Breadcrumb
Digital Citizenship
By Jenna Kammer, Lauren Hays, and Sandeep Ponigoti, June 9, 2022
Digital citizenship is the term used to describe the awareness and practice of individual use of technology responsibly, safely, and collaboratively.
Choi, M. (2016). A concept analysis of digital citizenship for democratic citizenship education in the internet age. Theory & Research in Social Education 44(4), 565–607.
This empirical study reconceptualized digital citizenship as a complex intersection of technical skills, local and global awareness, and critical perspectives which can lead to political activism. The author identified four concepts of the concept of digital citizenship: digital citizenship as ethics, digital citizenship as media and information literacy, digital citizenship as political engagement, and digital citizenship as critical resistance.
Choi, M., Cristol, D., & Gimbert, B. (2018). Teachers as digital citizens: The influence of individual backgrounds, internet use and psychological characteristics on teachers’ levels of digital citizenship. Computers & Education, 121, 143-161.
In-service teachers were recruited for this study to understand more about the teacher's own levels of digital citizenship and internet use. The findings indicated that the teachers in this study ranked low in the areas of internet political activism and critical perspectives. In addition, teachers who had low internet self-efficacy also had low digital citizenship. They also found that years of work experience was one of the factors which influenced teacher levels of digital citizenship.
Heath, M. K. (2018). What kind of (digital) citizen? The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 35(5), 342-356. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-06-2018-0067
Heath (2018), a professor in educational technology, interrogated the concept of 'digital citizenship' in a between-study analysis to understand ideological differences for the term: digital citizenship. This analysis found that there is a gap between descriptions of digital citizenship in educational technology literature (primarily relating to safety and ethical use) and the discourse of digital citizenship in regards to civic engagement (responsible, participatory and justice-oriented citizens). Findings indicated that literature from the field of educational technology primarily views digital citizenship through the lens of the 'responsible citizen’ and does not ground digital citizenship within the theoretical framework of citizenship. Conclusions suggested schools consider how digital citizenship can include justice-oriented digital citizenship, in addition to responsible use.
Hui, B., & Campbell, R. (2018). Discrepancy between learning and practicing digital citizenship. Journal of Academic Ethics, 16(2), 117-131.
Researchers asked graduates of a teacher education training to self-report their understanding of the nine elements of digital citizenship. Participants indicated that they were knowledgeable in access, communication, literacy and security, but less informed on digital etiquette, health and wellness. The researchers noted that little empirical research exists related to the efficacy of digital citizenship education, despite its prevalence in the American school system. In addition, students do well on digital citizenship assessment but fail to carry over these skills into real life. To develop the survey for this study, researchers explored existing digital citizenship assessment, including Common Sense Education's multiple choice questions and the Digital Driver's License resource. The end result is a survey which asks participants what they would do in certain situations. Authors conclude that the digital citizenship curriculum should shift to emphasize online behaviors and attitudes.
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) (2019). Digital citizenship in education. In ISTE: International Society for Technology in Education. https://www.iste.org/areas-of-focus/digital-citizenship
ISTE developed standards which include digital citizenship as a key component. In addition, they provide digital resources and standards for digital citizenship in P-12 classrooms, including courses for teaching digital citizenship.
Kammer, J., Atiso, K., & Borteye, E.M. (2021). Student experiences with digital citizenship: A Comparative cultural study. Libri, 71, 279 - 291.
This study compared student perceptions of digital citizenship in the United States with those in Ghana. Comparing responses from students in two information literacy classes from around the globe, researchers found that students in Ghana had generally stronger levels of digital citizenship despite having less instruction, policies and resources available to them. Students from Ghana indicated that their digital citizenship was developed by needing to use technology for accomplishing important tasks, such as communicating with others around the world or managing businesses. Both students indicated that issues of wireless, charging and updated devices were issues which impacted their use of technology. Authors found that several implications include the benefits of direct instruction related to digital citizenship concepts in courses.
Lindsey, L., & Mattson, K. (2021). Digital citizenship: Curricular Framework PK-12. Edvolve Dig Cit Doctors. http://www.teachdigcit.com/uploads/8/5/7/6/8576959/edvolve.dc.curricularframework.pdf
This framework was created by two digital citizenship researchers (the Digital Citizenship Doctors) to provide guidance for implementing digital citizenship within the K-12 curriculum. Using the four strands of digital safety, media and information literacy, digital well-being and social responsibility, the Digital Citizenship Doctors help educators scope and sequence various concepts of digital citizenship, and provide guiding questions related to enduring understandings. This report was reviewed by nine professionals and aligns with the following standards: ISTE Standards for Students, AASL Standards, Common Core ELA Standards, C3 Social Studies Standards, National Health Education Standards, CASEL Indicators for Social Emotional Learning and the Social Justice Standards.
Martin, F., Gezer, T., & Wang, C. (2019). Educators’ perceptions of student digital citizenship practices. Computers in the Schools, 36(4), 238-254.
This study examined K-12 educators and their perceptions of digital citizenship. The educators rated student practice of digital citizenship very low, however, those who taught digital citizenship specifically rated their students as having higher levels of digital citizenship.
Moon, E. C. (2018). Teaching students out of harm’s way: Mitigating digital knowledge gaps and digital risk created by 1:1 device programs in K-12 education in the USA. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 16(3), 290-302..
This paper presented the case of personal computing in schools, including the impact of personal device adoption programs (also known as 1:1 programs). Moon (2018) discussed the benefits and problems of 1:1 programs. The benefits include alignment with 21st century competencies, lower overall costs of resources, and opportunities for students to learn more about technology. The problems include a knowledge gap for using technology, risk factors related to having access to the Internet at all times, and lack of clarity as to what the expectations and responsibilities for ensuring instructional value are. The author concludes that districts need to place student and teacher needs first to close any gaps that the 1:1 programs may create.
Phillips, A. L., & Lee, V. R. (2019). Whose responsibility is it? A statewide survey of school librarians on responsibilities and resources for teaching digital citizenship. School Library Research, 22, 1-20.
This exploratory study sought to understand how school librarians in Utah participated in digital citizenship teaching after a state legislature related to teaching digital citizenship in public schools was passed. The authors delivered a statewide survey to Utah school librarians, which included questions regarding digital citizenship resources, existing school curriculum, and suggestions for improving current education. School librarians stated a wish to be more involved in the instructional process, a need for more time, and a want to continuously work with teachers and administration.
Richardson, J. W., Martin, F., & Sauers, N. (2021). Systematic review of 15 years of research on digital citizenship: 2004–2019. Learning, Media and Technology, 46(4), 498-514.
This paper analyzed the corpus of digital citizenship research between 2004 and 2019. This systematic review included empirical publications on digital citizenship published, peer-reviewed, and focused on students, educators, parents, and the general public and explored the interaction of digital citizenship and related behaviors, attitudes (affective), and knowledge (cognitive). They found the top journal for publishing works on digital citizenship was Educational Technology and Society (5 articles) and lacked core authors. The majority of articles (n=60) were about students, with an average sample size of 380. Most articles examined behavior (n=44) and used a quantitative non-experimental method. The majority of articles did not identify a framework, but of those that did, Ribble’s classification was the most applied (n=27). The key takeaways of this research are that there is an increased global interest in the topic, there is a lack of focus on K-12 educators, a lack of empirical and experimental studies and a lack of studies which measure digital citizenship.
Samek, T., & Shultz, L. (Eds.). (2017). Information ethics, globalization and citizenship: Essays on ideas to praxis. McFarland.
This edited book consisted of works which explored the intersections between information ethics and global citizenship. Including poetry, conversations, and essays, written by a variety of experts on information ethics, readers can enjoy discussions centered around social justice on the implications of citizenship in the modern globalized world. Specific examples included issues of digital domination, introduction of a decolonial framework to understand citizenship, the concern of governments and large datasets, questions on surveillance, a critical analysis of the “digital closet”, calls for social justice when considering library practices and important considerations for vulnerable people seeking information assistance.
Searson, M., Hancock, M., Soheil, N., & Shepherd, G. (2015). Digital citizenship within global contexts. Education and Information Technologies, 20(4), 729-741.
These authors followed up on a discussion from the 2013 working group at EduSummIT which discussed the practicality of considering digital citizenship from a global context. They concluded that equity is not consistent globally, and that informed policies are desirable, but not practical within a global context until access to the internet and devices is addressed globally. They identified four factors necessary to reach these considerations, including: national and local policies, bandwidth and technology infrastructure, educational contexts, cyber-safety and cyberwellness practices and privacy accountability.
Zimmerman, M. (2019). Global digital citizenship. In J. Burgess and E. Knox (Eds.) Foundation of Information Ethics. ALA Neal Schuman.
This chapter in Foundation of Information Ethics (also recommended for future reading on various relevant issues including data ethics, privacy, intellectual property, cybersecurity and more), discussed the concept, intellectual history, issues and concerns of digital citizenship. Three case studies which utilize global digital citizenship are presented on the topics of: the protests of the destruction of Gezi Park, the protests in 2008 in Lhasa, Tibet, and Bana al-Abed’s tweets from East Aleppo in 2016.
Foundational works related to the digital citizen:
Castells, M. (2003). The internet galaxy. Oxford University Press.
Castells, a sociologist, examines the network society and accurately predicted society’s full adoption of the internet. This work provides historical information related to the development of the internet, and discusses its impact, cautioning all to take responsibility for using the internet with care to prevent marginalization of those who do not have access.
Dewey, J. (1922). Democracy and education. The Macmillan Company.
While written well before the Internet, this work addresses “good citizenship” and civic participation as a foundational role of education.
Isin, E., & Ruppert, E. (2015). Being digital citizens. Rowman & Littlefield International.
This book examines what citizenship means within the constraints and opportunities of the internet. It examines digital rights and responsibilities.
Mossberger, K., Tolbert, C. J., & McNeal, R. S. (2007). Digital citizenship: The Internet, society, and participation. MIT Press.
The authors of this book examine the role of information literacy and participation of the digital citizen.
Norris, P. (2001). Digital divide: Civic engagement, information poverty, and the Internet worldwide. Cambridge University Press.
This book is a foundational work explaining how lack of equal and reliable access to the internet has caused inequalities, creating a social and democratic divide.
Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know. International Society for Technology in Education.
This work provides the framework for this annotated bibliography. Describing nine elements of what makes a digital citizen, Ribble presents practical situations in which digital citizenship can be addressed in schools.
