Digital Citizenship in Education: What are the Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship?

Digital citizenship is the smart deal with technology that directs the benefits of modern technologies and protects against the threats and dangers.

9 elements of digital citizenship can be summarized as follows: 

Digital Access is full electronic participation in society.

Digital Commerce is the electronic buying and selling of goods.

Digital Communication is the electronic exchange of information.

Digital Literacy is the process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology.

Digital Etiquette is the set of electronic standards of conduct or procedure.

Digital Laws are the electronic responsibilities for actions and deeds.

Digital Rights and Responsibilities are the freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world.

Digital Health and Wellness are the physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world.

Digital Security is the electronic precaution to guarantee safety.

Nine elements of digital citizenship

Digital Citizenship in Education: What are the Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship?

Digital Citizenship in Education

Digital citizenship is a set of rules, controls, standards, norms, ideas and principles used in the optimal and correct use of technology that children and young citizens need to learn in order to contribute to the advancement of the country.

Digital citizenship, in short, is the smart deal with technology that directs the benefits of modern technologies and protects against their threats and dangers.

Digital citizenship aims to find the right way to guide and protect all users, especially children and adolescents, by encouraging desirable behaviors and fighting repulsive behaviors in digital transactions, for a digital citizen who loves his country and strives for its progress.

The concept of digital citizenship, then, has a strong relationship with the education system, because it is able to help teachers, educators in general, and parents to understand what students must know in order to use technology appropriately.

Digital citizenship is more than just an educational tool. Rather, it is a way to prepare students for full participation in society and active participation in serving the national interest in general and in the digital field in particular.

Read more: What is Digital Citizenship and Why is Digital Citizenship Important in Education?

How Many Elements of Digital Citizenship are There?

Digital citizenship has nine elements agreed upon by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), as mentioned by ISTE Contributor Mike Ribble in his book “Digital Citizenship in Schools”.

These 9 elements have been identified to help better understand the topics that constitute digital citizenship and provide an organized way to teach and incorporate them into the curriculum appropriately to have fully digitized citizens.

Nine elements of digital citizenship are as follows:

1. Digital Access: 

Digital Access means equal opportunity for all students in terms of technological access, so that technology is accessible to all and has the opportunity to engage in a digital society.

As we prepare students for a technological future, access to technology in schools must be available and accessible.

2. Digital Commerce: 

Educate students about digital commerce and smart consumption, and tell them about issues they may face while shopping online such as fraud, identity theft, personal information, etc. so that students become more aware when buying or selling goods electronically, which in turn prepares them to interact in the digital economy.

3. Digital Communication: 

Digital communication is the new way people interact with each other, whether through e-mail, video calling, instant messaging, social networking sites, or other digital media.

It is, therefore, necessary to achieve appropriate social and digital communication when communicating with others and to educate students about the etiquette and rules to be followed.

4. Digital Literacy: 

Despite efforts to spread technology in general, it is often the focus of teaching on technology education itself, not how to use it properly.

One of the most important issues of digital culture is learning the basics of digital, assessing the electronic resources and the accuracy and authenticity of their content, as well as detecting and developing patterns of learning on the Internet and distance learning.

5. Digital Etiquette:

In the past, the responsibility of establishing the rules of behavior was usually the sole responsibility of parents.

Now, as technology develops, parents can no longer keep pace with what is new and what is appropriate and inappropriate digital content.

And teachers demonstrate our role in addressing issues of digital behavior in the curriculum and emphasize the principle of respect and introduce students to the basics of digital rules of conduct.

6. Digital Laws: 

A digital law protecting digital users and any violation of the laws of this system applies to actual penalties.

This should be addressed through the school and it should be considered as a penalty for some irresponsible behavior of students such as the use of piracy programs, hacking of programs and systems, sexual harassment, identity theft, etc.

7. Digital Rights and Responsibilities: 

As a digital law that protects digital citizens, the rights of these citizens, such as privacy, protection of intellectual property and other rights must be cautious.

There are responsibilities in return for these rights. In order to achieve its rights, this digital society will have to fulfill its responsibilities, which is the optimal and responsible use of technology.

8. Digital Health and Wellness: 

Educate students about physical risks that can withstand the use of technology such as problems with the eyes, shoulders or back and other symptoms and can develop an actual addiction and there may be some mental and psychological problems.

Students need to combine the use of technology while maintaining good health.

9. Digital Security: 

Digital Security includes teaching students how to protect their electronic data by using antivirus programs, digital security systems, and not providing personal data to anyone on the Internet, which in turn protects them from identity theft, fraud, and harassment.

Read more: Technology and Digital Citizenship: How to Sponsor Global Digital Society

Conclusion

There is no doubt that spreading the culture of digital citizenship at home among family members and at school among students has become an urgent necessity.

Digital citizenship must be transformed into programs and projects in our schools and universities in parallel to civil society initiatives and media institutions so that we can enhance the protection of our societies against the negative effects of technology while optimizing the use of modern technologies, in order to contribute to the development of the society and build the national digital economy.