By Carly Shannon carly.Shannon@smail.astate.edu Digital Citizenship By Carly Shannon carly.Shannon@smail.astate.edu

What is Digital Citizenship? Digital citizenship is used to help educators and parents understand what students should know to use technology appropriately. We must teach our children how to behave in the digital world, just as we teach them how to behave in public.

Digital Access It is hard for some people to understand that others in this world do not have the same access to technology that they have. Users need to keep in mind that some people may have limited access. This limited access can be at home or at school. Every child should understand that everyone should be given the same opportunities, which means the same digital access.

Digital Commerce Online Shopping is major part of society. While there is legal commerce happening online, students need to understand that there is also illegal commerce online. Such as Illegal downloading. Pornography. Gambling. Children must be shown the difference between legal and illegal digital commerce. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Digital Communication We live in such a technologically advanced world, that we are able to talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime that we want. When given so much freedom, we must educate our children on how to act appropriately when there are so many different communication paths to take.

Digital Literacy We have a lot of technology being used in career fields that are not being used in schools. As educators, we need to bridge that gap to ensure that our children have the knowledge to prosper in their chosen field.

Digital Etiquette Just as we teach our children how to behave in public, we must teach them how to behave in the digital world. Most of the time, when inappropriate behavior occurs, we ban or decrease hands-on technology time. This will not work if we are to teach etiquette to our children. They will need to be taught how to behave appropriately.

Digital Law Just as in real life situations, there are laws in place to prevent crime. Our children need to be taught what are digital crimes. Hacking into others information. Downloading illegal music. Plagiarizing Creating destructive worms, viruses or creating Trojan Horses. Sending spam Stealing anyone’s identify or property is unethical.

Digital Rights & Responsibilities There are certain rights that users of technology are permitted, but with these rights comes the responsibility to use them appropriately. These rights include, but are not limited to: Freedom of speech. Right to privacy.

Digital Health & Wellness With technology, comes certain health problems. The physical problems include: Eye strain. Repetitive Stress Syndrome. Sound ergonomic practices. The psychological problems include: Internet addiction.

Digital Security (self-protection) Just as in real life, we must protect our digital lives. This means have virus protection to protect our documents. And also having backups of our data so that if someone decides to act inappropriately, we do not suffer too badly.

Credits Information comes from the Digital Citizenship website. http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/nine-elements.html