Digital Citizenship

Standard #5

Digital Citizenship

Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.

Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology
Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity
Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning

Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship

What will the future of teaching and education technology look like? It will consist of a complete reform of education as we know it. Teachers and students will become ever-so familiar with “the Cloud”, as noted by Matt Britland in his article. No longer will we need a specific device, but rather just an improved, quick internet connection. Students will access “classrooms” on their own terms, and it will transcend our ideas of space, time, and context (Valentine, K.). Students will experience “flipped classrooms” and their teachers will take on a different role. Gone is the role of a lecturer, and we will see teachers become “curators” and “guides” (Burbules, N.). Students will become independent learners and will be responsible for their learning experience. But, with this, we will see an unprecedented need for Digital Citizenship. Students will have to learn about the role they play as active participants on the internet. Students will have the chance to learn empathy and form connections with other students from around the world. However, with this newfound freedom, it is also imperative that students learn how to stay safe in a society where there is increasing cyber danger. It is unlike anything we have seen yet.

Teacher Resources

Classroom Resources

Lesson Plans. Interactive Games.Professional Development. Family Education. |
Common Sense Education provides lesson plans and interactive games to help teach Digital Citizenship.

Teaching Digital Citizenship Resources |
InCtrl, a series of free standards-based lessons, originally developed by Cable in the Classroom, that teach key digital citizenship concepts

Teaching Digital Citizenship |
The Teaching Channel offers videos with lesson guides for teachers to utilize in their classrooms when teaching about Digital Citizenship. This one focuses on Super Digital Citizen, but there are also videos for “Fair Use” in a Digital World, Trustworthy websites, Online Privacy, etc.

Blogs & Information Resources

Digital Citizenship Week: Resources for Educators |
6 resources for educators to use, including lesson plan ideas, helpful tools, and resources for parents.

9 Resources for Teaching Digital Citizenship |
The ISTE website has a blog which features helpful tools and resources for educators and parents to use to help teach about Digital Citizenship.

Good Reads | Book List
This list provides titles of several elementary age appropriate books to help teach Digital Citizenship concepts in the classroom

Common Sense Media |
A cute, elementary/middle school age appropriate video that could be used to introduce or reinforce Digital Citizenship concepts.

Teaching Digital Citizenship in the Elementary Classroom |
This teacher highlights how she addresses Digital Citizenship in her classroom and provides a list of lesson resources, online learning tools, and digital learning tools that incorporate social networking.