What is Digital Citizenship and Why Should We Care?

As noted in previous editions of The Connection, the next agency-wide technology training module will be focused on digital citizenship. Many people have asked, “What is digital citizenship?” Think of it as “Character Counts” for the technology world!

Digital citizenship encompasses a wide range of very important skills and procedures including keeping passwords secure, keeping confidential data secure and using technology in appropriate ways, including following the laws related to copyright and privacy.

Many times, students and adults alike could do a better job of using technology appropriately. Most of our schools have participated in the Clarity survey, which focuses on all aspects of educational technology use, including access, support, integration and digital citizenship. The Clarity results in the digital citizenship area highlight a number of areas for improvement. For example:

• 49% of teachers in Heartland AEA’s service area who took the survey say they don’t teach students about using web content legally
• 23% of teachers in Heartland AEA’s service area who took the survey say they spend 1 hour or less teaching that concept
• 56% of teachers who took the survey report that they don’t spend any time teaching about how to prevent cyberbullying
• 22% of teachers who took the survey spend 1 hour or less per year trying to educate their students in this critical area

One reason Heartland AEA is emphasizing digital citizenship in this year’s training is so that our employees are aware of the key issues involved and can then model best practices in this area and provide support for our PK-12 school partners in improving their practices.