The Current Situation
Children are exposed to digital application and devices, well before they enter any formal schooling.
Couros states that the average digital emersion of a children, often occurs when they are about 6 months of age. This means that students will begin formal schooling with technological understanding and preconceived ideas and behaviours around technology use. Therefore, it is vital that digital technology and digital citizenship skills are taught from an early age to ensure students can participate effectively in the digital learning environment.
When assessing the use of technology in the home environment, students are regularly using devices to engage with peers and utlise application both learning and play-based. According to a study conducted by Coredata, 86% of parents agreed that internet and technology usage had increased in their household. This represents the significance of digital technologies in our lives. Additionally, a survey conducted by Cambridge Assessment International Education outlined that 48% of students said that desktops were used in their classroom, while 33% of students indicated that smartboard were used and 20% of students said tablets were used in their learning environment. This indicates that their has been a massive shift in the use of technology in the classroom, similar to the home environment.
Consequently, students need to be taught the skills and tools to use technology effectively and appropriately. This is the goal of digital citizenship education. Digital Citizenship is defined by Greenhow (2010) as the ability to practice online behaviours that display responsible, legal, safe and ethical use of the technology. Although the digital sphere can be a scary place, with many unknowns and many individuals feeling that this space can do more harm than good, it is critical to have a positive mindset towards the use of technology and try to emphasis the ‘dos’ instead of ‘don’ts’. If we teach the students the skills and give them opportunities to practice these, it will allow them to effectively participate in digital learning spaces, giving them 21st century skills and allowing them to effectively integrate and function in workplaces and professions.
Digital Footprint
Everything that is placed in the digital environment begins to create a digital reputation for individuals, also known as their digital footprint. Thatcher (2014) defines a digital footprint to be the data and information that an individual produces when online, often through creations, interactions and passive activities. Now more than ever, we have the opportunity to create and share content and communicate with individual through applications and devices. However, it is important for these items and interactions to be positive, to ensure a positive digital footprint is created. Nielsen states that assisting students with understanding the concept of a digital footprint and assisting them with developing one, really begins with the guidance and teaching of responsible and informed adults.
This concept can be hard for younger students to understand, as often the impacts of a negative digital footprint, will not impact their lives until they become older. Many companies are beginning to use an individual’s digital footprint to assist with employment selections (Black and Johnson, 2010). Does this mean that we don’t mention or teach anything about a digital footprint until students have the foresight to understand long-term implications? In short, no. It is important that all students know and understand the consequences that their actions online can have, although they do need to be age appropriate and scaffolded, with the content and focus changing as student get older and have different experiences online (Livingstone et. al., 2011).
Does this mean that it is just easier to exclude digital interactions from our children’s lives, so that a negative digital footprint can not be developed? The answer is no. It is vital that students have the opportunity to interact with digital content to ensure they are well equipped with the skills, but also so they can begin building a positive digital footprint.
Digital Etiquette
Etiquette in the digital environment is essential for effective communication and collaboration. Digital etiquette or ‘netiquette’ as it is sometimes termed, are the unwritten rules and behaviours on how to interact with others in a digital space (Furgang, 2017). This is a vital part of students becoming digital citizens and 21st century learners, as they needs to have the skills and exhibit the behaviours to work collaboratively and communicate in online learning environments. Chen and Orth, exhibit how important this is when they explain that children are spending more time partaking in digital activities then communicating face-to-face with their families and peers, consequently significantly impacting their social and emotional development. Similarly, Heitner (2016) alludes to the fact that a large amount of an individual’s interpersonal relationships are conducted in the digital world, therefore it is imperative that values are at the foundation of all digital interactions, as they would be in a face-to-face situation.
Through the growth and development of a child, they are explicitly taught correct manners and social etiquette through childhood and face-to-face experiences with peers and adults. Unfortunately, when working and interacting in a digital space, we do no have the presence of ‘social cues’ that we regularly use and read in social situations; such as body language, facial expressions and voice tone and v0lume (Turk, 2019). This can make navigating social interactions online challenging, which is why educating children about appropriate etiquette and explicitly teaching these skills is so important. Additionally, many students use social media sites and application to communicate in their home lives. It is important that we incorporate the teaching of the skills required for these interactions in our formal learning at school, to ensure students are equipped in demonstrating digital etiquette in their ‘out of school’ lives (Greenhow & Robelia, 2009).
References:
Arnold, S. (2017, October 19). Welcome to the web: online interaction stats [infographic]. Digital citizenship, technology https://braveintheattempt.com/2017/10/19/how-to-celebrate-digital-citizenship-week/
Black, S & Johnson, A. (2012) Employers’ use of social networking sites in the selection process. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 1(1), 7-28
Cambridge Assessment International Education. (2018). Global census education report 2018. https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/Images/514611-global-education-census-survey-report.pdf
Chen, E. & Orth, D. (2013). The strategy for digital citizenship. NAIS Independent School Magazine (online) http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/The-Strategy-for-Digital-Citizenship.aspx
Coredata. (2017). Real insurance: kids and technology report. Retrieved https://assets-au-01.kc-usercontent.com/1f0619a0-4164-0241-3335-de16f4a2d9f3/abd9f11f-602a-47bd-be7d-94db8da22985/media-release-2017-coredata-the-australian-kids-and-technology-survey.pdf
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Heiter, D. (2016). Screenwise: helping kids thrive (and survive) in their digital world. Routledge
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Nielsen, L. (2010, February 18). Teaching kids to manage their digital footprint. http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/teaching-kids-to-manager-their-digital.html
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Turk, V. (2019). Digital etiquette: everything you wanted to know about modern manners but were afraid to ask. Random House