Digital Citizenship Education: A Must for 21st Century Students
-According to Ribble (2015), “The concept of digital citizenship…reinforces the positive aspects of technology so that everyone can work and play in this digital world” (p.1)
-Cyberwise (2011) believes that digital citizenship is, “The essential first step to becoming media literate in the 21st Century.”
-A popular site, Digitalcitizenship.net (2017), briefly summarizes digital citizenship as, “The norms of appropriate, responsible technology use.”
My definition: Digital citizenship is a framework of educational tools which are necessary for a person to thrive in the 21st Century.
Digital citizenship is more than submitting original work and giving credit to sources; it is a lifestyle change that needs to happen among people everywhere since one person cannot do it alone. The way we communicate, do business, and receive an education has all been shaped by the digital world, but so far, we haven’t created a set of standards in which these interactions should take place. We need a method of checks and balances to guide people, and these procedures need to be taught immediately.
Many individuals have forgotten about writing conventions when writing digitally. Should this be acceptable? Or what about those who fail to watch their language online? Should we let them publicly post these comments when children might accidentally read them? The answer to all these questions, of course, is no, but it’s going to take a unified effort to train the masses early, so that we can see a dramatic change when the children in today’s classrooms move out into the workforce. They need to be taught to, “respect, educate, and protect” (Ribble, 2015, p.4). Without this early and deliberate training, we are setting are students up for failure, and future employers will be hard pressed to find quality candidates to join their team. We must make digital citizenship on ongoing, concerted effort from Kindergarten through 12th grade to ensure that our students find success in their adult lives.
Citizenship in general and digital citizenship go hand-in-hand. According to Ribble (2015), “A citizen both works for and benefits from a larger society” (p. 7). Since the evolution of the Internet has changed the way people learn, work, and communicate, most individuals gain rewards from the interaction experienced by a global society. Along with the rewards of having instantaneous access to people and information comes a huge responsibility. We must be able to interact harmoniously and follow proper etiquette and protocols while doing business, acquiring an education, and socializing via the World Wide Web.
The behaviors we need to practice while interacting electronically are similar to the ones our parents and grandparents have instilled in us for many generations: respect your neighbor, be polite, do not borrow or take another person’s property without permission, be cautious when conducting business transactions, and listen when someone is speaking to you. Although the above advice is both tried-and-true and timeless, in many cases, society has failed to transfer these common expectations to the digital world. All their early teachings go out the window when they click that mouse, enter a social media site, peruse a message board, or get a new text message. The end result is a population who appears to be lacking in manners and social skills, takes unnecessary risks when encountering new people online, and doesn’t realize that the digital footprint they are creating projects unintentional negative messages. Messages which might come back to haunt them in the long run.
Because many businesses and educational institutions turn to social media when considering a new student or hire, the appearance of being unprincipled can lead to lost job opportunities, scholarship denials, and rejection from club or organization memberships when reputation is a key consideration factor. There are not many groups out there who are willing to take a chance on someone who might shed a negative light on a business or cause. Unfortunately, most people will never know what caused the rejection email that lands in their inbox, but a little caution, care, and cleanup of a digital footprint can yield better outcomes and look favorable to the individuals screening applications.
Since it is apparent that a person’s digital tattoo can have a large impact on current and future successes, I believe digital communication is one of the most important of Ribble’s nine elements of digital citizenship considering the age and life stage of the students I have in class (Ribble, 2015, p.32). Many individuals do not realize that their online mischief could potentially follow them around for life, and they need modeling, guidance, and continual reinforcement to guide them in their digital interactions. For this reason, I believe digital citizenship needs to become a regular part of a student's K-12 education, and I believe it needs to be a national standard. As educators, we need to take action immediately.
References
Cyberwise. (2011, June 26). What is Digital Citizenship? Retrieved from https://youtu.be/oCkTmZ0bF5Q
Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
Ribble, M. (2017). Digital Citizenship. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/
