Digital citizenship is defined by Ribble as “the continuously developing norms of appropriate, responsible, and empowered technology use”. With the increase of technology usage and access to social media among children the reality is that educators must be prepared to teach students at all grade levels how to navigate and participate in the digital world. Ribble identifies nine key elements of digital citizenship:
- Digital Access
- Digital Commerce
- Digital Communication and Collaboration
- Digital Etiquette
- Digital Fluency
- Digital Health and Welfare
- Digital Law
- Digital Rights and Responsibility
- Digital Security and Privacy
As someone who will be in a middle year’s classroom for my internship this fall, I have decided to focus on that age range when making connections to the Saskatchewan curriculum, specifically grade 6. The subjects I believe have the most potential when it comes to making connections to digital citizenship are Health, English Language Arts, and Social Studies, however teaching . The first outcome I will talk about is the Health outcome USC6.1:
“USC6.1: Analyze the factors that influence the development of personal standards and identity, and determine the impact on healthy decision making (including cultural norms, societal norms, family values, peer pressures, mass media, traditional knowledge, white privilege, legacy of colonization, and heterosexual privilege).”
This outcome can be connected with the element “Digital Health and Welfare” as well as “Digital Etiquette”. The conversation of personal standards could be expanded to identify how peoples’ standards and boundaries may be different online. How they behave online and what treatment they will accept from others. Additionally, they could explore how their standards may be affected or challenged by what they see on social media. For example, how the “Devious Licks” trend on TikTok encouraged students to vandalize and destroy their school bathrooms, an act that they would most likely never consider appropriate before seeing the trend.
The next connection I found comes from the ELA outcome CR6.2:
“CR6.2: Select and use appropriate strategies to construct meaning before (e.g., considering what they know and need to know about topic), during (e.g., making connections to prior knowledge and experiences), and after (e.g., drawing conclusions) viewing, listening, and reading.”
This outcome could be connected to the element “Digital Fluency”, specifically media literacy. For this learning outcome, students would explore accessing information online. They could be given strategies to critically evaluate information before, during, and after they read it online.
The final connection I will discuss comes from Career Education outcome LW6.1:
“LW6.1: Examine effective practices such as responsible decision making, cooperation, and accepting diversity and predict their continued importance in one’s own career.”
This outcome can be connected to “Digital Etiquette” and “Digital Communication and Collaboration”. With indicator c), students could be taught about how their online identity and presence can be seen by anyone and look into how they choose to present themselves may affect future job opportunities. The can also take this opportunity to practice collaborating with others online, for example doing a group task/project where they can only communicate via email or other digital communication methods.