THE IMPORTANCE OF IMPLEMENTING A DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP CURRICULUM IN K-12

 

Education is always evolving. In the past 20 years, we have seen technology become a big part of how we teach and how we learn. Along the way, we, as educators, have discovered that students are using technology more and more, and at younger ages. Whereas students use to have time in computer labs learning and working, many schools are now equipping their students with iPads inside the classroom and Google Chromebooks for the school year.

Just because schools give students these devices, that doesn’t mean they know how to use them safely. While schools may put internet filters on the devices, many students, especially at the middle school and high school levels, can find ways around the filters. This may lead them into sites that can be harmful, misleading, or, even worse, targeting youth for illegal activities.

The Nielson Company (2009) reports that by age ten over half of youth own or borrow a cell phone, while six out of ten own a cell phone at age eleven, and three-fourths of youth age twelve own a cell phone (Hollandsworth, Dowdy and Donovan, ­2011).

Skills and knowledge are needed to be effective in the increasingly social media environment, where the private and public worlds are becoming more blurred creating new ethical challenges and opportunities for children, young people, and adults (Walters, Gee and Mohammed, 2021).

This is why the implementation of a Digital Citizenship Curriculum is needed in all school systems for all grade levels.

Digital Citizenship in Schools

Digital citizenship simply describes the acceptable, ethical, and responsible use of technology (Walters, Gee and Mohammed, 2019). It can refer to being a citizen of social networking platforms and online shopping to the ways that classic traditional models of citizenship and civic forums (Pangrazio and Sefton-Green, 2020).

Digital citizenship is increasingly becoming a topic of conversation among educators, especially with incidents of cyberbullying, online harassment, and sexting (Phillips and Lee, 2017). In most high school journalism classes, some forms of digital citizenship are taught when instructing students on how to post their school news to social media or videos to YouTube. Some journalism programs also discuss media literacy and how to figure out if the news they are reading online is true or false. However, a full digital curriculum is often not seen in most schools, especially at the elementary level.

School districts have no problems giving students Google Chromebooks to personally use during the school year, but they do not teach them the responsibility of being good citizens online.  Teachers who provide opportunities for students to develop quality digital-literacy skills such as navigating and evaluating online platforms and comprehending the building blocks of computer and device use such as email, search engines, word processing, and producing are preparing students to be better 21st-century workers (Walters, Gee and Mohammed, 2019).

Teachers are already using multiple technological tools in the classroom. Besides computers, many schools now have smart television sets where teachers access YouTube for educational videos and use educational programs like Quizlet and EdPuzzle to keep students engaged.

Teaching about digital citizenship is mainly seen as negative under the term “Internet Safety,” which has evolved from warnings about the risks that come with meeting online connections in person, and methods of prevention and intervention in cyberbullying and online harassment (Phillips and Lee, 2019). However, there is more to digital citizenship than just scaring students.

Digital Citizenship Curriculum

Digital citizenship curriculums are available, many of them free, to educators. Common Sense Media currently offers a free curriculum for grades K-12. The curriculum has six main areas of focus: media balance and well-being, privacy and security, digital footprint and identity, relationships and communication, cyberbullying, digital drama, and hate speech, and news and media literacy (Phillips and Lee, 2019).

Common Sense Media isn’t the only one out there. ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) also has its own curriculum for educators. ISTE breaks down their curriculum for students, educators, technology directors and administrators. In fact, the ISTE curriculum clearly states that digital citizenship as the one common theme across all sets of their standards (Hollandsworth, Dowdy and Donovan, ­2011).

While the curriculums are there, the key question is how to get school districts to implement these lessons?

In 2015 the Utah State Legislature passed a law mandating schools provide digital citizenship instruction (Phillips and Lee, 2019). However, not all states have a mandated law. That is why implementing a digital citizenship curriculum is beneficial to all school districts. Sending students into the real world without teaching them the basic concepts of legal, ethical, and moral conduct is unacceptable (Hollandsworth, Dowdy and Donovan, ­2011). These same concepts can be implemented into the digital society. Students must be taught digital citizenship and digital literacy to become better educated citizens.

This education needs to start at the elementary level. Students are maturing fast than those in previous generations due to digital technology increasing in their lives (Walters, Gee and Mohammed, 2019).

Elementary school teachers need specific professional development that helps them prepare for technology use in the classroom to ensure students have opportunities to learn the necessary safe practices for technology use (Walters, Gee and Mohammed, 2019).

When educators emphasize digital citizenship in the educational setting, students engage in appropriate online-behavior practices (Walters, Gee and Mohammed, 2019). Therefore, it is not only valuable for educators to have knowledge about digital citizenship but to also implement sound practices into their instruction with technology.

The digital world is growing more complex. School districts need to move forward in teaching students to better citizens in person and in the digital world.

References

Hollandsworth, R., Dowdy, L., & Donovan, J. (2011). Digital citizenship in K-12: It takes a village. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 55(4).

Phillips, A. L., & Lee, V. R. (2019). Whose Responsibility Is It? A Statewide Survey of School Librarians on Responsibilities and Resources for Teaching Digital Citizenship. School Library Research, 22.

Walters, M. G., Gee, D., & Mohammed, S. (2019). A literature review: Digital citizenship and the elementary educator. International Journal of Technology in Education, 2(1), 1-21.

Pangrazio, L., & Sefton-Green, J. (2021). Digital rights, digital citizenship and digital literacy: What’s the difference?. NAER: Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 10(1), 15-27.