Digital Citizenship: Where Did We Go Wrong?

This is cross-posted on the EdReach Network. Also, check out the most recent EdReach Show for more on digital citizenship.

Let's be honest: In the area of digital citizenship, as educators, we are not doing our jobs.

Sure, there are pockets of excellence and teachers here and there that are raising this issue, but overall, it's just another buzz word that we read about in the headlines, right next to "cyberbullying" and "blocking/filtering." But why does it feel like a ghetto? It's as though digital citizenship has been relegated to the bottom rungs of curricular society, clearly taking a backseat to a student's ability to identify the hypotenuse or bubble in the answer "B" for question 23. 

- Digital citizenship is not someone else's job. It's your job. If you interact with children under the age of 18, it IS your job.

- You don't have to know ANYTHING about computers to teach digital citizenship. Any argument otherwise is like saying you need a law degree to teach what it means to be a good citizen in our society. We can grasp some basic tenets without needing to understand JavaScript.

- Stop thinking that the "technology teacher" is supposed to do it or that they're better at it than you. In an era that is increasingly tech-ubiquitous, relegating the term "technology teacher" to just one person is offensive. We should all be using AND TEACHING with and about technology as it is the layer through which our students understand the world around them.

We've spent enough time worrying about our kids being online, it's time for each of us to step up and actually do something about it. Be creative! Work it into your lessons! Start small, maybe a discussion about appropriate times to use cell phones (hint: anything with a cell phone is instant engagement) and then work your way up. For example, later this month, my 8th graders will make instructional videos for elementary school students, teaching them how to be safe online. Look for ways to incorporate these ideas into your lessons. Digital citizenship doesn't teach itself and no, they won't just "figure it out." 

Our students have at their fingertips some of the most powerful and capable inventions known to the history of the world. Are we really going to withhold the instructions from them?

--Greg Garner