One week in, and my understanding of digital citizenship is growing. Previously when thinking about digital citizenship I thought mainly about safety, etiquette and the digital footprint student might leave. It felt a bit like teaching damage control. I am encouraged, even excited, to start seeing digital citizenship as something broader. It does encompass the aforementioned topics, but it’s really about developing the student’s understanding of how they can contribute positively to their local and even global community. It’s not just preparing them for when they graduate, it’s exciting because this is something they can do now and we get to show them the tools and support them as they begin.

Digital citizenship is a relevant topic for educators to grapple with as we prepare our students for 21st-century life. These skills should not be just be touched on by-the-by in schools but should be expressly taught as a guiding framework through with students navigate their learning environments. Ideally, these students should leave school as informed, publicly engaged, digital citizens meaning they not only know how to navigate safely and with proper etiquette, but they know how to harness the creative tools at their disposal and can use their digital citizenship skills to be better global citizens.