This post is part of an ongoing series of chapters from the book CHOICE. Please view this post for an introduction and table of contents. To keep up with each new chapter published, please subscribe.
Digital Citizenship has been a curriculum topic for many years in school districts. It started as something just added on (if there is time). Maybe during library time or a once a week during class time. Students would get a few minutes of instruction about how to behave online. During my days as a K12 student this time was entirely focused on cyberbullying.
Next came the formal curriculum. States and federal agencies started to design and distribute a full digital citizenship curriculum. With standards, assessments, and guidance on how students should be prepared for the digital world. This prompted much more time spend in classroom around digital citizenship.
More time was being spent on this topic, but was still kept as a separate topic from the core curriculum. It was treated as something kids should know but only as time permits.
Digital citizenship is not something you just have class time about. It is something engrained in all learning. It’s just Citizenship at this point. How to behave and navigate in our society today. A society that revolves around and is ingrained with technology and the internet.
Technology and society go hand in hand. There is no longer a way to behave online, it's just how to behave.
There was a time when the digital and "real-world" self were two different things. Now, they are completely connected. The person you show online, is the person perceived in the "real-world."
Author Comments
Providing a peak behind the curtain of the thought and writing process.
If you've noticed the trend in the last few chapters, I have issue with the word digital being put before many words and trying to create something new.
Computers and the internet are here to stay, they aren't an optional part of the world anymore. Computers are the mainstream. Which sounds ridiculous to have to say in 2023, but here I am.