Digital Citizenship

Digital technology is becoming more involved in K-12 classrooms each and every year. More students are online in schools today than ever before and even young students in elementary schools are online. The technology is fantastic and allows students to learn in ways they never could before, however this may cause problems, especially within younger classrooms. Children need to learn about digital citizenship at a younger age in order to be safe and responsible online. As teachers we can be the ones to show all ages of students what digital citizenship is, and show them how to appropriately and responsibly use technology.

When taking a look at Ribble’s Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship, some points could be taught to younger students, even as young as grades 1 and 2. While other topics might be better taught to older students. Taking a look at some points that can be taught to young students, the first being “Digital Etiquette”. Digital Etiquette is exactly as it sounds, think about others while online and treating others online with respect. Just like when the students are offline, they should still be respectful and considerate online. “Digital Fluency” could start being taught at a young age as well, teaching young students to understand technology and its uses. It is good for students to be able to digitally fluent and have the knowledge to decipher what is true or false online for example.

Some points are more advanced than those previously mentioned and would be better taught at an older age. One example of such a point would be “Digital Rights and Responsibility”. Digital Rights and Responsibility means to understand the freedom and rights they have online, and the responsibility to help and inform others online when the opportunity arises. The second point I found was “Digital Security and Privacy”. As the title says, this point is important for students to learn as it teaches them to be safe online. Students need to learn how to avoid computer viruses, as well as keep their information private and secure. Not only will it help keep the devices safe, but the student as well.

There are nine points total in Ribble’s Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship but these are some I found to be important and easily taught to students. It is important for students to learn about Digital Citizenship in school today. With technology ever-growing, students are always online and these nine points are important to create, safe, responsible, and just better online users.