Digital Citizenship: Crucial for all ages

 

Credit: Common Sense Education

    The above video "Meet the Digital Citizens: Arms" is one I just showed my six-year-old daughter. It talks about having balance between being on a device, like a tablet, phone, or computer, and activities that are not on a device. My daughter loved this little lesson.

    When I asked my daughter the question at the end of the video: "How do you balance technology in your life?" Her response: "Mom, you set a timer on your phone when it's time to get off our tablets!"

    So true! That's not all we do around our house, but even at age 6, my daughter understands the importance of technology balance. She understands that there are times she needs to not be in front of a screen. 

    Digital Citizenship is essential the first step to becoming media literate in the 21st Century (CyberWise, 2011). 

    Digital citizenship can teach students a sense of identity, sense of privacy, sense of ownership and authorship, trustworthiness and credibility, and what it means to participate in the digital community (CyberWise, 2011).

    The program teaches students to think about their own identities online and prepares them for the digital world. This works better instead of just shielding, or banning, students from the digital world (CyberWise, 2011).

    

Credit: CyberWise

    What does it mean to be ethical in the new digital media? 

•     Sense of idenity
•     Sense of privacy
•     Sense of ownership and authorship
•     Sense of trustworthiness and credibility
•     What it means to participate in the digital community

    I teach high school students. Everyday I see students posting on social media all that they do, good, bad, and ugly. I try to encourage my students that the identity they are creating online is just like their real life identity. It's important that what they post, react to, or write cannot come back to haunt them in their future. 

    Common Sense Education offers a free digital citizenship curriculum for educators. Their curriculum starts at age 5, for kindergarten. Yes, even children that young, as young as my daughter, understand about making good choices online. 

    We are teaching a generation that was born during the internet and smartphone age. That is their world and they don't know a world without it. While adult still remember a time with the World Wide Web, teenagers and children do not. Their world has always been online, instant, and personalized for their use.

    We must, as teachers, educate students how to better use this technology in this world. This means as teachers, we must think outside the box in how we teach.

    Curriculum that encourages students to identify real problems and then take steps to solve them encourages critical thinking, decision making, and creativity (Warner, et al. 2018).

    All Common Sense Education Curriculum for each grade include lessons on the following:

•     Media Balance & Well-Being
•     Privacy & Security
•     Digital Footprint & Identity
•     Relationships & Communication
•     Cyberbulling, Digital Drama & Hate Speech
•     News & Media Literacy 

    As a journalist, I am a big advocate for news and media literacy. To me, in a world where anyone thinks they can become a "journalist," I feel it's important for students to learn how to find real news and not get their news from so-called influencers on social media. 

    PBS NewsHour created a series for educators on Media Literacy. I use these lessons frequently in my classroom. It it presented by students, and it shows everything from spotting manipulated photos online to spreading misinformation. 

Credit: PBS NewsHour

    As a mom, I also feel that digital citizenship should be taught in schools on a regular basis. I feel that it is a course all students should have at least once. 

     Digital citizenship can help students think through ethical dilemmas online, everyday in a safe, offline environment (CyberWise, 2011). It can help students talk about those tough online situations, and find good solutions for them. 

    Instead of shielding them, we need to prepare students for the online world they live.  

References: 

PBS (2023, May 24). Lesson plan: How to short-circuit misinformation before it spreads online. PBS NewsHour Classroom. Retrieved September 17, 2023, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/classroom/lesson-plans/2023/05/lesson-plan-how-to-short-circuit-misinformation-before-it-spreads-online

Prepare your students for success in a connected world. Common Sense Education. (n.d.). https://www.commonsense.org/education

Warner, C. K., Bell, C. V., & Odom, A. L. (2018). Defining Technology for Learning: Cognitive and Physical Tools of Inquiry. Middle Grades Review, 4(1), Article2. https://doi.org/2018

[YouTube]. (2011, June 26). What is Digital Citizenship? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/oCkTmZ0bF5Q?si=R6qCALO8wAvMp_XU