Teaching Digital Citizenship in the Classroom

KEY POINTS

• Initiate discussions about responsible digital citizenship.
• Be a role model for your students.
• Create classroom opportunities to practice digital citizenship.

In the modern world, students are constantly surrounded by technology, both inside and outside of school. Therefore, it is very important to take the time to teach students how to responsibly interact with said technology, especially in terms of how they should conduct themselves on the internet. With unhealthy social media interaction and cyberbullying on the rise, this need has never been greater.

TALK ABOUT IT

One of the best places to start when introducing the concept of digital citizenship to the classroom is to facilitate discussion concerning how students are currently interacting online. Ask your students questions like the following:

• “What does it mean to be a digital citizen?”
• “What does it mean to be a good digital citizen?”
• “What are some of the pros and cons to internet use in the modern world?”
• “How can we make people’s interaction with the internet safer and healthier?”

After asking these kinds of questions, let the conversation expand from there. Approach the topic as an open discussion with students rather than a lecture. This type of discourse will encourage student engagement, allowing them to introduce ideas and speak about their own experiences. Help guide the conversation’s focus toward topics like digital reputation, copyright, cyberbullying, and privacy.

BE A ROLE MODEL

Introduce students to good social media and internet habits by being a positive role model. Show students examples of your own online etiquette and how to make responsible decisions on the internet. This demonstration will reinforce the ideas previously encountered via group discussion, giving students the opportunity to see these concepts in action. This will allow students to understand how to utilize the internet as a resource in a healthy and accountable way.

CREATE OPPORTUNITIES

Perhaps the most important way to teach students about digital citizenship is by having them actively participate in it. Developing one or more classroom social media accounts is one way of achieving this. Have students post content using these accounts and encourage them to interact with these classroom accounts using their own personal social media accounts. Alternatively, have students simulate the dynamics of a social media platform using digital classroom environments like Google Classroom. This will allow students to replicate the kind of interaction common to the internet in a closed, controlled environment. There are a wide variety of platforms to use to give students experience with online citizenship. It is important to find the one that best fits the needs of your classroom to ensure students become ethical internet users.

— Dr. Jake Roark