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“Learning to be an effective digital citizen is not something that happens if we don’t actively teach it,” Culatta says. “And preparing a generation of effective digital citizens is the most important thing we can do to ensure our democracy for the future.”
Unfortunately, many educators still mistakenly conflate digital citizenship with online safety. While teaching kids to craft strong passwords and refrain from posting inappropriate pictures online is important, it’s no longer enough. In an era of fake news and increasingly bitter political polarization, it’s time for teachers to move beyond online safety and teach students how to use technology to:
* Make their communities better.
* Respectfully engage with people who have different beliefs.
* Shape and change public policy.
*Assess the validity of online sources of information.
“Digital citizenship, it turns out, is not a list of ‘don’ts’ but a list of ‘dos’,” Culatta says. “And never has it been more important than it is now.”
Via John Evans, Jim Lerman
