Talking about technology in education is a difficult topic because of everyone’s personal relationship with technology. Some may deny being addicted to their phones, deny that phones are a distraction, and many deny that technology can be extremely harmful. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with everyone having their own opinions of technology, but problems can arise when we discuss education and technology. Technology in the classroom can be a very controversial topic, as said, many people, families, students, and teachers, have staggering opinions on what technology in classrooms looks like. As educators, they need to incorporate technology into the classroom in a respectful and appropriate way. Technology is unavoidable, we all know that; what most don’t know is how to approach digital citizenship.
As an student in education, I believe that technology needs to be appropriately incorporated and taught in school. This is because many have varying opinions and knowledge about technology, meaning that parents of students will also have varying opinions and knowledge. This means that schools need to step up and educate students about digital citizenship.
As an aspiring educator, I would approach digital citizenship in the classroom at a young age. Now this doesn’t mean that I’m going to tell a classroom of kindergarteners that there’s scary people on the internet who want to hurt them. I believe that digital citizenship needs to be taught over time, because there are so many layers to it.
Reviewing the nine elements of digital citizenship, all of the elements are important, so it can be difficult on where to start. For young students, I would start introducing digital citizenship with the elements: Digital Security and Privacy, Digital Etiquette and Digital Fluency. Although all of the elements are important, I believe that these elements are especially important because they provide a fundamental view of digital citizenship. Think about it, when you are showing someone something new, you always warn them of what could happen and how to be safe. This is where digital security and privacy is important. Students need to be able to keep themself safe online, that is the number one priority. Then there is the digital etiquette element, which is also important and can be helpful in a non technological atmosphere. Digital etiquette “has to do with the process of thinking about others when using digital devices“. The main idea is thinking about others when using digital devices, which is extremely important to teach, as what happens on the internet, affects people off the internet. Digital Fluency is about understand technology and it’s various uses, students need to know how technology can be used in an academic environment, but especially how technology can be used everywhere. They need to learn how technology is (believe it or not) not everything! The elements can be taught using fun engaging activities, although the activities can be fun, being serious about the topics is extremely important as students may not obtain the concepts of digital citizenship because they think it’s not serious.
Example of an activity for digital citizenship, retrieved from Lessons by Sandy
I believe that students should be taught digital citizenship over time as they grow into using technology. It’s important to remember the first element: Digital Access, when incorporating technology into the classroom. Many students may not have access to digital devices at home and educators need to remember this when teaching about digital citizenship.
Digital citizenship is a tough concept to incorporate and teach, but I believe that if students are taught the elements from a young age over time, then more students can become good digital citizens.
