Discussion #2: Global Digital Citizenship

Source: www.commonsense.org/educators

1. The typical characteristics of a global digital citizen include being confident and capable of using
information communication technologies correctly and safely. Global digital citizens use
technology to participate in educational, cultural, and economic activities while also developing
and using critical thinking skills in cyberspace. As defined on Medium.com, a global digital
citizen is “A Global Digital Citizen is a responsible, ethical citizen, leveraging technology to
foster community on a global scale through connection and compassion” (Lee
Watanabe-Crockett, 2017). All in all, global digital citizens understand that while online they
need to protect private information, respect themselves and others, stay safe online, stand up to
cyberbullying and balance their time.
2. In order to reinforce global digital citizenship in the classroom, as a teacher I want to do 5 key
things inside my classroom. These five things include, building awareness around digital
citizenship, engage and model good digital citizenship, make sure that I am teaching good digital
citizenship skills to my students in direct and indirect ways, create and share high expectations
surrounding digital citizenship and hold students accountable for following those expectations,
and lastly develop a culture of positive digital citizenship, where students become empowered to
support and inspire one another. One example of what building awareness around digital
citizenship would look like in my classroom would be setting aside time before we even receive
our classroom laptops to have a sit down conversation and anchor chart building time. I would
gather all my students together on the carpet and we would talk about what digital citizenship is,
what it looks like to be a good digital citizen, and we would then create a anchor chart together
that looks like the one above that outlines these major aspects of digital citizenship and what it
will look like in our classroom. This is both a direct way of teaching digital citizenship, but it also
keeps the students engaged and feeling as if they have some autonomy in their learning.