001+Digital+Citizenship

** Frostburg State University  ** ** By: Aubrey Horton, Sarah Kuhn, and Kristin Crow  **
 * Spring 2011**
 * Tech Lab 1**
 * Dr. Ladores**

Many people do not know what digital citizenship is, while others know the importance of digital citizenship. Digital citizenship is a process that helps people understand what technology users should know about using the internet and other sources of technology appropriately (Ribble, Home Page). Digital citizenship is more than just a teaching tool for technology; it is also a way to prepare users for the future of technology (Ribble, Home Page). All the technology that we have today is just the beginning, technology is evolving before our eyes, before we know it everything is going to change. Teaching digital citizenship now will not only help users today, but it will help create the future students of technology, the way to properly use technology. Today’s issue is not what the technology users do not know, but rather what is considered appropriate and not appropriate technology use (Ribble, Home Page).
 * Introduction**

Mike Ribble describes digital citizenship as “ the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use.” (Ribble, Nine Elements).There are 9 different elements that make up digital citizenship (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital access, digital commerce, digital communication, digital literacy, digital etiquette, digital law, digital rights and responsibilities, digital health and wellness and digital security, all are the 9 different elements that make up digital citizenship (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital access deals with the full electronic participation in society, meaning that users need to be aware of and support electronic access (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital commerce deals with the electronic buying and selling of goods, making sure that users understand the share of the market economy being electronic (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital communication is the exchange of information, which helps a person’s ability to communicate with other people all around the world (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital literacy is the process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of the technology itself (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital etiquette is the electronic standards of procedure, helping people recognize inappropriate behavior and teaching them the proper way (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital law is the responsibility for peoples own actions and deeds (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital rights and responsibilities are those freedoms extended to everyone in the digital world, for example right to privacy, free speech etc (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital health and wellness is the physical and psychological well being in the digital technology world (Ribble, Nine Elements). Users must be taught the dangers as well as the advantages of technology (Ribble, Nine Elements). Digital security is the precautions to guarantee safety against the other technology users (Ribble, Nine Elements). All 9 of these elements come together to help technology users be more understanding of the internet and being responsible for their own behavior. 
 * 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship**

Digital citizenship is a very broad technology topic and can be applied to a few different sub topics within the technology world. Today, technology is misused all the time from yelling at someone on the phone or leaving up one’s credit card information on a public computer in a library for instance. In schools, technology is a huge asset in the classroom and can aid in students’ learning but first and foremost teachers need to understand the teaching framework of digital citizenship. Ribble, an Instructional Services Coordinator and Bailey, a Professor of Education outline in an article the four stage technology learning framework for digital citizenship. These steps will help guide students and teachers when using digital technologies. The first step in the learning cycle is awareness which is self explanatory. Awareness has to deal with “knowledge of technology and how it affects others and myself” (Ribble 2). Some students use technology without being aware of how it works and therefore problems could occur. A sample student question to ask according to the article is,”Am I aware of the implications of my actions when using technology? Why or why not?” (Ribble 3). A suggested activity for a teacher to guide her students through this would be having student’s role play situations where technology annoys them. The next step is understanding and consists of the ability to grasp the uses of technology that are considered appropriate or inappropriate. Thus awareness must come first and then the user can distinguish which uses of technology are considered misused or abusive to better understand the appropriateness. The third step of action deals with using technology in the most appropriate way with the information provided meaning using technology to its fullest potential in the classroom. The last step being deliberation deals with thinking about technology and how it was used and then determining if it was used appropriately. The article also goes on in detail about creating a plan of action for the teacher to make the most of teaching about digital citizenship. This plan of action includes teaching, providing, encouraging, and supporting. Thus, in today’s society, students just want to use technology just to use it and may not always know how they are misusing it until it is too late. Therefore, teachers need to implement this four stage process into their teaching for successful technology use. The article, “Be a Good Digital Citizen: Tips for Teens and Parents” is very useful in terms of listing five essential facts of technology. The first is that kids are always creators meaning kids are the future and are always posting blogs, pictures, videos, etc. Next, everything happens in an anonymous audience and environment. The third is that once something is out there, it lasts forever so one needs to be careful with what one posts. The fourth is that information out there cannot be controlled and can be copied, changed, or shared with a click of a button. An example of this would be Wikipedia. Lastly, teens feel that they can get away with unacceptable behavior but what they don’t understand is that there are consequences even if they are not immediate ones. Ultimately, these tips need to be shared with parents so parents can share them with their teens to make the digital citizenship world safer.
 * How to teach Digital Citizenship in the Classroom**
 * Tips for Parents and teens**

Digital Citizenship is taught in most high schools on how to use technology for research. The part that isn't being taught is how to appropriately use the internet and technology. Teaching Digital Citizenship is more than just teaching safety but teaching appropriate behavior on the internet. "Often we invoke the word "citizenship" in terms of our rights - our rights to privacy and to free speech, for example. But citizenship is also about responsibilities - responsibilities to maintain, to protect, and to enhance the community in which we live" (Watters, A.) Students need to be taught that with these social networks and freedom of speech comes a great deal of responsibilities. Bullying can take place online just as easily as it can in person. Most bullying still takes place offline but it needs to be stressed to only put appropriate things about you or others online for the world to see. If Digital Citizenship is stressed and talked about earlier in schools then children will start to understand the importance and responsibilities that the internet brings. Teachers and parents need to encourage children to report any inappropriate material found on the web. If the children don't know how harmful it is to other people then they wont act appropriately on the internet. Digital Citizenship is really important and helps you access so much information it just needs to be talked about and the children need to be informed of what is inappropriate so that they can help clean up the web and act appropriately.
 * Importance of teaching Digital Citizenship **

Digital Citizenship is a wonderful thing that children should be able to utilize. It is up to the teachers and parents to enforce rules and monitor the child's use on the internet. Also the nine elements of Digital Citizenship help the user be more understanding of information and act appropriately online. Digital access, digital commerce, digital communication, digital literacy, digital etiquette, digital law, digital rights and responsibilities, digital health and wellness and digital security, all are the 9 different elements that make up digital citizenship (Ribble, Nine Elements). In the classroom the teacher can do different activities with the children to show them appropriate behavior online. Also if the teacher uses the four stage process into their lesson about using technology then there is no question whether or not the students know how to use the internet and technology correctly. There are tips for parents so that they can help at home while the child is using the internet. This will help monitor their use and behavior. Lastly, Digital Citizenship is used by just about everyone and is extremely helpful to access a lot of important information. Digital Citizenship just needs to be talked about and explained on how to use appropriately!
 * Conclusion**

Ribble, M. (2011). //Home Page//. Retrieved January 31, 2011, from Digital Citizenship Using Technology Appropriately: [] Ribble, M. (2011). //Nine Elements//. Retrieved January 31, 2011, from Digital Citzenship Using Technology Appropriately: []
 * References**:

Common Sense Media Inc. 2011, Retrieved January 30, 2011 from [] Ribble, M., Bailey, G. & Ross, T. (2004, September). Digital citizenship: Addressing appropriate technology behavior. Learning & Leading with Technology. Retrieved January 30, 2011 [] [] []

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Aubrey Horton Sarah Kuhn Kristin Crow

1-[] The article "Digital Citizenship" by Mike Ribble is a great site that will be helpful for research. This is a good site because it allows for us to have a quick over view of digital citizenship. This will be great for introducing the topic for the presentation while allowing the rest of the presentation to go into more detail.
 * Aubrey Horton**

2-[] Apparently there are 9 elements to digitial citizenship. This webpage goes into a brief description of each of the 9 elements, giving the group a great base for the element and allowing the group to go into more detail of the topic if needed.

3-[] The article "The Importance of Teaching Digital Citizenship" by Audrey Watters is a short, but good site that should be used for research. This site does not provide a lot of information on the specific topic, but the information provided allows for the group to be able to branch off of the information. This website states that teaching students about digital citizenship is a must, especially for college freshman.

Ribble, M. (2011). //Home Page//. Retrieved January 31, 2011, from Digital Citizenship Using Technology Appropriately: [] Ribble, M. (2011). //Nine Elements//. Retrieved January 31, 2011, from Digital Citzenship Using Technology Appropriately: [] Watters, A. (2010, October 10). //The Importance of Teaching Digital Citizenship//. Retrieved January 31, 2011, from Read Write Web: []
 * Work Cited**

Sarah Kuhn 1. [] The first article I used is about a book titled "Digital Citizenship" by Karen Mossberger. The book examines three different aspects of participation in society online. The authors of this book feel that the internet helps raise wages at work and is related to political participation. I feel that the purpose of this article is to provide the reader with information about the book in hopes that the person will want to buy it and learn more about digital citizenship. 2. [] The second article I found gives a list of different topics that fall under the category of digital citizenship and then links them to articles. Cyberbullying, Youtube and Your Kids, and Protecting Personal Privacy online are just examples of the different subtopics. The first article that popped up on this website titled, "Be a Good Digital Citizen: Tips for Teens and Parents" is very useful and explicitly explains the different areas of concern for these groups. This is a great site to use because it has a variety of articles and provides detailed information about the term digital citizenship. 3. [] The third article I found is a good site because it breaks down digital citizenship into a four stage technology learning framework to teach students. This will be very helpful in helping us put together our class presentation because it outlines how to teach it in way a students and teachers will understand.

Bibliography: Common Sense Media Inc. 2011, [] Mossberger, Karen, Tolbert, Caroline J., McNeal, Ramona S. //Technology Partner. "// Copyright 2011, []

Ribble, M., Bailey, G. & Ross, T. (2004, September). Digital citizenship: Addressing appropriate technology behavior. Learning & Leading with Technology. []

Kristin Crow 1. [] This website gives a teacher/parent a bunch of different tools to use while talking to children about using the internet. It also gives the children websites to go to that protect their privacy but are still fun. 2. [] This article is from the perspective from different people and how they view digital citizenship and its importance. 3. [] This website has links to different resources that parents can use to talk to their children. It has a lot to do with how to use the internet and privacy with cell phones.