Digital Citizenship: Responsibility in Today's Society

When I watch the video above I am amazed at how technology in our society has changed and how it has impacted generations of children around the world. The concept of digital citizenship is becoming an essential component of any student's education. Digital citizenship is so important that the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) included it in the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students. This standard is outlined as follows:

5. Digital Citizenship

Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior:

Students:

a.	advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
b.	exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
c.	demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
d.	exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.

With the growth of media technology and social networking, issues related to the responsible, ethical use of these resources has become of great concern in our society. Digital citizenship means understanding appropriate use of technology. While this may sound like a simple idea, there are in fact many facets to responsibility with technology. Responsibility may mean citing sources when posting information from others, respecting privacy when posting to social networking sites, or even being aware of when you are providing personal information. The website digitalcitizenship.net outlines Nine Elements of digital citizenship that cover many of these issues as well as others. The issues that have brought this standard about are due in part by the risk some technology brings to safety of children. Sexting and cyberbullying are just two examples of words that are now hot topics in our society. As technology changes, the need for teaching children how to be good digital citizens increases for their protection.

Educators and parents must first and foremost continue to learn about advancements in

technology. The more knowledge that we have about what our students are going to be exposed to, the more prepared we can be to teach them. One of the most popular sites parents and teachers can access for updated information and resources is commonsencemedia.org. This site offers reviews and ratings on current movies, games, and internet applications. There is also an educator specific piece to this site that provides news, curriculum, and interactive games that can be used in the classroom to teach students about digital citizenship. It is organizations like Common Sense Media that push for policies with our government that can help protect the safety of children. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has heard these concerns and works to help parents and educators teach students responsibility with technology. The FTC website offers both parent/teacher and student portals that provide information and activities to support learning digital citizenship.

A lesson that I found to be a great introduction to any class utilizing technology is available from digitalcitizenship.net. ~http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/FoundAct2.pdf~

In this lesson students will be evaluating a digital compass to help them determine appropriate use of technology. Starting a class with these discussions and setting standards for what digital citizenship should look like in your class can help students understand the importance of the issue and help to prevent any issues.

With the wealth of information available from these and many other resources, we can create opportunities to model and teach how to use technology appropriately. These should be lessons that students can apply daily with technology and continue to remember for life-long applications.