Digital Citizenship

The following are my notes and reflections on Digital Citizenship.  Most of these topics are very broad and cover many things so I decided to focus on the points I felt were most important.  

In the textbook Digital Citizenship in Schools by Mike Ribble, this topic is subdivided in the nine following elements. 

1)    Digital Access – This refers to who has access to technology and the means to access the internet.  It is a great misconception to assume that EVERYONE has a computer, laptop, tablet or any other devices used to access the web and that the internet is in every home.  In today’s era this is probably the exception and not the rule but one has to remember this when planning learning activities that require such technologies and the internet.  If possible plan the activities to take place at school where all the students will have access.  In a distance learning (DL) context that relies on these technologies it is certainly even more uncommon for learners not to have access to a computer and the internet but some actually do take DL because education establishments aren’t available locally and they rely on places like public libraries to do their work.

2)    Digital Commerce – This relates to doing online transactions.  Sites like eBay, amazon, kijiji and trader as well as most online retailers provide ways to buy goods or services online.  Users here must be aware of who and where they share their credit card information with.  Make sure you research, know and trust the company you are about to do a transaction with.  Often a quick search on the website you are on will reveal a ton of horror stories about how a site or vendor has extorted numerous customers.  Protect your identity and avoid getting your credit card information stolen by making purchases without doing you due diligence.  Also be aware that "scammers" often make fake copies of very trusted and reputable sites in order to con buyers into thinking they are on the real site.  Usually you will be redirected to such a site after being contacted in an email claiming to be from said reputable site.  Beware of such phishing tactics and know that most companies will never email you to go on site and provide them with personal or financial information.  If you're unsure, try to call or email them to confirm. 

Sites like kijiji or trader allows users to resell personal goods or vehicles.  Although financial transactions aren’t performed online in these cases, it is still very important to stay vigilant of how and where you finalize such a transaction.

Try to do so in a public place, during the day and bring a friend or family member with you.

The internet is a great and safe way to shop for most people but is also a very easy way for online scammers to try and con you so as long as you are aware of that fact and inform yourself, you should be able to buy things online with peace of mind.

3)    Digital Communications – The main ideal behind this topic is that although the many new ways we have to communicate thanks to technology are great, it must be done properly when in a learning environment.  Text messaging (texting) during class is unacceptable as it disturbs everyone around you.  Worse even is cheating on exams by texting each other answers.  As a facilitator I’ve always had the privilege of not having to worry about cellphones since my learners were forbidden to have them in the learning establishment I instructed in.  Now that I’m back behind the school bench and see how often the professors mention not to use cellphones in class while a third of the learners ignore the comment completely and simply continue texting away is revolting to me.  I also don’t understand why public schools can’t ban cellphones from the classrooms, not the schools but at least the classrooms, leave them in your lockers and text during breaks.  We could go on and on about this but for now let’s just leave it aside. 

A final note I want to make on this topic is that although the common text messaging jargon or lingo is fine to use for texting your friends and family, it has no place on a school assignment.  This may seem like common sense to most but is becoming more common for learners to include shorten forms of words in their work. 

4)    Digital Literacy – This is a term used to signify how much you know about computers, commonly used software programs and your abilities to search the internet.  Although some of you reading this won’t remember a time without computers, I’m happy to tell you that they weren’t always around.  Many of you will have had the privilege of learning about them at school and having one to learn from in your home but for some people using a computer is a very difficult task.  Knowing your audience and surveying them quickly on their abilities with computers in general or specific software that will be used for a course is very important.  Too often learners are just expected to already have a deal of knowledge on certain computer software that they may have never even used.  As a facilitator you may have to help bridge those gaps before jumping in more complex tasks.

5)    Digital Etiquette – The best way to put this one is Digital Manners.  This was a painful section for me to explore as I found myself to be guilty of many of the offenses described in it.  It preaches for people more to be aware of how their use of technology affects others around them.  From talking loudly on a cellphone to obnoxious ringtones or even answering a call in the middle of a face to face conversation with someone.  These are behaviors that are becoming more common.  I’ve had a smartphone for years now and reading this made me realize how I need to polish my etiquette when it comes to my usage of technology.   Thinking about how children who see adults show no regards for digital etiquette is teaching them that it’s perfectly fine for your phone to start playing your favorite song ringtone during a job interview for example.  Instead let’s show them that it’s ok to have the phone on silent or even to ignore a call that isn’t urgent.

Another topic covered under the etiquette banner was the use of bad language.  Now this is an area with which I could not disagree with the book more because it started off by saying that profanities should be avoided online but that the practice of using asterisks was commonly accepted as it doesn’t offend anyone yet they still know what you meant.  For those of you who are still wondering what I mean by this, here’s an example; shit would be type s***.  Now the first thing that went through my mind after reading this was WTF.  Another perfect example of commonly used inappropriate language used online regularly.  Sure it may not look as obscene as seeing the word itself but is still present for the reader and is absorbed as such.  To me this practice isn’t one we should treat as acceptable.  There are places such as forums where bad language isn’t out of place but for the most part you should just keep it clean and use other words in your vocabulary to express yourself and get your ideals across. 

6)    Digital Laws – Because what doing illegal things online doesn’t grant you immunity.  Internet users are all subject to the law and making sure you follow the digital laws is your responsibility.  Two of the points I wanted to discuss in this section are sexting and hacking.

Sexting is becoming a more widespread problem then one may think.  Inform your kids of the ramifications of such actions.  I strongly encourage you to go read the article and view the videos from CTV’s excellent W5 report found here.

 

The act of hacking or getting into someone’s computer, email or social media profiles without consent is also becoming more and more easy for people.  Don’t access someone's accounts or install software or spyware on computers to do such activities.

7)    Digital Rights and Responsibilities - This means that just because it’s on the internet it doesn’t mean it doesn’t belong to someone.  The content on the internet, whether it be a picture, an article, a video, a song or any other forms, belong to someone and you can’t just claim it to be yours or use it freely without acknowledging its rightful owner.  When it comes to material found online while doing research for a school assignment, learn how to properly cite websites, pictures, videos etc that you found online.  Doing this makes sure that you are doing proper scholarly work and won’t infringe any copyrights.

8)    Digital Health and Wellness – The effects that technology has on you.  This starts with ensuring you have using a computer in an ergonomic way that won’t strain your body while using it.  It can be something that goes as far as addiction.  Gaming addiction are becoming more common as shown in this study here that indicate that 1 out of 10 of the 85% of kids who play video games are showing signs of being addicted to them. 

We can all get a little hooked on our technological devices but like any good thing, they must be used in moderation. 

9)    Digital Security – Taking some precautions to protect yourself.  The best way to

protect yourself online is by not sharing your passwords, making strong passwords and changing them regularly.  Most sites now will show you how strong your password is while creating an account so make sure it strong.  Try not to have the same password for everything as you do not want your compromised email password to give someone access to your

online banking for example.  Doing so will prevent people from accessing your personal information or pretending to be you while things online.  Finally you may want to invest in a virus protection /spyware or adware software to protect your computer.  Finally you will also want to make sure your wireless network is protected and not freely accessible to anyone in your neighbourhood who may want to use your bandwidth or conduct illegal online matters from a connection that will point to the authorities to you. 

My score on the textbook quiz was 19/20 which would indicate that my digital citizenship knowledge is good but I felt like most of the questions were common sense questions that even a not so digitally aware person may answer right.  I could always be wrong but will look to my peer's results for comparative measure and report back if the results aren't what I anticipated. 

I can only hope that this post on digital citizenship hasn’t scared you away from using digital technologies or the internet because it certainly wasn’t the intention.  Most of the topics discussed here were meant to increase your awareness on the matter and make you a better Digital Citizen.  

Happy Surfing 

Mat