Wow, what a week this has been to start my eleventh course out of twelve. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and that is a relief, but this course is different from all others and with us nearing the holiday season it is making me stress just a little. However, I’ve been looking forward to this course all semester and after digging in to this week’s readings and assignments I’m really excited to learn and enhance my knowledge of digital citizenship. As I prepared my post for the discussion board this week I was asked what, if any, is the difference between citizenship and digital citizenship. There is a very slight difference between the two citizenship's and that is one is in the digital world while the other is in the real world. All and all they are the same though. Being a member of a community whether it is online or not we should follow the same expectations. Those expectations are basically what I read in Mike Ribble’s book Digital Citizenship in Schools where he speaks of the nine elements of digital citizenship. These nine elements, however shocking that there are that many, explain what it takes to be a citizen. I feel that these elements apply to both the digital and real world.
As I mentioned above I would have never thought there were that many, but after reading each of them it clearly is necessary and important. The first of the nine elements, and the most important, is the digital access. I feel all the other elements are not factor unless you have access to the internet. It is kind of like which came first, the chicken or the egg. Now that access is gained it is a matter of getting everyone equal access to it. Not all students or teachers have the ability to access the digital society due to socioeconomic status, disability, and physical location to name a few. Once students gain access to the internet than other factors of digital citizenship play a role such as digital commerce. Digital commerce is where citizens can buy or sell products or services electronically to others in a safe place. All patrons of the internet need to ensure they research all websites/companies they are wanting to do business with to see if they are safe, secure, and reputable. The next element discovered was digital communication and this is one that I particularly like as I do a flipped classroom and this is where I exchange information online for the benefit of my students. However, we need to look at digital communication has opened the doors to social media and that leads us to issues such as cyber-bullying and sexting. So we as educators need to teach our students about digital etiquette, digital rights and responsibility, and digital security in order to protect them. I list these three together as I feel they are very similar and have the same intent. Digital etiquette is to set standards and procedures to follow while online. Students need to think about others when they post things (have empathy). Digital rights and responsibility is when students need use the technology in an acceptable manner and this is why schools have an acceptable use policy that students need to sign at the beginning of the school year. Digital security is very important as we need to teach our youth how important it is to protect yourself online. Many predators have developed viruses, worms, and other bots to pass through our systems like an illness and we need to be careful on things we download or click on in an email as we don’t want our devices to get sick and our information to be breached. There are three more elements that Ribble (2015) discussed in his book and they are digital literacy, digital health and welfare, and digital law. Digital literacy is when citizens read blogs or articles online to keep up with what is going on in the digital world. Digital health and welfare is when students can get injured because they are not using proper ergonomics. Most computer stations are not designed for younger people. Addiction is huge when it comes to playing on the internet or video games and they become withdrawn from society. Digital law is one that I feel a lot of our citizens, young and old alike, lack knowledge in. Such as students downloading copyrighted music from social networks, pirating software, or using copyrighted material that should be paid for. These are things we need to educate our community on so to lessen the occurrences. I really learned a lot from Mike Ribble’s book Digital Citizenship in Schools as I was unaware of all nine elements. I may have thought of them but now having activities to teach them to my students is pretty exciting. Our district has a digital citizenship week where we focus on digital citizenship and this school year it will be held in late January and I’m pretty excited for this one this year as I’ve learned a lot and can’t wait to share. Plus, January gives me some time to put these activities together to try. References Ribble, Mike. (2015). Digital Citizenship in School: Nine elements students should know. (3rd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology.
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Jill HobbsMatthew 6:34 'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Archives
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