With more students using Chromebooks and mobile devices at school and home, teaching Digital Citizenship has become more important than ever, especially at an earlier age. In a recent study by Common Sense Media, Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America 2013, indicates that the percentage of children ages eight and under who have used a mobile device nearly doubled from 2011 to 2013. It also concluded that about 2 in 5 children under the age of 2 have used a mobile device.
As a baseline, here are the nine essential elements of digital citizenship that every student should know according to Ribble, an educator from Massachusetts. Additional information about these nine elements is available online.
- Digital Access: full electronic participation in society.
- Digital Commerce: electronic buying and selling of goods.
- Digital Communication: electronic exchange of information.
- Digital Literacy: process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology.
- Digital Etiquette: electronic standards of conduct or procedure.
- Digital Law: electronic responsibility for actions and deeds.
- Digital Rights & Responsibilities: those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world.
- Digital Health & Wellness: physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world.
- Digital Security (self-protection): electronic precautions to guarantee safety.
Source: The 9 Essential Elements of Digital Citizenship by Dennis Pierce, published in eSchool News