What is digital citizenship? 

○ The norms of behavior regarding technology use (USDOE) 

○ The ability to navigate digital environments in a way that’s safe and responsible, and to actively and respectfully engage in these spaces (Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy) 

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● Students are becoming digital citizens often before they ever enter school. 

● Once children are in school and even beyond school, technology is ever-present, and they need to know how to handle themselves in a digital space. 

● Parents may be uncertain of how to support their students in digital citizenship because many of them were never taught. 

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When do I teach it? 

● Most digital citizenship concepts can be taught right along with classroom procedures, expectations, and rules. 

○ e.g., Teach media balance when you discuss your procedures for transitioning between iPad/laptop/computer lab time and pencil/paper activities. 

● Make the most of teachable moments as they arise. 

○ e.g., You ask your students to do some online research for an essay. Show them the parts of a website and how to assess the reliability of the content. 

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1.2.a  Students cultivate and manage their digital identity and reputation and are aware of the permanence of their actions in the digital world.

1.2.b  Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when using networked devices.

1.2.c  Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property.

1.2.d  Students manage their personal data to maintain digital privacy and security and are aware of data-collection technology used to track their navigation online.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) outlines digital citizenship into five competencies that can be integrated into classroom activities:

 ○ ISTE Competency: I am Respectful. 

■ Talk about appropriate ways to respond to each other within discussion boards on your LMS (Google Classroom, Canvas, Blackboard, etc.) or other web-based discussion 

tools like SeeSaw and Padlet. 

○ ISTE Competency: I am Informed. 

■ Talk about using primary source documents vs. secondary sources.

 ○ Have students use Search Coach in Teams for research. 

■ This tool acts as a search engine within Microsoft Teams and it rates the reliability of search results based on site, author, date, etc. 

■ Relate citing evidence in essays (ex. “according to the author”) to citing sources used in research and plagiarism. 

○ ISTE Competency: Alert 

■ Talk about keeping passwords secure when logging into computers and required programs/sites. 

■ You can share mnemonic devices to help students remember passwords instead of writing them down. Also, remind them not to share their password with anyone. 

■ Explain and demonstrate how nothing online is truly private by having a student email you a phrase (specifically for this demo) then taking a screenshot of it and emailing it out to the class. 

○ ISTE Competency: Engaged 

■ Talk about how scientists and historians publish their works online to help everyone learn. 

■ Allow students to post how-to videos within a controlled environment (e.g., Flip, Canvas Studio, Google Classroom) to help their classmates learn. 

○ ISTE Competency: I am Balanced. 

■ Technology-enhanced and unplugged (without technology) choices for completing assignments. 

● Ex. Write an essay by hand or type it. 

● Ex. Create a PowerPoint/Google Slides presentation or a poster with markers. 

● Ex. Do a gallery walk or have students comment in a Padlet. 

● Ex. Allow students to check math with a partner or create how-to videos in Flip. 

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