Helping young people develop healthy habits with digital media and enhancing their digital citizenship skills requires the collaboration of multiple role-models, that is a collective effort from teachers, parents, older siblings and so on. (Hollandsworth et al., 2011). It is equally as important for mass media organisations, government bodies and technology companies to play a part in raising awareness of the importance of digital skills and good practise. Such organisations should prioritise their ethical position when engaging with young adults online.
The role of educators
Teachers, teacher librarians and parents are at the forefront for guiding students to become responsible digital citizens. Ultimately subject teachers have direct contact with students on a daily basis and therefore can integrate digital citizenship elements into their curriculum but it is not always this straight forward. Many teachers may feel overwhelmed with yet another responsibility to teach within their classroom, already burdened with assessment and reporting pressures. Professional development is still needed to prepare teachers with the skills and knowledge required to effectively teach students about various aspects of digital citizenship (Martin et al., 2020). This is one reason why Teacher librarians may be seen as leaders in the teaching of digital citizenship as they are already experts in the subject. Teacher librarians can offer support to subject teachers as being able to take the lead with digital citizenship due to their level of knowledge in the information sector.
Empowering students to be safe and responsible online is a key part of preparing them for leaving school and becoming an adult that successfully and ethically contributes to society. As young people increase their use of digital technology, they are forging their identities and their is a consequential role of technology in creating these identities. There needs to be a holistic approach to teaching digital citizenship through embedding it throughout the curriculum. (Krueger, 2023). Therefore, it is great value for digital citizenship to be taught across the curriculum, integrated into subject lessons and be the responsibly of all teachers.
Digital Impact
Outside of the interactions within their friends, young people are significantly influenced by the broader digital landscape – it is inherently a normal part of their everyday life. The media environment, misinformation, political unrest, and activism surrounding issues such as immigration, sexual harassment, hate speech, and racism, are all intricately intertwined with digital platforms. The manner and substance of social media content has the potential to harass, intimidate and threaten the safety of individuals. Nevertheless, it is valuable to take a balanced approach and understand that there is many positive influences of digital technology, and this is why it is so important for adults to be role models and guides in behaving responsibly online. Young people need to be able to recognise the red flags, strike a balance and manage good digital habits.
References
DeHart, J. D. (2023). Digital Citizenship and Digital Ethics: An Educator’s Perspective. In Critical Roles of Digital Citizenship and Digital Ethics (pp. 249–257). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-8934-5.ch014
Hollandsworth, R., Dowdy, L., & Donovan, J. (2011). Digital citizenship in K-12: It takes a village. TechTrends, 55(4), 37–47.
Krueger, N. (2023). 3 Ways To Weave Digital Citizenship Into Your Curriculum. ISTE. https://www.iste.org/explore/ISTE-blog/3-ways-to-weave-digital-citizenship-into-your-curriculum
Martin, F., Gezer, T., Wang, W. C., Petty, T., & Wang, C. (2020). Examining K-12 educator experiences from digital citizenship professional development. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2020.1815611