Now that you’ve read about how to evaluate and validate your own digital citizenship agreements, in the next chapter we’ll step beyond policy and look deeper into what the agreements are meant to achieve. You will discover how digital citizenship becomes part of global citizenship, each a defining tenet of your ethically based guidelines that ensure every individual not only adheres to but also unconsciously lives the agreement guidelines of acceptability and fairness. This is where we meet the global digital citizen.
Guiding Questions
As you reflect on this chapter, consider the following four guiding questions.
1. What is the gap analysis, and how does it apply to evaluating a digital citizenship agreement?
2. Why is it important to use an advance team to gain an understanding of where you are starting from before making any changes?
3. What are the problems and limitations with most schools’ acceptable use policies?
4. What are the most important characteristics of an effective digital citizenship agreement?
| chapter 2 | Uniting Digital Citizenship and Global Citizenship |
When the public got its first taste of the World Wide Web, we had little idea of the change it would usher into the world. The Internet we know today continues to grow exponentially. In June 2016, Cisco (2016) estimated that our annual global IP (Internet Protocol) traffic would surpass the zettabyte (ZB) threshold by the end of the year. Cisco (2016) further estimates that we will reach 2.3 ZB per year by the end of 2020.
Our level of global interconnectedness is staggering, with most people incorporating the Internet into many facets of daily life. Its presence is constant, and its absence seems unimaginable. The Internet allows us to become true global citizens, both socially and as a workforce. We can see and track our actions on an international scale. We measure our impact on the global environment and gauge our social and moral differences and similarities. We rally together to inspire hope and provide aid for countries dealing with hardships and tragedies. This interconnectedness allows us to see how local or individual efforts can have a global effect. Seeing the impact of the individual in the global community shows us the great positive potential of the Internet. But, we also see that same impact reveal how exposed we are to scrutiny, manipulation, and threats to our privacy and security.
When you think about it, it makes sense to cultivate empowered individuals who are dutifully aware of their responsibility—both for and with the power of the Internet—for the lasting well-being of our global community. This is a hallmark of the global digital citizen.
We frequently use the phrase global digital citizen, but what does that mean? How do we define this individual? A starting point for creating a new level of ethical consciousness among global individuals is to define the characteristics of global digital citizenship, which encompass a range of human qualities that we break down into the tenets listed in figure 2.1 (page 24).
Figure 2.1: Tenets of global digital citizenship.
In this chapter, we examine each of these tenets, why they are important, and what it means to exemplify them. Each of these sections concludes with an assessment rubric derived from chapter 8, “Global Digital Citizenship,” of our book, Mindful Assessment (Crockett & Churches, 2017). Mindful Assessment (Crockett & Churches, 2017) presents complete frameworks for what we call essential fluencies—crucial new skills and mindsets learners need to flourish in 21st century life. Global digital citizenship is the last of these six essential fluencies. The global digital citizenship assessment rubrics in this chapter are also available for free online. Go to go.SolutionTree.com/technology to access them.
Although we place emphasis in this chapter on the teacher-to-student dynamic, it’s important to understand that we must all value and model the tenets of global digital citizenship if we are to instill these values in our youth. We begin with personal responsibility.
Personal Responsibility
For teachers, developing a student’s sense of personal responsibility is about gradually shifting the responsibility for learning to the student, and developing his or her sense of accountability for lifelong learning. It includes demonstrating how one governs oneself in matters of finance, ethical and moral boundaries, personal health and fitness, and all relationships. The following sections illustrate the good that comes from internalizing these traits.
• Taking responsibility for lifelong learning
• Nurturing relationships of every definition
• Maintaining physical, mental, and emotional health
• Managing financial matters
• Developing ethical and moral standards
At the end of these sections, we include an assessment framework that explains how to set students on this path and develop them into citizens with a strong sense of personal responsibility.
Taking Responsibility for Lifelong Learning
One of the greatest gifts teachers can give students is developing their capacity and desire to learn independently. The New Zealand Ministry of Education (2007) identifies the following key competencies that support lifelong learning.
• Thinking: Using creative, critical, and cognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas
• Using language, symbols, and text: Understanding and using the codes that express knowledge
• Managing self: Developing a can-do attitude and seeing oneself as a capable learner
• Relating to others: Interacting effectively with diverse groups in multiple contexts
• Participating and contributing: Establishing active involvement in local and wider communities
Through these key competencies, lifelong learning becomes a habit of mind and creates a sense of pride and accomplishment in all of us. Taking responsibility for our learning also adds to our capacity to teach and learn from others.
Nurturing Relationships of Every Definition
Teachers must encourage themselves and their students to learn proper ways to communicate. People enter our lives with unique backgrounds and histories that are often contrary to our own. Understanding and relating to others foster compassion and empathy and help us grow. These traits give us an opportunity to learn from other people, develop our sense of perspective and pluralism, and respond to conflict with civility and constructive thinking. On its website, the Australian Curriculum (n.d.b) identifies the importance and significance of intercultural understanding:
Intercultural understanding is an essential part of living with others in the diverse world of the twenty-first century. It assists young people to become responsible local and global citizens, equipped through their education for living and working together in an interconnected world.
The curriculum from the New Zealand Ministry of Education (n.d.) also encompasses this critical area by embracing cultural diversity:
Cultural diversity is one