it.

Interested in educational technology and want to expand your knowledge? Check out our available educational technology graduate programs and get started today!

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There are a plethora of definitions, info graphs, explanations, and interpretations of digital literacy. Most of them have commonalities. According to the ALA (American Library Association), digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills. To be deemed digitally literate, you must encompass specific skills. Those skills are as follows:

Creation and Creativity

Students need to be able to create. Not just for now, but for the future. We have a responsibility to teach them how to use their knowledge to create meaningful things and ideas. This requires creativity. Giving students the freedom to be creative and incorporate their interests and personal style in their assignments is empowering and prepares them for the world ahead.

Communication/Netiquette

Effective and appropriate communication is vital for digital literacy. In order to fully learn digitally, students must possess the skills to communicate what they have learned, their thoughts and questions, and collaborate with their peers. Students will communicate verbally during live sessions but will also communicate through essays, projects, presentations, assessments, and other assignments.

Netiquette is all about internet safety. Students may not realize that their digital footprints follow them forever. It’s important we teach them to communicate in a respectful manner at all times. They should also know what is considered inappropriate, how to identify it, and who to report it to.

Collaboration

Collaboration is another life skill that students will carry into their future. Collaborating digitally requires students to understand the task and how to use the resources given for that task. Collaboration does not have to be face to face to be effective. Once students understand the platform, the sky is the limit. Communication for digital literacy entails sharing, listening, note taking, and understanding each person’s role.

Functional Skills

Most children are very comfortable with technology. It is a part of their generational norms like my Walkman and Nintendo were for me and my peers in the 80s. No one had to teach me the basic functions of these devices. It was natural. Children nowadays seem to be born with basic functional skills. They use skills like searching the web, downloading, opening and closing documents, using apps, recording and editing videos, posting to social media, and more. This happens during their leisure time while on social media, watching YouTube, or messaging with friends. Even smaller children are prone to knowing how to manipulate V-tech toys, iPads, cell phones, and Osmos. The number of child YouTubers is massive. Some have their own channels, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, etc. These skills translate to class and schoolwork and force our teachers to also understand these skills in order to add value to the skillset they already have.

Although students have these innate skills, there are still other functional skills students should have to reach digital literacy which are related to the platforms and devices used by the school system. Universally, it is important that students gain keyboarding skills. Using a laptop or desktop is much different than the touchscreen on a phone for texting. Many aspects of technology have changed over time but one thing that remains the same is the arrangement of the keys on a keyboard. Our students will work in job positions that don’t exist yet and work to solve problems that we don’t have now. Having sound functional skills for technology is vital.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a given for any classroom setting. Students are to be challenged with rigor and the right amount of productive struggle, which forces them to think further than they would normally.

Why is Digital Literacy Important?

The swift change from face-to-face to virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has proven why digital literacy is important. Now, virtual learning is the only means of teaching and learning in many school districts. Students and parents are learning how to navigate new systems and complete assignments with accuracy. Even for students who are hybrid or are still attending school face to face daily, computers and other devices like Clear Touch boards, Parmethian boards, iPads, clickers, and a multitude of applications and websites are used to complete assignments.

Think about it this way, if all the tech devices that you own and use each day stopped working for one week, what would you do? How would you function? How would you communicate, teach, and learn? How would you pay your bills, order food, listen to music, or watch entertainment? Having the competencies to thrive with digital literacy is paramount.

Ways to Promote Digital Learning in Your Classroom

Assess what your students already know and are able to do. Assign groups of students with varying abilities to work together for assignments. We know students learn from one another. Teach students how to properly use the internet and determine which sources are credible and valuable.

Allow student choice in how they would like to complete assignments. Offer a choice board with multiple options. For example, for any given assignment, students would have the choice of completing it with a video presentation, a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation, a brochure, a journal entry or blog, a song they created, etc. Allow students to share with you the skillset they hold. The highest form of learning is teaching.

Promote the Ps of digital citizenship. These are: Passwords, Private Information, Personal Information, Photographs, Property, Permission, Protection, Professionalism, and Personal Brand. It’s essential that students understand the protocol; responsibility to be smart, safe and kind; and possible penalties that come with using the internet and other digital sources.

Digital literacy is not only important for students. Teachers and other school staff must also possess these skills in order to give their students the best and most comprehensive education possible. Many teachers struggle with technology and just don’t understand it. It can be intimidating for some. Degreed teachers from 20 years ago or more did not learn about digital literacy and how to use it in their classrooms in college. This is why teaching is and has always been about continuous personal and professional growth.

*Updated January, 2021

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