Digital citizenship looks at the standards and behaviours that promote legal, ethical, safe and responsible use within the digital environment (Greenhow & Robelia, 2009).  With an increase in technology use by students both at home and school, educators have identified that students are aware of issues related to digital citizenship, but often their practices remain unchanged. Digital citizenship instruction and practice embedded within the curriculum provide opportunity to increase student understanding and hopefully change behaviour (Martin, Gezer &Wang, 2019).

The approach to teaching students about their own digital citizenship must be one that occurs at all levels and immersed within all subjects, that is rooted in open discussions and hands-on experiences (Ribble, 2015). Instruction must begin at a young age as children start to access digital technologies at  home, long before  they even begin school (Hollandsworth, Dowdy & Donovan, 2011).

This web guide created for K-6 educators will support teachers by providing practical resources and classroom ideas in order for teachers to create and implement meaningful learning experiences around the topic of digital footprints. This guide will support curriculum development by looking at what are digital footprints? The impacts of a poor digital footprint and how to create a positive digital footprint.

References

Greenhow, C & Robelia, B. (2009). Informal learning and identity formation in online social networks. Learning media & technology 34(2), 119-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439880902923580

Hollandsworth, R., Dowdy, L., & Donovan, J. (2011). Digital citizenship in K-12: It takes a village. TechTrends, 55(4) 37-47. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1007/s11528-011-0510-z

Martin, F., Gezer, T., & Wang, C. (2019). Educators‘ perceptions of student digital citizenship practices. Computers in the Schools, 36 (4), 238-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/07380569.2019.1674621

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: nine elements all students should know. International Society of Technology in Education.

State of the net. (2017, January 18). Digital citizenship [image]. State of the net https://www.stateofthenet.org/strategies-for-encouraging-ethical-digital-citizenship-can-it-be-taught/