Category: ETL523

In this unit, I have realised the importance of teaching digital citizenship to students at school. The prime time is to start at the primary level, as the earlier students are exposed to how to manage online content, the better it is to equip them for later learning in life (Öztürk, 2021). Leadership support is vital for this to happen because students need to learn what information is safe to share and how to protect their information when in an unsafe situation. The evidence shows that students will learn how to interact responsibly and safely online with people that they know or know how to protect themselves when an unknown person is trying to interact with them if they have been taught digital citizenship education (Sterrett & Richardson, 2020).

In the current climate, schools are the best place to deliver knowledge, and teachers should be the experts in this area. As Pihl et al. (2017) indicated, partnering with teacher librarians, who are the information experts in this area, is crucial to fostering the delivery of teaching and learning digital technology at schools. However, there are still many schools that do not have specific policies or suitable professional development programs to cater for individual school needs, and the department is utilising generic programs to fit all (Albion et al., 2015).

After completing the gap analysis report, I have a clearer picture of how teacher librarians can play as advocates in this space. Teacher librarians can be the voice and coordinator to support schools in providing suggestions through policymaking, professional development technology programs, and attaining quality resources (Patel & Anitha, 2022). I have also noticed that without an adequate and quality digital learning environment, it will be challenging to meet the fast-paced, ever-changing technological world. The one-to-one technology program can have a positive effect on student engagement by ensuring that each student has access to the exact same curriculum and resources to break down socioeconomic barriers in schools. In addition, the program can create an equitable learning environment for students in this 21st-century digitalised world.

The challenges are vast and, to name a few, include funding resources, teachers’ beliefs, school culture, and time allocation for implementation with the support of the whole school community (Evans, 2017). On the other hand, there are also many benefits for teachers in using technology, such as the many free educational tools and materials to select to suit lesson plans (Harris & Al-Bataineh, 2015). Undeniably, teacher librarians can offer solutions and ideas, such as getting the local community involved in funding support for schools, as they play a vital role in advocating for change. I can envision that teacher librarians will be at the forefront of information technology, leading educators to frontiers beyond any technology we could imagine.

References

Albion, P. R., Tondeur, J., Forkosh-Baruch, A., & Peeraer, J. (2015). Teachers’ professional development for ICT integration: Towards a reciprocal relationship between research and practice. Education and Information Technologies, 20, 655-673. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-015-9401-9

Allouche, D. (2018). Top 10 of the Most High Tech Countries in the World [Photograph]. Young Diplomats. https://www.young-diplomats.com/top-10-high-tech-countries-world/

Evans, M. L. (2017). Professional Development, Teacher Beliefs, and Self-Efficacy in Classroom Technology Integration (Order No. 10604601). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (1984646408). https://www.proquest.com/docview/1984646408

Harris, J., & Al-Bataineh, A. (2015). One to one technology and its effect on student academic achievement and motivation. In Global learn (pp. 579-584). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/150906/

Öztürk, G. (2021). Digital citizenship and its teaching: A literature review. Journal of Educational Technology and Online Learning, 4(1), 31-45. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1286737.pdf

Patel, R., & Anitha, B. (2022). Role of School Libraries in sharpening 21st century skills of students. Library Philosophy and Practice, 1-5. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2622614396

Pihl, J., van der Kooij, K. S., & Carlsten, T. C. (2017). Why Teacher and Librarian Partnerships in Literacy Education in the 21st Century? In Teacher and Librarian Partnerships in Literacy Education in the 21st Century (Vol. 6). Springer.

Sterrett, W., & Richardson, J. W. (2020). Supporting professional development through digital principal leadership. Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership, 5(2), 4. https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/joel/vol5/iss2/4

In this digital age, the world is running non-stop; accessing the net connects people from across the globe, with various cultural backgrounds, whether you are playing online games or communicating and collaborating with others. This connectivity necessitates respectful and responsible attitudes when interacting with others online, and inadvertently forms global relationships (Harris & Johns, 2021).

Fostering digital citizenship at schools contributes to a healthier, more productive online global community, and is crucial to enable students to navigate the complexities of digital platforms ethically and safely. Technology will continue to evolve, and teaching digital citizenship at schools is the first step in bracing the next generation to build a healthy community (Harris & Johns, 2021).

I am looking at teaching students digital citizenship and the concept of building their professional personal brand. I will start with primary settings and help them understand the importance of their digital footprint when they access the Internet. From that discussion, I will guide students in discovering how they want the public to view them, and make sure they are well-informed that any information they upload to the web will remain there for the rest of their lives (Ribble & Park, 2022).

The balance between educational and social networking for students is challenging. It is difficult to monitor whether students are actually collaborating and communicating for educational purposes, as opposed to socialising. However, I would argue that it is better for students to use educational networking, even for informal catch-ups during or outside of school, because schools have an infrastructure in place to monitor inappropriate activities. Schools could take immediate action to bring students back on track, minimising negative effects like cyberbullying and misinformation (Giannikas, 2020).

References:

Cornelius20. (2019). Digital world [Stock image]. Open Access Government. https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/connected-growth-new-digital-world/73849/

Giannikas, C. (2020). Facebook in tertiary education: The impact of social media in e-learning. Journal of university teaching & learning practice, 17(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.53761/1.17.1.3

Harris, A., & Johns, A. (2021). Youth, social cohesion and digital life: From risk and resilience to a global digital citizenship approach. Journal of Sociology, 57(2), 394-411. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1440783320919173

Ribble, M., & Park, M. (2022). The digital citizenship handbook for school leaders: Fostering positive interactions online. International Society for Technology in Education. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/CSUAU/detail.action?docID=6009895

I created a guide for students’ online behaviour in the digital learning environment. This guide promotes digital citizenship skills at my current school. I realised the guide required prior discussion with the teacher who is delivering the lesson, and differentiation for Stage 2. Having experienced a classroom setting, seeking students’ prior knowledge is important to know how extensive one should be in explaining the topic to the class.

I have learnt that a teacher’s experience and understanding of the online environment are crucial to successfully delivering the topic (Hakim, 2015). For instance, if the teacher does not have in-depth experience of the online environment, then students will only touch the surface of the topic. In a low socio-economic area like my school, students will require more visual and hands-on activities to cater for individual learning needs. I know the key lies with building positive relationships with the students to successfully deliver the material (Martin & Collie, 2019).

 

When creating this guide, I found it challenging to produce a guide within the word limit for students’ online behaviour and stay on topic because digital citizenship has many parts. There are so many aspects of online behaviour that students are required to learn to be proficient as responsible and smart digital citizens. For example, students need to understand and learn the importance of online etiquette and how to contribute positively to the digital community.

To me as a practitioner, I understand students need to be made mindful that actions attract consequences. They need to learn to respect the rights and privacy of others in order to contribute positively to the digital community and become a healthy society (Lowell & Moore, 2020). I want to pose the issue that schools are increasingly monitoring students’ online activities, which sparks controversy over privacy issues.

Schools are also restricting too much content, which becomes a barrier to learning. It will be interesting to see how democracy in technology develops in future for all schools. As mobile phones are part of everyday lives, students who use devices at home need to be vigilant when communicating online. Parents do not install filters on these phones, and students can access content without any blockages. As educators cannot monitor these devices at home, the ultimate goal is to empower students to be their own guides.

References:

Hakim, A. (2015). Contribution of competence teacher (pedagogical, personality, professional competence and social) on the performance of learning. The International Journal of Engineering and Science, 4(2), 1-12. https://www.theijes.com/papers/v4-i2/Version-3/A42301012.pdf

Lowell, V. L., & Moore, R. L. (2020). Developing practical knowledge and skills of online instructional design students through authentic learning and real-world activities. TechTrends, 64(4), 581-590. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-020-00518-z

Martin, A. J., & Collie, R. J. (2019). Teacher–student relationships and students’ engagement in high school: Does the number of negative and positive relationships with teachers matter?. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(5), 861. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000317

Tree. (n.d.). The Future Of Metaverse Digitally Immersed With Vr And Virtual Reality Technology 3d Rendering Background [Stock image]. Pngtree. https://pngtree.com/free-backgrounds-photos/digital-future-pictures

I am a primary teacher and would use the Stage 3 lesson ‘Don’t Feed the Phish’ (Common Sense Education, n.d.). The lesson has an expected completion time of 45 minutes. I would split the lesson into two parts to allow 30 minutes to deliver the lesson and the other 15 minutes for borrowing time. I will adapt the lesson to match it with the Australian Curriculum Version 9 (n.d.) to include learning intention and success criteria. I will seek my students’ prior knowledge of the topic so that I can provide a tailored program utilising this resource (Buehl, 2023).

 

For example, my students enjoy discussion, so I will divide the class into groups of different abilities to complete the discussion. As an introduction to assess my students’ understanding, I will stimulate their interest in the topic by asking them to give me examples of what things are Safe and Unsafe in an environment. All the words collected will be displayed as a Word Cloud. As I usually teach in low socio-economic areas, this lesson will be simplified in dot point form for students with a lower attention span to be able to follow. The dot point format makes it simple for students to pick up the important messages of the lesson. I will also incorporate a role-play activity, as my students learn better when it is practical. The guided activity will be hands-on, using the library laptops.

Of course, I will need to ensure the Wi-Fi is working smoothly as I demonstrate how to access the material online and guide the class through the online activities. I will search for a suitable video for this lesson as my students are visual learners, and this plan does not have a video attached. At the end of the lesson, I will ask each group to present their understanding of the topic and seek feedback to check what they would like to be improved so that they can gain more understanding if they would like to learn any topics related to digital citizenship in the future.

References:

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). Australian curriculum: Digital literacy (Version 9). https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/digital-literacy?element=0&sub-element=0

Buehl, D. (2023). Classroom strategies for interactive learning. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781032680842/classroom-strategies-interactive-learning-doug-buehl

Common Sense Education. (n.d.). Don’t Feed the Phish. https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/dont-feed-the-phish

Drogatnev. (2018). Phishing scam, hacker attack stock illustration [Stock image]. iStock. https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/phishing-scam-hacker-attack-gm956400244-261133477

 

I believe digital citizenship is still the best terminology to use in the 21st century. Citizenship implies adherence to a set of rules or guidelines as a citizen of a given country. It is like any discipline with a standard code of conduct to guide one’s behaviour, which one ought to follow if they decide to engage in that profession. Digital has varying meanings depending on the context. The Cambridge and Merriam online dictionaries both indicate that when the term is used in conjunction with other nouns, it means the technological or electronic version of that noun, such as digital media or digital clocks, as opposed to traditional media and analogue clocks. However, what ‘digital’ encompasses will shift over time according to the changing digital environment. When people hear the words digital citizenship as a single term, they have a basic understanding it implies behaving responsibly or in a certain way when participating online. Common Sense Education supports this idea and defines skills in digital citizenship as displaying appropriate behaviour, contributing constructively to online communities, and creating a positive outcome for the future. After reading the first chapter of ‘A Brief History of Digital Citizenship’ by Ribble (2015), I believe my fundamental understanding of the term still stands and is supported by Öztürk’s (2021) article, which demonstrates a similar definition of the term. They both concur that the term regards ethical and behavioural standards one should uphold in the digital realm. I believe the term ‘digital citizenship’ will remain until digital landscapes evolve and experts coin more fitting terms for new circumstances. At this point in time, the term digital citizenship still has its place.

References:

Barks. (n.d.). Flat banner illustration for knowledge, technology, business and education etc [Stock image]. Shutterstock. https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/flat-banner-illustration-knowledge-technology-business-1403518733

Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Digital. In Cambridge.org. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/digital

Common Sense Education. (n.d.). Everything You Need to Teach Digital Citizenship. https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Digital. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/digital

Öztürk, G. (2021). Digital citizenship and its teaching: A literature review. Journal of Educational Technology and Online Learning, 4(1), 31-45. https://primo.csu.edu.au/permalink/61CSU_INST/15aovd3/cdi_proquest_journals_2844067431

Ribble, M. (2015). A brief history of Digital Citizenship. In Digital citizenship in schools : nine elements all students should know (3rd ed., pp9-17). International Society for Technology in Education. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1072357&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_17