Running Head DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP CULMINATING PROJECT ESSAY

Digital Citizenship Culminating Project Essay

Jeanie Y. Gist

Lamar University
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP CULMINATING PROJECT ESSAY

Digital Citizenship Culminating Project Essay

Digital citizenship is something I’d always heard about but never really understood until

recently. After spending the past several weeks looking deeper into what digital citizenship

really is, I now believe that digital citizenship is something that should be discussed more often,

especially with our youth. Dr. Mike Ribbel, Author of Digital Citizenship in Schools: Nine

Elements All Students Should Know, has been focused on bringing the concept of digital

citizenship to educators since the early 2000’s. Ribble has broken digital citizenship down into 9

different components which he calls the 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship. The 9 Elements of

Digital Citizenship are defined below.

 Digital Access – We live in an age where almost everybody has a smart phone in his

hand, pocket, or purse, however, not everyone has access to technology or the Internet.

As educators, digital access is one of the elements that must be considered when creating

lessons that require technology to complete (Ribble, 2015). Flipped classrooms is a

teaching model that requires students to view a pre-recorded lesson at home so that the

lesson can be discussed in class the next day. This teaching model, however, does not

take into consideration students who do not have access to technology or the internet

from home and are unable to view the pre-recorded lessons. One option to overcoming

this issue is to utilize an in-class flipped classroom model which dedicates the first 5 or

10 minutes of class to viewing the pre-recorded lecture.

 Digital Communication – Communication in the 21st century is radically different from

previous forms of communication. New forms of communication such as texting,

emailing, and instant messaging are now part of our digital footprint and can be a

permanent record for others to see. It’s imperative that our youth be educated in digital
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communication so that they are able to use technology wisely when communicating with

others.

 Digital Commerce – It is important to be a smart consumer, especially when purchasing

items on line. Digital commerce includes selling online as well as internet scam and

identity theft awareness (Ribble, 2015). As digital commerce continues to expand,

students must be educated in how to be a savvy digital citizen.

 Digital Etiquette – Just as we teach our children to be kind to one another by sharing their

toys, taking turns, and saying please and thank you, we must also teach our children to be

kind when interacting with others on the Internet. Occasionally, the anonymity of

interacting on line with others can cause us to say or do things we may not have done in a

face-to-face interaction (DigCitUtah, 2017). This anonymity can embolden people to

cyberbully others which can have devastating and long-term effects (Hinduja & Patchin

2015).

 Digital Literacy – Knowing how to use technology such as a smart phone or a laptop is

just one part of digital literacy. Digital literacy also includes knowledge and effective use

of resources such as software, applications, search engines and other apps that are

available on line (Ribble, 2015). Additionally, digital literacy includes the importance of

fact checking and researching other bits of information we may come across while on line

(Ribble, 2015).

 Digital Health and Wellness – Too much of a good thing can be harmful including access

to technology and the Internet. In this day and age when most of us have a smart phone

or a computer at an arm’s length, it’s important to know when enough is enough. Being

“connected” 24/7 can have physical and emotional repercussions and we must be careful
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to strike a healthy balance between time on and off line (DigCitUtah, 2017). Over-use of

computers can cause health issues such as carpal tunnel syndrome, posture problems, and

eye strain. Additionally, emotional issues such as the inability to socialize in face-to-face

settings and Internet addictions must be considered and should be addressed with our

youth (Ribble, 2015).

 Digital Law – Just as we must have laws to prevent chaos in real-world settings, we must

also have laws in the digital world. Digital law includes issues such as copyright

infringement and plagiarism and is an important component of keeping order on the

Internet (Ribble, 2015).

 Digital Rights and Responsibilities – When we are granted membership to a club or an

organization, it is assumed that the rights and responsibilities of that club will be honored

and upheld. Being a member of the world wide web is no different. When we are

afforded the privilege of interacting with others on the Internet, we are also implying that

we will honor the rights and responsibilities of being part of a digital community (Ribble,

2015)

 Digital Security – With so much of our lives being conducted on line, it’s imperative that

we be diligent about protecting our information from others. Keeping our private

information private through the use of privacy settings, strong passwords, and secure sites

is a critical component of being a digital citizen (Ribble, 2015).

All of the 9 elements are important when it comes to digital citizenship, however while

all of the elements can have damaging and long-lasting affects, none has the ability to cause as

much personal harm as cyberbullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015). Cyberbullying is frequently

overlooked or dismissed because it’s viewed as “kids being kids” or “only words”, however the
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP CULMINATING PROJECT ESSAY

effects of cyberbullying can be profound (Koyczan, 2013, Lewinsky, 2015). According to the

Pew Research Center (2018) 59% of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, and Sameer

Hinduja and Justin Patchin, authors of Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard, report that students who

experienced bullying or cyberbullying are nearly 2 times more likely to attempt suicide (2018).

Additionally, there is a strong correlation between bullying behaviors and violent injury over

time (Jetelina et al., 2018). As a teacher in a Title I school, who witnessed a school fight just this

week, bullying and cyberbullying is an issue I personally take very seriously. I believe that all 9

elements of digital citizenship are something that should be part of our youth’s curriculum

beginning no later than 3rd grade. Whether this week’s school fight had anything to do with

cyberbullying or not, I don’t know, however because of the strong relationship between bullying

and violence I felt compelled to create a presentation on cyberbullying that I could share with my

students.

Since I would be creating a presentation that would be viewed by high school students, I

wanted a presentation format that was interactive in design. The presentation platform I chose

was NearPod. Nearpod is a student engagement platform that allows teachers to upload slide

presentations and insert interactive activities between the slides to keep students engaged. And

while I do have a paid subscription to NearPod so that I can use their premium features, I believe

the version of the slide presentation I created is free. In addition to NearPod, I also used Canva to

create my slides and Powtoon to create animated videos (uploaded to YouTube) to embed in my

NearPod presentation.

Prior to taking my Digital Citizenship course, I’d never used Powtoon. However as one

of the course assignments was to create an animated video, I was finally forced to learn how to

use the Platform to create animated videos, and I’m so glad that I did. There were some features
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of Powtoon that I was never able to quite figure out in the short time I had to learn the platform,

such as how to speed up or slow down the “hand writing” feature, but I was able to adjust the

length of each slide to accommodate for that. Additionally, as I was learning Powtoon on the fly,

I wasn’t able to really explore all of the platform’s features, but it is something I’ll definitely do

in the future. I’ve already been thinking of ways I can incorporate Powtoons into my lessons for

my students. Canva is a design tool that I discovered during a previous course; I absolutely love

it and use it for school, work, and personal projects. It allows you to create very professional

looking projects; everything from resumes to PowerPoint slides. Once I created my slides in

Canva, I uploaded them to NearPod and inserted various activities such as polls and open-ended

questions, between some of the slides to keep students engaged. I feel that the four applications I

used (Canva, Powtoon, YouTube, and NearPod) all worked beautifully together and I’m very

happy with the presentation they helped me create.

In conclusion, digital citizenship is a vital component in the age of 21st century

technology and is a subject that should be discussed more often, especially with our youth. As

educators, we have the responsibility of educating our students to be good digital citizens.

Additionally, with the array of software programs available on the Internet, educators have the

ability to create interesting and engaging presentations on digital citizenship, cyberbullying, or

any other topic.

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP CULMINATING PROJECT ESSAY

References

Bailey, J. (2013, October 7). The Difference Between Copyright Infringement and
Plagiarism. Retrieved from https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/10/07/difference-
copyright-infringement-plagiarism/

Bailey, J. (2017, November 16). Plagiarism, Attribution and Fair Use. Retrieved from
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2017/11/16/plagiarism-attribution-and-fair-use/

DigCitUtah. (2017). What is Digital Citizenship? Retrieved from

https://digcitutah.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjw2qHsBRAGEiwAMbPoDDUAXn8yCCV6
qfWpjE54UuV0kF3ih5kkTp0DO1yo4N1ANrQS3H-mtRoCd6UQAvD_BwE

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the schoolyard: preventing and
responding to cyberbullying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Jetelina, K. K., Gonzalez, J. M. R., Cuccaro, P. M., Peskin, M. F., Pompeii, L., Atem, F., …
Schuster, M. A. (2019). Mechanisms and Frequency of Violent Injuries Among
Victims and Perpetrators of Bullying. Journal of Adolescent Health, 64(5), 664–670.
doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.10.295

Koyczan, S. TED. (2013, March 8). "To This Day"... For the Bullied and the Beautiful.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa1iS1MqUy4.

Lewinksy, M. TED. (2015, March 20). The Price of Shame. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U.

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: nine elements all students should know.
Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.