Why teach it?

Today’s ever-advancing world demands that students become digital citizens. Digital platforms and the Internet sites we engage with along with the social media outlets available are changing at a rapid rate. Gone are the days where teacher education programs should focus in on the “how to” of various digital tools. Instead, opportunities to engage teacher candidates with helping K-12 students create a meta cognitive framework for analyzing and evaluating digital texts and the various online and offline formats in which they appear is essential (Ortlieb et al., 2018).

Being digital citizens requires them to be respectful in communications, cautious in accepting all content as true, and attentive to safety and security. Digital citizenship teaches positive habits in using technology, and responsible technology use.

Students engagement with technology is always changing, meaning the role of the connected student must also change. Students should be taught to be digital leaders instead of digital citizens. Laying the foundation of digital citizenship first can open the doors to showing students how to be good digital leaders.

Digital leaders take the information from digital citizenship and utilize it by becoming dynamic change agents who transform the status quo, facilitate better communication and understanding, and integrate a variety of technology tools in their lives. They take their technology experiences and improve it for themselves and others.

"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" -Spiderman

Rather than just warning young people about online risks or trying to curtail their activities, educators are realizing the importance of helping students leverage the power of digital media to work toward social justice and equity. (Krueger, 2020)