Education of Digital Citizenship
Digital citizenship refers to the basic skills or capabilities that citizens living in a digital society should have. It is a person who knows digital technology well, uses it to communicate in everyday life, and makes good use of himself, others, and social development. Zook introduces digital citizenship as an act of responsible use of technology by everyone who interacts with society at any level using computers, the Internet and digital devices, and notes that the most important of the many topics that today’s students should address is digital citizenship (Zook, 2019). Our society is changing at an exponential rate, unlike past changes, centering on digital technology. From this point of view, to make digital citizenship easier for the general public to understand, digital citizenship is a basic quality that a person, who have any small activity in digital world, should have.
Digital citizenship and digital literacy can be different or the same. To put it simply, digital literacy is one of the nine elements, Digital etiquette, Digital communication, Digital access, Digital literacy, Digital commerce, Digital law, Digital rights and responsibilities, Digital health and wellness, Digital security, of digital citizenship (Ahlquist, 2014). Digital Citizenship Website announced that digital literacy, also called digital fluency, is a process of understanding technology and its uses, which includes discussion of media literacy and the ability to distinguish between good and bad information such as “fake news”. In addition, according to the Deye of National Conference of State Legislature, Digital citizenship is a broader term that integrates the concept of digital literacy, which means fluency in the use and security of interactive digital tools and searchable networks, and digital citizenship is defined as an appropriate and responsible code of conduct when using technology (Deye, 2017).
I think the way to foster digital citizenship for adult learners is through repeated exposure. I think the most important element of digital citizenship is morality. Most adults, including myself, will not feel the need to learn under the belief that they have some morality. Because I did, too. As most adults perceive, morality is a basic quality that one should have in life. But I can’t be sure that everyone in the digital world, regardless of age, is equipped with this. It is possible that they caused or participated in problems online when they were not aware of it. To prevent this, I think exposing advertisements for digital citizenship in various fields is the most effective way to alert adult learners to digital citizenship. I think we can raise people’s awareness by exposing a variety of advertisements on the subject of digital citizenship, just as many original ads stand out today. In addition, education on digital citizenship for adults should be prioritized by occupation or age. For example, educators who can nurture students, users of many digital media platforms that will emerge, should be more alert to digital citizenship than anyone else. According to Docenti, as the amount of online activities involving students has increased, we need to provide students with clear guidance on ‘best practices’ when working online, and we should prioritize education on digital citizenship for teachers to ensure proper education (Docenti, 2018).
https://www.digitalcitizenship.net/home.html
https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/what-is-digital-citizenship
https://www.ncsl.org/research/education/promoting-digital-literacy-and-citizenship-in-school.aspx
