Image via Envato Elements
Digital Citizenship Week: Preparing students for the digital world
Every year, the third week of October is dedicated to teaching good digital citizenship to students, to ensure their safety when using technology and online spaces.
Image via Envato Elements
Every year, the third week of October is dedicated to teaching good digital citizenship to students, to ensure their safety when using technology.
The aim is to teach students how to think critically about their online interactions, and about what they see in digital spheres. Only when they understand the benefits and risk, will they be able to make informed decisions.
According to the CommonSense website, “digital citizens aren’t born, they are taught”. It is therefore vital for teachers, parents and community members to understand these topics as well.
Digital Citizenship Week 2019
Why is Digital Citizenship Week important
Media stories appear on a daily basis of cyberbullying, sexting, privacy breaches and mental health concerns, relating to smart devices and social media.
Dean McCoubrey, founder of MySociaLife, SA’s Premier Digital Life Skills Program, explains:
“It took us three years to build our ten different modules, given the extensive aspects of life online that needed to be covered. We use an international digital citizenship framework as our base, and then add some of the country’s top specialists, psychologists, mental health advocates and researchers. Consider the extent of the issues – the psychological impact on our children, the ever-evolving phone settings which need attention, the law, the vast landscape of apps, games and social platforms to cover – MySociaLife studies this every day, and it’s still a job to keep up.”
Dean McCoubrey
When is Digital Citizenship Week?
Digital Citizenship Week takes place from 14 to 18 October this year, globally.
In South African, it is a call to action to schools to ask themselves if they have sufficient digital education in place.
How does it work?
Digital Citizenship Week for teachers
Teachers, specifically, are encouraged to host a series of activities for their students, Topics include how to recognise and deal with cyber-bullying, and how to find credible news sources, amongst others.
Each activity as outlined on Common Sense comes with a relevant video, as well as discussion questions, and are grouped according to ages: Ages 5 to 11, ages 11 to 14, and ages 14 to 18
Digital Citizenship Week for parents
The ‘Parents’ section of the site includes reviews for the movies your children might want to watch, with ratings and age guidelines to ensure your children are only exposed to the best possible content.
There is also an Editors Recommend section, which includes a list of apps for children, ranging from Math and Science tutoring aids to audiobooks and astronomy apps. The complete list can be viewed here.
Furthermore, parents will find helpful articles and videos, sorted according to age. Some of the topics include:
