To be clear, digital citizenship is not simply teaching the use of digital tools, but is the process of preparing students for life in a world full of abundant skills related to technology (Kim, 2018). As the world continues to advance technologically, students must be aware of not only how to use different forms of technology, but fully understand the relationship between technology and digital citizenship, as well as understand their own responsibility within the participation of online forums. Digital citizenship is a broad concept with a variety of definitions. A general definition is as follows: “The quality of habits, actions, and consumption patterns that impact the ecology of digital content and communities.” (Heick, 2018). Digital citizenship incorporates a number of different aspects of an individual’s behaviour and participation with technology and the online community, including but not limited to: use of technology, engagement within social networking sites, respecting multiple perspectives presented online, (as well as sharing one’s own opinion respectfully) researching and determining the validity and credibility of online sources, standing up to cyberbullying, maintaining personal privacy and safety within online forums, as well as being aware of the consequences of spending too much time online (physical, mental, etc.).
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Uses of Internet and Technology by Canadians. Statistics Canada, 2017
"Digital Citizenship is not about replacing who we are in the real world but about expanding the possibilities of who we might become when we know and understand how to harness the power of our digital tools" (Ribble, 2018). |
Digital Economy by in Canada. Statistics Canada, 2018
"We must prepare the next generations by integrating and continually revising and updating digital citizenship training into their education" (Preddy, 2016). |
As society continues to shift toward a digital world, schools, educators, and administrators are "embracing the notion of teaching students about media literacy and safe and responsible internet use" (Gleason and von Gillern, 2018).
While the internet can be a portal for students to expand on their knowledge and interests, connect with individuals globally and find out more about themselves and the world than ever before, there are also several dangers that are present in online life. These dangers include, but are not limited to, cyberbullying, sexting, harmful contact, and other psychological or physical threats (Gleason and von Gillern, 2018). It is important to educate students to recognize and avoid such threats throughout their online experiences. It is crucial for all students to understand that "our responsibilities are no longer just the immediate, face-to-face community in which we live, but also our ever-expanding digital communities" (Preddy, 2016). Education is meant to prepare students and our responsibility is to help prepare youth for the digital world in which they will live and work. Digital citizenship is heavily entrenched within this digital world. The purpose of education is also to produce valuable citizens within society. Everyone who participates in the digital world is a digital citizen, they just do not always practice digital citizenship. However, the teaching of digital citizenship is not all that different from standard citizenship that all children are taught in school, the challenge for teachers is applying these life lessons to the online world (Bolkan, 2014). Concepts of literacy are forever changing, and while some may resist these changes, this resource focuses on embracing and preparing for these changes. For example, according to Ventimiglia and Pullman (2016), "whenever the dominant medium of communication changes, controversy follows. When oral communication was replaced by written literacy as the main means of recording and transferring knowledge...Socrates was recorded to have complained, 'No written discourse, whether in meter or in prose, deserves to be treated very seriously'". We now know that written literacy replacing oral communication opened up the world to new possibilities, and it is critical that we do not resist the transition to online information, but instead work to prepare youth to participate in a digital age responsibly and effectively.
What makes this difficult for educators is fact that technology continues to advance and progress at such a rapid rate, it is challenging to know the specific skills students should be learning. With that being said, it is important to understand and accept that digital citizenship will need to be adapted as new technology uses begin to bring up issues that are unknown to us today. Today's modern concept of literacy demonstrates the need for a new model of digital citizenship. Teachers need to be a part of as it is considered a "new form of civic learning" (Gleason and von Gillern, 2018).
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