Dive Brief:
- Digital citizenship lessons are often given as students are issued new devices in school, and they can include teaching students how to behave and remain safe online while also focusing on digital literacy skills, according to EdTech: Focus on K-12.
- These lessons should be tailored to each grade and to the kind of device students are issued by schools or are given by parents.
- As students spend more time online for school, learning how to tell the difference between correct and fake information, knowing how to behave ethically, and being able to spot hacking and phishing attempts is important.
Dive Insight:
Given the role fake news and false information may have played in the final results of the 2016 election, it’s crucial that students know how to navigate the online space with their eyes wide open.
Teens already spend more than a third of their time online either navigating social media sites, listening to music, and even watching video, according to a 2015 study from Common Sense Media. The group also found that almost every U.S. child up to the age of 8 — 98% — has a mobile device at home, whether that’s a tablet or a smartphone.
With devices commonly used at school, learning how to behave in the digital world is as important to students' educational and lifelong success as knowing how to carry themselves in the classroom. These skills can include knowing that not everything online can be trusted, and that digital material — whether it’s posted to the internet or not — is almost impossible to delete.
Administrators know that core academics from math, science and language arts are important to their students’ ability to thrive as adults. In the 21st Century, digital skills must now be a part of any core curriculum, too.