Digital Citizenship

What is it?

Whom does it effect?

How can we teach other about it's importance?

What is digital citizenship? Well the standard definition according to Mike Ribble from his digital citizenship website, is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool; it is a way to prepare students/technology users for a society full of technology.

Whom does it effect?  The answer is simple...Everyone!

How can we as instructional technologists teach students, parents, and teachers about digital citizenship? Well....check out my plan on my Digital Citizenship website. There are nine themes to digital citizenship and I chose to focus on the three I personally thought were important to my third graders, their parents, and my fellow teachers at my elementary. I focused on digital communication (how students communicate), digital etiquette (online manners), and digital security (self-protection). I designed three separate classes so to speak. These classes can take place mainly online for students and parents at anytime so there is really no set schedule. It would be my recommendation that students and parents learn about digital citizenship right away at the beginning of the school year. Teachers, however, will need to be taught in a professional development day environment. The idea here is to have teachers take the skills and knowledge they receive during the training back to their classrooms and modify it to fit the age levels of their kids. I just feel that it is vital that all persons involved in these classes walk away with the realization of why digital citizenship is so important for student success in the online world. I have place my intended outcome for this plan or classes on my website. All of my links and resources are available for you to view and use if you would like.