Teaching Digital Citizenship… Should Teachers have a Role?

With children being exposed to the digital world at young ages, it only makes sense to teach digital citizenship. As teachers, a rule to live by is never to assume that students already know or should know something. Emphasizing the importance of teaching children what digital citizenship means and how to be good citizens in the real and digital worlds. There is a chance that children are not taught this at home, so it is essential to ensure that children and students are being educated on the topic at school.

How can you teach digital citizenship to elementary-aged students?

After reading the articles, I think a great way to approach digital citizenship is to start the conversation about what being a citizen means in the real world and expand that conversation to how it applies to the digital world. This could easily fit into a social lesson.  It should be an open conversation that tries to break the separation between the real world and the digital world, as today, they are quite intertwined.

I am an adult who has been exposed to the digital world for a while, but I had not heard the term “digital citizenship” before this class. I honestly hadn’t thought much about what it means to be a good digital citizen and my role in being a good digital citizen, which emphasizes the importance of teaching children how to be good digital citizens today.

The nine elements of digital citizenship could also be shared with older elementary students. It would be fun to have them brainstorm what they think the nine elements might be and then discuss what each one means and how it applies directly to our personal lives as digital citizens.

Awesome Digital Citizenship Poster for Young Learners ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

Digital citizenship - Digital Literacy - Research Guides at Run Run Shaw Library, City ...

To Sum, Should Teachers have a role?

Yes, as mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, children are exposed to the digital world at young ages, making them digital citizens. We all have responsibilities as citizens in the real world, and the digital world, and children need to be taught this. Children may not be taught this at home, making it a topic that should be introduced and taught at school, especially as students have access to iPads and Chromebooks during school hours and most likely use their own devices at home. There are many opportunities to discuss how to be good digital citizens.

 

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