Digital Citizenship is a concept that I’m still navigating in terms of teaching and learning. A valuable approach to teaching digital citizenship is embedding it within the whole curriculum (Krueger, 2023). Implementing it across the curriculum is no easy task, as teachers need more available time and quality training.

Through completing this assessment, I have grown to deeply recognise the significance of Digital Citizenship. With the rise of AI tools and modified multimedia, it is vital that we ramp up privacy and safety (Hsu, 2024). Consequently, there is a pressing need for educating our young people who are growing up in this digital world. I think we are ALL responsible for role-modelling digital citizenship values, whether we are teachers, teacher librarians (TLs), parents, media companies or government bodies (Billingsley, 2024, March 11).

Reflecting on my past experiences as a performer, I have always been comfortable with diverse audiences. Similarly, being online requires you to interact with different citizens. Just as an actor must convey emotions to an audience, a digital citizen must be empathetic and ethical when considering the impact of their actions on the wider online community. The internet is a vast space for exploring and sharing ideas which can be positive but still, there are too many examples of harmful behaviour and teaching digital citizenship is one way to tackle this. With this in mind, my guide emphasises the importance of staying true to one’s values and promoting positive behaviour online.

created by Kellie Billingsley via canva.com

In conclusion, while designing webpages may not come naturally to me, the journey of creating this website has been an incredible learning process. As I have grappled with digital tools and the task has simultaneously prompted me to reflect on my own digital citizen practice, drawing from readings such as the ISTE competencies: to be inclusive, informed, engaged, balanced and alert (Fingal, 2021). Moving forward, I am excited about integrating digital citizenship into my role as a TL. I plan to implement the digital wellbeing guide in my classes and advocate for staff professional development opportunities to spread awareness within the school.