Dive Brief:

• Fully preparing students for the future requires that they not just become digital citizens, but rather digital leaders — and Andy Plemmons, media specialist at David C. Barrow Elementary in Athens, Georgia, shares advice on helping students reach that goal in an article for eSchool News. 
• To help his students develop these competencies, Plemmons shifts between modeling digital leadership skills himself and asking students to adopt digital tools for their own projects, with core skills he recognizes including the ability to collaborate and show respect for peers.
• Plemmons believes students will need to use technology no matter the career path they choose, which is why he pushes them to develop digital skills while they’re still in school.

Dive Insight:

Helping students develop digital citizenship skills is among districts' primary focuses today. This includes a variety of competencies, from understanding that what's created online stays there forever to learning how to identify trustworthy sources of information, in addition to knowing how to manage and regulate personal tech use.

A five-year research project from Deloitte Consulting and the MIT Sloan Management Review shows digital literacy is a core trait for any digital leader. Other skills include being a team builder and knowing how to collaborate with others successfully, according to the more than 20,000 business executives, managers and analysts surveyed during the project.

These are tools that neatly dovetail with social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, as well — which are believed to have a reductive effect on bullying, according to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

For educators and curriculum designers looking for ways to best weave digital citizenship and leadership skills into classrooms, Common Sense Media has a free, online K-12 digital citizenship curriculum, which also integrates with Google’s suite of educational tools.

Today’s students will spend a significant amount of their lives online in the future. It is incumbent, then, that educators ensure they have the tools to succeed no matter the direction their career takes.