I think that as teachers the best way to approach digital citizenship is to keep on learning and educating ourselves about the technology around us. Doing our best to be informed so we know what students are facing in their daily lives so we can be supportive and answer questions when necessary. Social media, phones, computers, AI,  all these things that students use to communicate and interact are 24/7 and a bigger part of their lives than their teachers. But it is our job to help them navigate the real world as well as the digital world, helping them understand the risks online are just as real as they are in the rea world. We are taught in our daily lives growing up to be “good citizens” based on good morals and that tends to be forgotten by some people because you feel a lot more disconnected and anonymous online.

woman reading blog online on computer

In the Ribble artile, it talks about the guiding principle of being Savvy and creating well informed and educated Digital citizens. The constant growth of technology forces us all to always be learning and sharing what we learn with our students.  Now as we become more used to it and the digital world becomes more ingrained into every facet of our lives, there is an expectation that kids are naturals at learning technology since they were born in the digital age. The more we get into the future, the more real this becomes as companies and app developers make them easier and easier to use for the public. 

The article also talks about the Safety category and the importance of teaching our students to protect themselves from scams, predators, and untrustworthy people. Online they have to understand how to interact with the internet in a safe way because unfiltered and uninformed access to the internet can be dangerous for young kids. Students need to learn how they can try to keep themselves safe from things like doxxing, stalkers or identity theft.

I would try to incorporate the 9 elements into other subjects and topics that are being taught. Trying to integrate learning about digital citizenship in everything we do in the classroom whether it is using the computer at school to do research or taking pictures and talking about how sharing them online is not such a harmless and risk free thing as some may think. I think a lot of kids now a days do understand that being online and having that digital footprint is very real but I think some just need that education and reality check about the what being online really means.

Jason Ohler writes about how our inherent human need to communicate, survive and thrive in a community has lead to us needing to expand how we see citizenship. The online world has made the world embrace different cultures, communities, languages and many other things but with that also comes the need to teach our youth this new type of citizenship. Teaching and reminding our students to use empathy, personal accountability and common sense whether they are online or in the real world.

I included this video because i think it does a good job of explaining how digital citizenship encompasses our lives in kid friendly language!