Embedding Digital Citizenship

The aim of the guide is to present current research, world trends and local educational focus in Digital Citizenship, understand its place in Australian curriculum, present implications for best practice and provide further resources for implementation of Digital Citizenship in your own K-6 school.

Current Research and World Trends

Since the Covid pandemic of 2020 the use of digital tools among students, both in their academic studies and personal lives has drastically accelerated. This resulted in a growing need to prepare students to communicate and collaborate in the online world both safely and responsibly (Öztürk, 2021).

As our real world and digital worlds become increasingly interconnected, there is a necessity for students to navigate digital environments ethically, and critically to ensure positive and productive use of technology in the classroom and beyond (Ribble, 2015).

Technology is becoming increasingly integrated into children’s daily life, the distinction between digital and real-world interactions blurs. Thus, teaching students to uphold ethical values and exhibit empathy and understanding online is paramount (Ribble, 2015).

Gone are the days when it was only about teaching internet safety and the do not’s of the online world.

Common Sense Education states Digital citizenship is more than being savvy with media and tech. It's recognizing what we have in common online and offline, and deciding together: How will we act, create, learn, and lead? (Common Sense Education, 2020).

The Expanding Definition of Digital Citizenship

In the past years Digital Citizenship has been seen to encompass areas such as ―digital safety, ―digital literacy, and ―etiquette.

However, current research indicates the term has expanded to include our ever growing interconnectedness with technology:

- Digital citizenship is the continuously developing norms of appropriate, responsible, and empowered technology use.

(Ribble, 2021)

Our goal as educators is for our students to become Digital citizens who are:

aware of their digital identity,
recognize the permanence of their actions in the digital world and
can advocate for themselves and others in their behavior, actions, and choices (Tamayo, 2016).

With such rapid changes in the use and access of technology it is vital for students to be taught the skills which provide a structure of safety and responsible use of technology (Yilmaz, 2011). Digital citizenship education is crucial for preparing students to navigate the complexities of the digital world both responsibly and ethically.

However, teaching Digital Citizenship is more than a set of skills to navigate the digital world, students. James, Weinstein & Mendoza (2021) states that students also need to cultivate dispositions to then enact those skills in their everyday lives. Further adding that dispositions guide students' thoughts and behaviors as they go about their lives. They shape what students think and care about, and they influence when they use their skills.

By providing students with the necessary skills, dispositions and knowledge, educators can empower them to become responsible digital citizens who contribute positively to online communities and society at large (International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), 2024). Digital citizens who are not only prepared to navigate the digital world today but also for the increasingly complex digital landscape of the future (Bacalja, Beavis & O'brien, 2022).

" Curriculum banner" Credit: magele-picture - stock.adobe.com Copyright: ©magele-picture - stock.adobe.com

Digital Citizenship in the Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum

Version 9.0 of the F-10 Australian Curriculum states children and young people should learn about digital citizenship as part of their everyday learning at home and at school as part of the formal curriculum. The Version 9.0 of the F-10 Australian Curriculum promotes digital citizenship through the Digital Literacy General Capability area, but also across the curriculum through the general capabilities , as they support and deepen student engagement with learning area content and are best developed within the context of learning areas. All learning areas provide the content and contexts within which students develop and apply the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that comprise Digital Literacy. The Digital Literacy learning continuum is organised into 4 elements of - Practising digital safety and wellbeing - Investigating - Creating and exchanging - Managing and operating (Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority, 2023).

NSW Curriculum

In the NSW Primary (K-6) Curriculum, Digital Citizenship is interwoven throughout the capabilities and priorities areas, Capabilities and priorities in the NSW Curriculum assist students to achieve the broad learning outcomes and are developed through the relevant subject-specific content. The new approach ensures that the capabilities and priorities such as Digital Citizenship emerge authentically from the content and are not applied as an additional layer on the curriculum (NSW Education Standards Authority, 2024). However, Digital Citizenship is examined closer in the Digital Literacy capability core areas of - the role of technology in society - digital identity -ethical use of technologies - communicating safely in a digital environment - gather, analyse and evaluate digital information (NSW Education Standards Authority, 2024).

Why embed Digital Citizenship across the curriculum?

Digital Citizenship is most effective when it's integrated into the curriculum across all grades and learning areas and is continuously taught. The ISTE (2024) states that Digital citizenship isn't a one-off lesson or a bolt-on program delivered at a set time of the year. It's at the heart of the curriculum, in all subjects and across all year levels.

In her research on CIDC – Curriculum Integrating Digital Citizenship, Dr Talitha Kingsmill found that students and staff want and benefit from contextualised, integrated teaching and learning – happening in a subject when it's appropriate – rather than a discrete program. ‘For students, it needs to both be relevant and authentic to their learning (Earp, 2018). Embedding Digital Citizenship across the curriculum provides relevant and authentic learning experiences for students.

Screenshot from Digital Citizenship Website © State of New South Wales (Department of Education), 2023

Frameworks and Implementation

While current Australian Curriculums’ include Digital Citizenship in their capabilities and priorities areas, what isn’t included is a clear Digital Citizenship curriculum for teachers to follow.

So what are teachers using to guide their curriculum development and implementation of digital citizenship in their own schools?

In New South Wales, The Department of Education has created a curated Digital Citizenship website providing practical advice and support for students, teachers and parents. This website was created in response to the Department’s Student use of digital devices and online services policy which was implemented in schools from the beginning of the 2020 school year. The website brings resources and research together, allowing parents, students and teachers to access quality teaching resources and age appropriate learning materials in one place (NSW Department of Education, 2023).

Nationally, the eSafety commission has developed a Best Practice Framework for Online Safety Education. The Best Practice Framework for Online Safety Education objective is to establish a consistent national approach that supports education systems across Australia to deliver high quality programs, with clearly defined elements and effective practices. The Framework is organised by five ‘elements’. They are the evidence-based overarching principles that should be used to determine whether best practice is being applied in a program.

• Element 1 – Students’ rights and responsibilities

• Element 2 – Resilience and risk

• Element 3 – Effective whole-school approaches

• Element 4 – Integrated and specific curriculum

• Element 5 – Continuously improved through review and evaluation

The Framework’s implementation guide provides relevant links to the Toolkit for Schools, eSafety's classroom resources, the Australian curriculum, and existing policies and frameworks

The Framework informed the development of eSafety’s Toolkit for Schools which aims to create safer online environments for school communities and is recommended to be used in conjunction with the Framework (Australian Government, 2022).

New Frameworks and International Outlooks

Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum

In 2022 the Queensland University of Technology's Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, in collaboration with the eSafety Commissioner, Common Sense, Evolve Education, and the Australian education sector conducted research focused on adapting Common Sense's Digital Citizenship curriculum for effective eSafety education in Australian primary schools and early education settings. The project implemented a digital citizenship curriculum developed by Common Sense and designed in partnership with Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, that covers various themes such as media balance, privacy, cyberbullying, and news literacy.

The project’s key findings included the importance of professional development for teachers, successful curriculum implementation by teachers, students' understanding of digital citizenship concepts, and their enjoyment of learning from the curriculum. The recommendations arising from the research included:

Extending the implementation of the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum in Australian schools.
Making minor adaptations to the curriculum to suit Australian contexts.
Further trialing of the curriculum with Years 7-12.
Providing ongoing professional learning support for teachers.
Emphasizing the importance of learning delivered by classroom teachers over single-site visits by experts.
Encouraging teachers to tailor curriculum implementation to local contexts and student needs.
Conducting further research on digital citizenship education in early learning centers.

Overall, the findings underscore the importance of digital citizenship education in Australian schools and highlight the need for ongoing support and adaptation to meet the needs of students and educators.

You have now reached the end of the informative section of this guide.

Please head over to the Resources Page to find links to further implementation strategies and practical classroom support for

Embedding Digital Citizenship Across the Curriculum.

All images used are either CC By 2.0 or otherwise attributed.

Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed are my own and all images used are either owned by myself, used with permission, or are Public Domain.

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