Pedersen et al (2018) describe digital citizenship as “representing
capacity, belonging, and the potential for political and economic engagement in society in the information age”, which is a pretty fancy sounding definition, which when broken down is actually quite simple. Consider what citizenship is, essentially being a citizen of a country, and having to follow the rules and responsibilities that that entails (while enjoying the rights and privileges that come with it). Being a digital citizen is much the same, except many of the “rules and responsibilities” are not enshrined in law, but instead are almost an unwritten code that some choose to follow and others not. The Pedersen definition quite rightly acknowledges that much of society today, whether it be social, political, or economic issues, is reliant on digital forms of communication. Being a digital citizen in this case means that one is capable of interacting with technology in such a way that they are not “left behind”.

In Falk’s (2011) “Rise of the Digital Citizen”,  she raises a very interesting point:

“If Facebook were a country it would have the third largest population in the world. Facebook citizens are from Uganda, Singapore, the US and India and almost everywhere else.”

How does it reshape our thinking of digital citizenship to apply similar ideas of the citizenship of a country to the citizenship of a social media platform for example? What, in effect, is the difference between digital literacy and digital citizenship? If we define digital literacy more under the realm of being able to use technology to a certain proficiency, then it is important to expand the definition of digital citizenship from just usage to become more about ethics and responsibility.

So this begs the question, what is our role as educators in digital citizenship? Consider this:

“The education of children has a direct bearing on citizenship, and, when the State guarantees that all children shall be educated, it has the requirements and the nature of citizenship definitely in
mind. It is trying to stimulate the growth of citizens in the making. The right to education is a genuine social right of citizenship, because the aim of education during childhood is to shape the future adult. Fundamentally it should be regarded, not as the right of the child to go to school, but as the right of the adult citizen to have been educated.”

  • From “Citizenship and Social Class” by Thomas H. Marshall (1950, p. 25)

This quote is in reference to “normal” citizenship, but I believe that extending it to digital citizenship is appropriate. As educators, it is imperative that we understand the role that the digital world plays in our students, a role that is ever-increasing. For some of us – especially those who have been around for longer – this would equate to having to “gain” our own citizenship as adults. For many new educators such as myself, we were privileged enough to  have the “right” of digital citizenship to a certain extent, and it is our role to reflect on our personal rules and responsibilities in the digital sphere, and how we can translate those to our students as well as our peers who did not have that same privilege.

So what does this look like? There are many little things when it comes to digital citizenship: personal/private information, online conduct, cyber-bullying, passwords, photographs, etc. That’s a lot already, and there are endless other things to watch out for, which makes this seem a daunting task. In my opinion, the best way to approach teaching digital citizenship is much the same as teaching regular human citizenship. Essentially, throughout their school lives, students learn not just sciences and humanities, but also how to be a good citizen in their society. This is the same way we can treat digital citizenship in a digital society, by interweaving lessons and advice, allowing students to learn through experience while helping them understand major points of what is and isn’t appropriate.

References

Falk, S. (2011). The Rise of the Digital Citizen. Zeitschrift Für Politikberatung (ZPB) / Policy Advice and Political
Consulting, 4(4), 157-161. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24234856

Marshall, T.H. (1950). Citizenship and Social Class and other essays. Cambridge at the University Press. Accessed at http://www.jura.uni-bielefeld.de/lehrstuehle/davy/wustldata/1950_Marshall_Citzenship_and_Social_Class_OCR.pdf

Pedersen, A. Y., Nørgaard, R. T., & Köppe, C. (2018). Patterns of Inclusion: Fostering Digital Citizenship through Hybrid Education. Educational Technology & Society, 21 (1), 225–236. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/26273882