I originally came into this subject having thought I knew everything there is to know about Digital citizenship. (Facey March 2022) Even since I started my teaching career at the start of the digital education revolution (DER) in 2007, Digital Citizenship and Information fluency have a been a keen focus of mine ( I am a technology teacher after all!) as I strongly believe that it is something all of our students need to know ( Facey 2022 March 4). Through the modules on the subject, I now know that digital citizenship is no longer just a set of rules of how to behave on the internet – but an umbrella of concepts that represents critical skills needed for students to thrive in the digital age ( DQ Institute).
Part of my reasoning for retraining as a TL was the gap I could see in information and digital literacy that was affecting our students. ( Facey March 13 2022). Digital citizenship never really felt like it was on the radar for many teachers and often, it was left up to the technology teachers to fill the void. Most of the challenges that teachers faced was the divide between student and teacher confidence in technology use (Facey April 25 2022). We now know that students are not as digital fluent as once thought ( Coombes 2009) and it wasn’t really until the incidence of online learning that other staff started to notice these issues. ( Sahlberg 2020).
I am a strong believer the the TL is in a strong position to become a technology leader in a school ( Facey May 3 2022) We need to see it as a opportunity, a way to make libraries come into the 21st century (Samuel, 2017) and TL’s are well placed to become digital mentors to both staff and students. ( Facey April 29 2022) Since completing this subject, I am now wary of issues of the “New Digital divide”(Thomas et al., 2021) and the importance that TL’s can have in building school community awareness and advocate for better policy (Facey May 3 2022). Policy is the key to consistency, and consistency is the key to success which is important to get the appropriate stakeholders involved.
A quote that really resonated with me ( Facey march 1 2022)
” For educators and the schools in which they teach, the challenges of this moment are significant. Our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant.” ( Richardson 2008) is something that I believe all teachers need to be aware of. the challenges of this movement is significant- and we as TLs are at the forefront – we are, as described, information leaders and it is in our control and leadership that these skills can be successfully taught.
I still believe that TLs are great role models when it comes to Digital Citizenship. For too long there has been scaremongering among the education community that social media and online learning is something to be feared ( Facey April 25 2022) its time we move towards understanding the educational impact and positive uses of digital technology to ensure our students are apart of a strong digital culture.
image source – https://www.omaritani.com/blog/create-more-consume-less
Coombes, B. A. (2016). Digital literacy: A new flavour of literacy or something different? Synergy, 1(14). 10.13140/RG.2.1.2609.8804
Global Standards | DQ Institute. (n.d.). https://www.dqinstitute.org/global-standards/#contentblock1
Digital Education Revolution. (2021, June 22). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Education_Revolution
Sahlberg, P. (2020, October). Does the pandemic help us make education more equitable? Educ Res Policy Prac, 20, 11-18.
