Running head: Digital Citizenship Essay

Digital Citizenship: A Reflective Essay

Daniel Young

Lamar University
Running head: Digital Citizenship Essay

A Reflection on Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship is past being a necessity in the 21st century. Whether considering the current

landscape of education, the projected direction of education, or simply the state of the world, it is easy

to see the need for understanding digital citizenship at the highest levels. We must focus in on the

elements that have the greatest impact on our students. This is a reality we must accept for the sake of

our schools, students, and the good of all young people operating in this digital rich age.

In order to do this, it is entirely necessary to understand the nine elements of digital citizenship

outlined by Ribble in his research. These nine elements encompass all areas of the digital world where

responsible interaction between digital citizens is necessary. An outline of all these elements will follow.

Throughout this coursework, I was drawn to a specific facet of digital citizenship that spans a handful of

the elements Ribble discusses (2017). I spent much of my time in this course discussing areas of current

concern for those operating in the digital age. It would not be fair to call all of these concerns

“negative,” but I could not help consider the potential problems that may arise if we do not embrace the

tenants of digital citizenship in these areas. While I believe it is my current teaching circumstances that

drew me to these issues, I think it is safe to say these areas of concern should be among the first

considered when looking at this topic of digital citizenship, as these are the elements that affect our

students most.

Before focusing in on these areas of concern, an overview of these nine components will frame

the discussion. The first of element Ribble discusses is digital access. This is the idea that there should be

an equitable distribution of online resources, access, and technology to all engaging in an online

community. It is a responsibility of schools and technology leaders to make sure equitable access is

provided to all students regardless of circumstances outside the school’s control. The second element is
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digital commerce. Digital commerce encompasses the act of buying and selling goods online, as well as

the tools in place to protect these transactions. (Ribble, 2015) The need for this element has only grown

as more and more business takes place through online platforms. Digital communication and

collaboration are the processes of communicating with or working with others using technology. (Ribble,

2015) Again, the surge in online forms of communication has made necessary guidelines for proper

communication through that medium. The next element is digital etiquette. Digital etiquette is a set of

guidelines in place to govern how people interact with one another, with an emphasis thinking about

the impact the digital activity may have on others. Digital fluency is simply the skill of being able to

understand new technologies and use them. (Ribble, 2015) Digital fluency is a great predictor of success

as students who are aided in becoming digitally fluent tend to achieve at a higher level. The element of

digital health and welfare deals with the physical and psychological health of an individual in the digital

world. As we consider the mounting social/emotional needs of today’s student, a look into on how

technology is affecting that health is essential. Digital law deals with the creation of policy that governs

issues in the digital world. Rights and responsibilities are the rights and responsibilities that are afforded

to all people in a digital environment. Lastly, the element of digital security and privacy deals with

safeguards put in place to ensure individuals are safe and secure in online environments. (Ribble, 2015)

The frequent security breaches that dominate the news cycle evidence the need for this element.

It is also worth noting that these nine principles can be further broken down into three

categories governed by the principles of being, “safe, savvy, and social.” (Ribble, 2015) Were you more

concerned with a specific event or means of teaching digital citizenship, these categories lend some

direction. The elements that fall under the category of safety seek to keep members of the digital

community safe while they are interacting online. Elements that fall under “savvy” seek to create digital

citizens that are aware and effective navigators of the digital landscape. Finally, the elements that fall

under the heading of “social” hope to encourage individuals to communicate and interact in a respectful
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manor, as well as a way that shows respect for one’s self. (Ribble, 2017) These categories and principles

are all related in that elements of all three principles can be found across all nine elements. Additionally

when considering a progression of teaching these skills, Ribble recommends that principles related to

creating savvy and social digital citizens be built first on the principle of safety. (Ribble, 2017)

When considering the elements outlined above, one can see how the incorporation of all nine

would be essential to successfully leading an individual towards all around digital citizenship. While I

firmly believe this, the focus of this reflection is a subset of these elements that I feel most directly

affects our students. Specifically, components relating to student health, and issues of legality seemed

to be among the most pertinent for me in my study of this topic. Using Ribble’s language, the elements

of digital health and welfare, digital law, with connection to the element of digital etiquette helped to

direct my attention towards this topic of what “affects our students most.” (Ribble, 2017)

I could not help but think about the monumental changes technology has brought not only to

the classroom, but to our lives in general. Unfortunately, the more I read, the more I was reminded that

all of these changes are not necessarily good. When considering the element of digital health and

wellness, a review of the research on the impacts of screen time on the developing brain should give any

person pause. Research shows excessive screen time leads to impaired cognitive function, atrophy of

certain portions of the brain, and chemical imbalances that lead to addictive tendencies. (Dunckley,

2014) As the push for more and more technology in the classroom continues, we as educators must be

aware of data like this and make decisions that keep students health and welfare at the forefront.

I was also drawn to a connection between student’s health and the focus on cyberbullying in

this course. Cyberbullying is something we have been hearing about for a long time in education. We

cannot say that technology in the classroom is “new” any longer, therefore, cyberbullying should not

come as a surprise to us in the 21st century school. That being said, the numbers of students suffering
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from this type of interaction is staggering. Most concerning is the notion that in some cases, little can be

done my schools to confront this issue as it most often happens off school campuses and outside school

hours.

It is important that we do not just look at the statistics when considering something like

cyberbullying. It is easy to see a percentage and not equate that number to the real number of students

being affected. For example, it is easy to see the number 35% and initially react by viewing 35% as less

than half. However, if you consider a school population of 1,500 students, which happens to be the size

of the high school in the district I teach, we are talking about over 500 students who have experienced

cyberbullying in a single school. The data provided by cyberbullying.org and the way that data is

organized is very revealing. Not only do their studies show cyberbullying by the numbers, they look at

who was most likely to be cyberbullied (Patchin,2019). Unlike traditional bullying, there is less of a

“typical” model for cyberbullying situations. Due to the constant access and anonymity provided by the

digital interaction, students from a variety of situations are more likely to engage in cyberbullying that

traditional bullying. As the study mentioned above revealed, around 35% of students report being

cyberbullied at some point in their life. There was little difference in the rate between males and

females in the study and both groups reported that around 15% had been cyberbullied sometime in the

previous month. Again, I find these numbers alarming when you consider the actual number of students

they represent. This is an area of student health and wellness that did not even need consideration a

mere fifteen years ago before social media made it so easy for students to communicate online.

This brings up the facet of digital law and how things like cyberbullying fit into the modern day

legal code. It is disheartening to read about the lack of recourse a school can take in many cyberbullying

situations. It seems unfortunate we are in a place where due to the fact that these attacks take place

outside school hours, that little can be done when students return to school hours. Unlike traditional

bullying that requires a face to face interaction, cyberbullying will be definition probably not take place
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at school. Unfortunately, it is just as if not more harmful to the psyche and culture of a young person. I

found myself hoping that more aggressive law would be put in place to deal with these situations. If a

school can provide conclusive evidence that bullying is taking place outside the school that is directly

impacting the ability of students to learn while in school, it seems that some form of recourse should be

possible. There are states that have these laws, and unfortunately real legal action may be necessary to

make young people understand the gravity of what they say. There were numerous references made to

first amendment rights as a means of protecting a student’s right to cyber bully outside school hours.

Though the first amendment may protect your right to say something, there are many things not

protected by the first amendment. For example, slander, libel or direct threats are prosecutorial

offenses. These types of statements are not protected by the first amendment, and it seems that many

types of cyber bullying fall into these categories. If cyberbullying continues to be the problem it is today,

we may have to draw a harder line on this in the field of education.

All of these somewhat negative ideas lead me to a focus on the element of digital etiquette.

More specifically, the realization that education has a major responsibility to teach young people about

proper etiquette online for the good of themselves and others around them. This also led me to the

project I created for the culmination of this course. After considering all the elements, the impact they

are having on the world of education, the impact they are having on young people, and the reality that

this is not going away, I wanted my project to “educate” on the topics of digital citizenship just as we

would any other content in our classrooms. Not only do we need to educate, but we need to emphasize

these topics as there are few things that impact our students more in our modern-day classrooms.

Originally my culminating project was going to be a video where I shared by thoughts on each of the

elements. Then I considered my opening thoughts in this paragraph, that our job should first and

foremost be to “educate” on this topic. With some input from an instructional coach and an individual I

collaborated with in a previous course, I decided to transition my project to a compilation of resources

that could be used to help educate on the topics of digital citizenship. Under the digital projects tab in

my eportfolio you will find a single google slide with links to resources that help teach all nine of the

digital elements. Some of these resources I created in this course, some are resources I found through

this course, while others are simple podcasts I have created discussing the importance of those topic

and what they means for our students. As the intended goal of this project is that it be used as a

resources to help others who are interested in educating on this topic, I found this to be the most

effective format. A simple video would not have allowed to attach and share the resources in the way I

wanted. Though it seems simple, being a single google slide, there is wealth of knowledge when the

various resources are explored.

If I could have changed one thing in this process it would have been to think outside the box

sooner when it came to creating my final project. I did not come up with the format that best captured

my thoughts on this whole course until the final week. As a result, some things were a little rushed and I

would have liked more time to explore and look back at resources that had the greatest impact on my

understanding.

Overall, I leave this course and this topic of digital citizenship with an understanding that we

have a responsibility to do what our profession calls for, educate. Though I found myself focusing on

some of the potential negatives, if we embrace the understanding that education needs to address

these issues, there is great hope moving forward.

References

Dunckley, V. (2014, February 27). Gray Matters: Too Much Screen Time Damages the Brain. Retrieved

from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-wealth/201402/gray-matters-too-

much-screen-time-damages-the-brain

Patchin, J. (2019, July 10). 2016 Cyberbullying Data. Retrieved from https://cyberbullying.org/2019-

cyberbullying-data

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools (3rd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society of

Technology in Education.

Ribble. (2017). Nine Elements. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/nine-

elements.html