As the internet has flourished and grown exponentially over the years, keeping our children and students safe has been quite the cause for concern - from media, from parents, from teachers. Digital citizenship, at it’s very least then, can be thought of as developing the skills to keep safe online, how to avoid the nasty bits of the internet, and strategies to deal with it when they eventually do.
It’s a valid aspect of digital citizenship, but should not be the main focus. It’s too negative.
Well-rounded digital citizenship efforts should focus on how our digital technology enables us as individuals to become more active, altruistic participants in global culture. Altruism is our selfless drive to contribute, to share, to help, and support. Our digital networks of mass communication and collaboration can be tools to amplify our altruistic tendencies.
"Active citizenship" is the philosophy that citizens should work towards the betterment of their community through economic participation, public, volunteer work, and other such efforts to improve life for all citizens. - Wikipedia
Digital Altruism
Digital citizenship efforts must encourage altruism; placing the student, the individual, as a citizen of the world, responsible for adding open knowledge, having healthy, positive, relationships, respecting diversity, being creatively free, ethical, and moral, sharing productive pursuits, able to support others, and engaged in non-judgemental debate. This is what an informed, publicly engaged digital citizen should be embodying.
While this is a wide wave to surf, as teachers, we can now begin to zero in on the kinds of knowledge, skills, tools, and mindsets altruistic digital citizens might need in order to participate fully in the social networks and online places and spaces people come together in, in order to have better, more positive, meaningful impact.
Fortunately, much work has been done in breaking down the component elements of a digital citizenship programme which aims to reinforce notions of effective, positive, responsible participation (Greenhow, 2010). Mike Ribble, Gerald Bailey, and Tweed Ross have identified Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship: digital etiquette, digital communication, digital access, digital literacy, digital commerce, digital law, digital rights and responsibilities, digital health and wellness, and digital security.
Christine Greenhow illustrates how teachers are setting up learning experiences for students to meet these themes - including creating cyberbullying scenarios within Second Life, and presenting cases of ethical dilemmas to work through - which are having an impact. Following the #digicit and #flatclassrooms hashtags on Twitter reveal a host of other learning experiences students are engaging with as well.
The internet gets a bad rap a lot of the time. Lets change the narrative. Lets encourage students to use the digital tools and networks they have available for the power of good. Lets make the themes of altruistic digital citizenship run rampant throughout our teaching and learning programmes, encouraging positive, moral, ethical, and productive action.
References
Greenhow, C. (2010). New concept of citizenship for the digital age. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(6), 24-25.
Ribble, M. (2016). http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Home_Page.html
It’s a valid aspect of digital citizenship, but should not be the main focus. It’s too negative.
Well-rounded digital citizenship efforts should focus on how our digital technology enables us as individuals to become more active, altruistic participants in global culture. Altruism is our selfless drive to contribute, to share, to help, and support. Our digital networks of mass communication and collaboration can be tools to amplify our altruistic tendencies.
"Active citizenship" is the philosophy that citizens should work towards the betterment of their community through economic participation, public, volunteer work, and other such efforts to improve life for all citizens. - Wikipedia
Digital Altruism
Digital citizenship efforts must encourage altruism; placing the student, the individual, as a citizen of the world, responsible for adding open knowledge, having healthy, positive, relationships, respecting diversity, being creatively free, ethical, and moral, sharing productive pursuits, able to support others, and engaged in non-judgemental debate. This is what an informed, publicly engaged digital citizen should be embodying.
While this is a wide wave to surf, as teachers, we can now begin to zero in on the kinds of knowledge, skills, tools, and mindsets altruistic digital citizens might need in order to participate fully in the social networks and online places and spaces people come together in, in order to have better, more positive, meaningful impact.
Fortunately, much work has been done in breaking down the component elements of a digital citizenship programme which aims to reinforce notions of effective, positive, responsible participation (Greenhow, 2010). Mike Ribble, Gerald Bailey, and Tweed Ross have identified Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship: digital etiquette, digital communication, digital access, digital literacy, digital commerce, digital law, digital rights and responsibilities, digital health and wellness, and digital security.
Christine Greenhow illustrates how teachers are setting up learning experiences for students to meet these themes - including creating cyberbullying scenarios within Second Life, and presenting cases of ethical dilemmas to work through - which are having an impact. Following the #digicit and #flatclassrooms hashtags on Twitter reveal a host of other learning experiences students are engaging with as well.
The internet gets a bad rap a lot of the time. Lets change the narrative. Lets encourage students to use the digital tools and networks they have available for the power of good. Lets make the themes of altruistic digital citizenship run rampant throughout our teaching and learning programmes, encouraging positive, moral, ethical, and productive action.
References
Greenhow, C. (2010). New concept of citizenship for the digital age. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(6), 24-25.
Ribble, M. (2016). http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Home_Page.html
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