Zook (2019) defines digital citizenship as “the responsible use of technology by anyone who uses computers, the internet, and digital devices to engage with society on any level.”  In other words, digital citizenship is how you portray yourself in the digital world.  With the ever increasing level technology has been integrating into our daily lives, having a good digital citizenship is becoming more and more important (Zook, 2019).  Digital citizenship encompasses everything from what information you put out about yourself and who can see it, to how you present yourself, to what information from others you can use and how you can use it (Davis, 2017).  It also includes keeping yourself and your information safe, as well as protecting your devices from hacking or viruses (Davis, 2017).

Learning digital citizenship is important because of how entwined our lives are with the digital world.  As teachers, it is our responsibility to teach digital citizenship to our students to help them “achieve and understand digital citizenship, as well as ensuring cyberbullying prevention, online safety, digital responsibility, and digital health and wellness” (Nina, 2019).  In today’s world, it is so much harder to be successful if you do not have a thorough understanding of digital literacy and citizenship (Nina, 2019).  Students should be taught how to put forward a “good” digital citizenship, with teachers modelling what that looks like (Zook, 2019).  A “good” digital citizen, according to Zook (2019) knows how to effectively and appropriately engage with others online, empathize, and “create lasting relationships through digital tools,” as opposed to a “bad” digital citizen, who cyberbullies, uses social media irresponsibly, and lacks knowledge on how to safely use the internet (Zook, 2019).

Nina (2019) outlines the different areas of digital citizenship that teachers should focus on teaching in the kindergarten to grade 12 system in order to prepare students to be responsible digital citizens: information literacy, cyberbullying prevention, online safety, and health and emotional wellness in the digital world.  

In teaching information literacy, teachers should encourage students to be able to tell whether the information they are seeing online is real or not.  With the internet, access to information is easy, but decoding whether the information is true is harder (Nina, 2019).  Davis (2017) suggests an exercise she calls Truth or Fiction, where crazy but true, and reasonable but false  information are put forward, and the students learn to effectively determine whether what they are reading or seeing is true.  This would also be accompanied with discussions on how to spot scams and cons (Davis, 2017).

Cyberbullying prevention is an “increasing cause of concern” in today’s world (Nina, 2017).  Students need to be taught how to act responsibly and with empathy online, just as they are learning to act in the non-digital world (Davis, 2017).  Teachers should “model respectful and appropriate behaviour…and hold [their] students accountable to those standards” (Nina, 2017).  Students should also be encouraged to be open about any behaviour they observe that makes them uncomfortable, because part of digital citizenship is being safe (Nina, 2017).

Online safety is “the most essential and influential” part of digital citizenship (Nina, 2017).  Students need to be taught how to be safe online, and to prioritize it.  If a person understands how to be safe, they are less likely to fall for scams, viruses, or other unsafe aspects of the internet (Nina, 2017).  Above all, students should learn and feel comfortable with telling an adult about anything that just doesn’t seem right (Davis, 2017).

Health and emotional wellness in the digital world is also important for students to learn.  Studies have shown that “screen time can impact transactive memory, empathy, and even grey matter development in young minds,” as well as physical and mental stress, including migraines and eye strain (Zook,, 2019).  Teachers should ensure their students know to prioritize their health and wellness, and to learn to use technology in moderation and to know when their bodies are telling them to take a break (Nina, 2017).

References:

Davis, V. (2017, November 1). What Your Students Really Need To Know About Digital Citizenship: Ideas on how to guide students to the knowledge and experience they need to act responsibly online. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-need-to-know-vicki-davis

Nina. (2019, January 28). 5 Reasons to Teach Digital Citizenship This School Year. GoGuardian. https://www.goguardian.com/blog/learning/5-reasons-to-teach-digital-citizenship-this-school-year/#:~:text=Digital%20citizenship%20refers%20to%20responsible,and%20digital%20health%20and%20wellness.

Zook, C. (2019, December 10). What Is Digital Citizenship & How Do You Teach It? Applied Educational Systems. https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/what-is-digital-citizenship#:~:text=Digital%20citizenship%20refers%20to%20the,topic%20to%20teach%20today’s%20students.