How to be a digital citizen?

 

Empowering teachers and students with digital citizenship!

Social media has brought a lot of negative impacts on their users in one way or another. Research have shown that people are being subjected to higher risks of bullying and harassment on online platforms. To avoid such incidences, and to protect ourselves and our students from them, it is important to explore the notion of digital citizenship. 

So, digital citizenship is a term that describes how should a person act while using technology and hence the ability to participate and get involved in the society online. It is a term that is directly related to internet safety and etiquette of acting when we are on the internet. 

Technology is embedded in our homes and is allowing us to cross over boundaries in our personal life, work, and society. Not only it has became a part of our homes but rather a part of our schools as well. As educators, technology has became a concern as we spend a significant amount of time while working with it. Here, a part of our role is to teach students how to conduct themselves while using technology and how to deal with the fear of letting strangers enter our life via online platforms. 

Students use the internet at various ages and for many purposes including gaming, watching YouTube, communicating with others, visiting pages for news, sports, social activities, and educational purposes. Teaching safety practices and good behaviours are also a part of our responsibilities because we do all want to create a digital footprint that will make others happy to see. 

Here are some tips to be used by teachers as models for digital citizenship:  

• The teacher must know the proper use of the sites he/she is using and the purposes behind using these sites.
• As teachers, we must utilize technology for the development of our students. 
• Upon using some materials from the internet, teachers must know how to give credits for the sources used.
• Teachers must be ethical online. We must not post pictures or contents without permission from the owner or post any inappropriate material, must not insult or bully people, respect the privacy of others, show good morals especially on social media and treat others the way we like to be treated!
• In addition, teachers must not share lots of personal information and stay informed and aware about all the things that are happening in their communities and all around it.

It is highly recommended that digital citizenship should be embedded into curricula as educators can provide advices hence making schools as gateways for teaching learners as well as their parents about ethical and safety rules, security, responsibilities and respect of rights while using the internet.