Digital Citizenship
Higher Education Policy for University Students & Faculty Modeling
Digital citizenship is the responsible use of digital tools and internet resources. In the university classroom, this means that students need to be educated on the appropriate and effective uses of digital media, tools and resources in the context of the learning environment. Similarly, faculty who model and integrate digital tools during lessons provide opportunities to demonstrate how their use enhances the learning process and engages all learners with the content.
There is a plethora of resources on what Ribble, Baily and Ross (2004) described as the nine digital citizenship elements (etiquette, communication, access, literacy, commerce, law, rights and responsibilities, health and wellness, security). Most of these elements can be found in acceptable use policies (AUP) that students sign. Yet, the typical AUP neither gets to the heart of the classroom nor does it address the deeper values and goals of the university and its programs: social justice and equity in a global society. Respecting others rights while acting responsibly is key to this level of citizenship both in the classroom, online, and in the flat-world of our global society.
The challenge: Developing a digital citizenship policy to be included on syllabi. Below are some resources to support this process. It is important to note that the K-12 field of education has many well-developed resources while there are very few specific to higher education.
There is a plethora of resources on what Ribble, Baily and Ross (2004) described as the nine digital citizenship elements (etiquette, communication, access, literacy, commerce, law, rights and responsibilities, health and wellness, security). Most of these elements can be found in acceptable use policies (AUP) that students sign. Yet, the typical AUP neither gets to the heart of the classroom nor does it address the deeper values and goals of the university and its programs: social justice and equity in a global society. Respecting others rights while acting responsibly is key to this level of citizenship both in the classroom, online, and in the flat-world of our global society.
The challenge: Developing a digital citizenship policy to be included on syllabi. Below are some resources to support this process. It is important to note that the K-12 field of education has many well-developed resources while there are very few specific to higher education.
Sample Policy
Glenn Waverly Secondary College in Australia has an extensive policy on digital citizenship and guidelines for behavior. This goes beyond the standard institutional technology policy to discussing what happens in classrooms and how students should behave and what faculty should model. Read more...
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Research
Bowen Hui at the University of British Columbia designed an undergraduate course in digital citizenship. His article presents several instances of technology based products (blogs, wikis, videos, etc) along with related digital citizenship emphases. Read the article...
Common Sense Media Articles: Digital Literacy and Citizenship in the 21st Century: Educating, Empowering, and Protecting American’s Kids - A White Paper Social media, social life: How teens view their digital lives. Pew Research Center Social Media Usage 2005-2015 |
Resources
Digital Citizenship MOOC Take an online course in digital citizenship
Digital Citizenship Survival Kit: Check out the interactive picture of Badura’s Digital Citizenship Survival Kit created with ThingLink (a cool tool) The National Library in New Zealand has identified seven key themes important to developing digital citizens along with a wide range of resources. Common Sense Media is a San Francisco based non-profit organization that provides education and advocacy to families to promote safe technology use. |
References
Ribble, M.S., G.D. Bailey, & T. W. Ross. (2004). Digital citizenship: Focus questions for implementation. Learning and Leading with Technology 32 (2), 12–15.
Ribble, M.S., G.D. Bailey, & T. W. Ross. (2004). Digital citizenship: Focus questions for implementation. Learning and Leading with Technology 32 (2), 12–15.