What is Digital Citizenship?
As technology and the impact of technology on our society has evolved, so has the definition of Digital Citizenship. Not so long ago, digital citizenship in schools focused on a narrow area of "internet safety." Stranger danger and feared based practices were all too common. Students were provided with a long list of "don'ts," but with little exploration of the broader concepts associated with using technology. Fortunately, the umbrella of Digital Citizenship has widened to include concepts (i.e., digital literacy-media and social), skills, knowledge, and dispositions to prepare students to take ownership of their digital learning, and responsibly navigate, participate, engage and create with the increasingly pervasive and now arguably indispensable digital and social technologies that are rapidly changing the way we live, work and learn.
“Digital citizenship can be defined as the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use" (Ribble, 2015, p.15).
9 Elements of
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“digital citizens are learners who use their technology-driven powers conscientiously — and with empathy — to help make the world a better place” (ISTE, 2017)
With the refresh of ISTE standards (Students & Educators) the ISTE digital citizenship definition evolved by taking students beyond the protective and to the proactive. "Respect, education, and protection are still important foundations of digital citizenship, but today's digital learners also need to understand the power they have to advocate, collaborate and drive change through technology" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2018) |
“the responsible use of technology to learn, create, and participate” (James, Weinstein, Mendoza, 2019)
Common Sense Education includes the focus of fostering both necessary skills and essential dispositions. Click the image below to learn about Skills vs. Dispositions.
Common Sense Media research has found six topics that pose opportunities and challenges for students: 1. Media balance and well being 2. Privacy and security 3. Digital footprint and identity 4. Relationships and communication 5. Cyberbullying, digital drama, and hate speech 6. News and media literacy |
Why should we be teaching Digital Citizenship in School?The youth are our future & Global Citizens
Education promises to equip every child with the behaviors, knowledge & skills to become responsible and contributing citizens. With the advances in technology, our world is transforming rapidly and becoming more interconnected. Using technology is no longer a choice but a necessity. Just as we’re citizens in the physical world of our towns, cities, countries and globally, we’re also citizens of the digital or virtual world. And just as citizenship in the physical world comes with rights and responsibilities, so too does digital citizenship. To keep our promise of preparing our students to be responsible contributing citizens, educators must prepare students to leverage technology for the positive potentials while having the proper disposition, knowledge, and skills to navigate challenges, ethical dilemmas and unknowns that most certainly will arise.
Meeting Youth Where They’re AtToday's youth's lives are deeply rooted in social and media technology. They lead immensely connected and networked lives. Take a look at CommonSense.org in collaboration with Project Zero of Harvard Graduate School of Education most resent research.
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Hear more from two experts on Digital citizenship
In the podcast, Mike Ribble shares five important things every educator should know about digital citizenship. He discusses that digital citizenship is not just about safety. Online safety is a good starting point especially for our younger learner, but as educators, we need to build on that to include digital access, professional development, social engagement and how to move our students forward in education with technology.
In this two-part podcast, Anne Collier discusses digital citizenship with a focus on civic engagement, student voice, and leadership that enables students to be full citizens in society. To participate, we all need to be fluent in three literacies: Social, Media & Digital. She examines the issue of well being and comparing active and passive use of technology. The podcast finishes off with some practical tips
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About This Site
This website was created for educators or anyone who would like to learn more about Digital Citizenship to support youth in accessing and using technology to learn, create, and participate responsibly in the digital world. You will explore and discover resources while learning best practice in teaching Digital Citizenship.
The site will explore in depth Digital Rights and Responsibilities, Digital Access, and Digital Communication. You can navigate to those topics from both the menu bar at the top and the bottom of the page. Please check out the Resources page for links to all the resources cited throughout the site. Also, clicking on most graphics embedded in this site will open a larger image view and bold italic fonts are links.
The site will explore in depth Digital Rights and Responsibilities, Digital Access, and Digital Communication. You can navigate to those topics from both the menu bar at the top and the bottom of the page. Please check out the Resources page for links to all the resources cited throughout the site. Also, clicking on most graphics embedded in this site will open a larger image view and bold italic fonts are links.
Home Digital Rights & Responsibilities Digital Access Digital Communication Resources
Teaching Digital Citizenship by Sandy Coleman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.