Digital Citizenship: Building Character

Jessica Casillas

Lamar University

Upon comparing definitions of digital citizenship, I came up with one of my own: the responsible use and misuse of technology in digital communities. I realized that educating students in digital citizenship and living up to this definition required teaching character. According to Polgar and Curran (2015), to decrease the gap between those that live and breathe digital citizenship and those that don’t, we must never assume that students know what digital citizenship is because it is so broad and complex. They may know there are ways to abuse technological privileges but don’t truly understand the effect of their character can have on their surrounding community.  Digital citizenship is about building character, as Ohler (2012) suggests. Public schools are not run to focus on morals, but they can create a policy that provides clear rules for using technology- the do’s and don’ts (Ohler, 2012, pg 15-16). 

A digital citizenship project run by Curran (2012) used freshmen college students and high school juniors to collaboratively define digital citizenship. Each group took ideas that painted a picture how a citizen of the digital world, iCitizen, would be like and how they would handle and prevent cyberbullying. This picture would help educators get an idea of why it was so important to build character. The collaborative team decided that an iCitizen is “aware, empathetic, and socially responsible; they believe in social justice and model socially responsibility both face-to-face and virtually”. He added that this citizen should be involved and connected to the world (Curran, 2015, p. 16).  The team determine that an education in digital citizenship requires frequent application to effectively create strong iCitizens and eliminate cyberbullying. 

Cyberbullying is an inappropriate behavior that falls under many of the nine elements of digital citizenship according to Ribble (2015). The elements of “Etiquette” and “Rights and Responsibilities” two examples.  They recognize that students have rights to use technology and report abuse and be upstanders while being aware that they affect others.  An essential question for this element to consider is “do students realize their use of technology affect others?” (Ribble, 2015, pg. 39). To show students that technology use does, in fact, affect others, they must not assume that they know what type of information- harmful or nor- can be shared across digital communities. They must also be aware that they may very easily be the victim. 

Like the iCitizens project, educators must face all issues arising from technology use and build empathy in our students and educate them daily and consistently. We must never assume students know how to behave and how to protect others. 

References 

Heick, T. (2018). The definition of digital citizenship.Teacher Thought. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/the-definition-of-digital-citzenship/

Ohler, J. (2012). Digital citizenship means character education for the digital age. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 77(8), 14-17. (PDF: Ohler_Digital_citizenship_means_character_education_2012.pdf)

Mattson, K. (2017, Oct. 15). Digital citizenship in action: empowering students to engage in online communities. International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Citizenship-Action-Empowering-Communities/dp/1564843939/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Digital+Citizenship+in+Action&qid=1598340230&sr=8-1

Polgar, D. R., & Curran, M. B.F.X. (2015). We shouldn't assume people know what digital citizenship is. Retreived from http://www.teachthought.com/technology/we-shouldnt-assume-people-know-what-digital-citizenship-is/

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know. (3rd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology  (link for Ebook below)https://books.google.com/books?id=z6WpCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

EDLD 5316 E01 Week 1 Journal Reflection .

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