Why Should Schools Consider it Important?
Addressing the 21st century skill of digital citizenship is important; to help students to learn, communicate and collaborate safely and responsibly. Being a best digital citizen in the community includes having email etiquette, reporting and preventing cyber bullying, learning how to protect private information, etc.
Schools are now embracing technology in the classroom; so when students are so close to the tech, they must know or examine the impact of their online activity.
Why Include Digital Citizenship & Internet Maturity in your school curriculum?
- Due to the fact that a lot of young kids embrace technology every day without examining the consequence of implementation, we must bring digital citizenship lesson in the curriculum. Students continue to use devices whether the device has been embraced in their curriculum or not. They are in touch with technology even after the surveillance of teacher i.e after school. Therefore, there is a need to teach them digital citizenship.
- Today, with digitalization, employers judge prospective students or employees for their social media profile. So, it is important to teach students how to create online personas that project positive and constructive image.
- Cyber-bullying is another reason for teaching digital citizenship. We can only prevent cyber-bullying by educating students about digital citizenship. Lack of awareness about digital citizenship can lead to the cyber-bullying which has grave consequences at times.
- Information Search and Analysis is an important aspect of Digital Citizenship. There are lots of resources available over the Internet and not all is authentic. Digital citizenship teaches students how to look out, select, and streamline information and how to choose a real and authentic source of information.
Why is it important for Colleges and Universities?
Students without the skills to use digital tools risk an inferior learning process at best, and being left behind at worst. The nature of knowledge is changing and, in this digital age, our definition of basic literacy urgently needs expanding. Universities and colleges have a responsibility to develop students into individuals who can thrive in an era of digital information and communication – those who are digitally literate are more likely to be economically secure and these skills are especially important in higher education given that graduate white collar jobs are almost entirely performed on computers and portable devices.
