Digital Citizenship: Digital Communication

Where do you start when talking to students about Digital Communication? Our students are so much more adept than the average educator at using methods of digital communication in most aspects of their life. While most teachers use e-mail, some probably text or IM in their jobs or personal lives, some are parts of social networks and even some have their own blogs and wikis. The dilemma arises not with how to use these technologies, but the clarity with which they are being used.

There are many articles that speak about digital communication as a hybrid of written and spoken communication. What happens is that digital communication has the speed and ability to converse like the spoken word, but lacks the "in person" ability to read facial expressions and body language as well as with digital communication there is no volume to hear inflections in a speakers voice. It is unlike the written word, in that digital communication can be reactionary and does not give the receiver of the original message time to think about a response, write it down and then deliver it. Because of the speed in which digital communication can be sent, it can, at times be too quick.

Due to these gaps in communication, there have been accommodations that have been made to digital communications that help the author to convey emotions. There are acronyms, emoticons and the use of "all caps" to show vocal levels. I must admit, that these accommodations do not solve the problem in professional communications and are rather colloquial in nature. While these tools may make social interactions more clear for participants, it does not, in my mind, help clarity in professional communications.

In teaching this to students, I have taken the definition of Digital Communication" from Baily & Ribble's book, Digital Citizenship in Schools. I have put together some information on my school's digital citizenship wiki, including some types of digital communication and links to acronyms and emoticons. My goal will be to heighten awareness of the dangers of digital communication, to think before speaking/writing and to remember that there will always be a record of what is sent. Much like we teach our students to think before speaking, to not be mean or hurtful in their personal interactions, to write with purpose, we need to continue these tenets into their digital communication. Until we can begin to treat all of our digital communications in the same vein as we treat our "real life" communications, there will continue to be gaps and confusion in all forms of Digital Communication.

Citizenship in the REAL virtual world

Today I was faced with a dilemma, how can adults who cannot tangibly conceive the virtual world, effectively teach digital citizenship. In order for one to be a good citizen in life, one has to believe that ones actions can impact society. However if one does not believe that society is real, how can you teach the beliefs that make that society a safe place.

What I am talking about is the perception of the virtual world by digital natives as a real place. One that his theirs. This place is where they go to be with people like them. Friends are not necessarily people you have ever met in person and may never meet. So as an educator I am faced with the following dilemma: How does a teacher who does not see the digital world as real teach citizenship for such a place and on the other side is how do students understand the need for citizenship in a place that is about as far removed from the social constructs of the physical world? The reality is that we as technology educators need to find the place where these two worlds meet, where the residents of the physical world and the virtual world can meet and see eye to eye if you will.

The part of the Dilemma that I am most interested in is of course what do I need to pass onto the digital natives that will serve them best in both worlds. As I said yesterday, I have been doing much reading on the topic of Digital Citizenship and came across an article in ISTE's Leading and Learning Magazine that gets right to the point. It is authored by Mike Ribble, an expert on the subject.

In the article Ribble speaks about the 9 themes of Digital Citizenship and how they not only guide students on proper technology use, but as Ribble says, "They also begin to set the stage for how we work with each other in a global, digital society. These nine elements create a foundation for helping to educate children on the issues that face them in an increasingly technological world."

Ribble speaks about how this is not just a problem for student use on computers, but rather a larger picture that crosses the boundaries between home and school, home and work, virtual and physical old and young. There is no one that will be immune in the ever increasing world of technology. Ribble concludes with a rather prophetic message:

There needs to be a common language between our schools and homes that clearly outlines what we expect our children (as well as ourselves) to know and follow. Digital citizenship can begin to bridge these groups so that when we talk about how we expect our students to act, we have some common ground on which to begin. Digital citizenship is not a culmination of how to work with technology but a beginning of a process. If we start this journey at the same place, both educators and parents can work together to prepare our children to become global digital citizens.

Must See Video

This video is a real picture of the state of the "digital native". Listen carefully, this is "real life" for many of our students.

Digital Natives

Digital Citizenship...what does this mean?

The term digital citizenship is being thrown around almost as much as the term 21st century learner, or 21st century classroom. However, the term digital citizenship is just as amorphous as the other terms. What is digital citizenship? When the term was first coined, there were as many different definitions as there were people saying the words. But with this type of varied perception, comes a problem what is it really? and more relevant to me, how do we teach it?

In doing some research and reading it seems that the Ed-Tech community has come to consensus on what digital citizenship is and the components that comprise it. Now we just need to come to consensus on how to teach it.

Common to many schools of thought, there are 9 Themes of Digital Citizenship that we should all be aware of and needless to say that we should be teaching our students. Some would say that teaching these topics should be as common as teaching the golden rule, due to the fact that the generations now known as digital natives have social networks, friends, groups, cliques and other types of acquaintances that they interact with on-line and therefore there needs to be rules, common courtesies that we all should abide by when interacting in virtual society. I digress... The nine themes:

1. Digital Etiquette: electronic standards of conduct or procedure .

2. Digital Communication : electronic exchange of information.

3. Digital Literacy: process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology.

4. Digital Access: full electronic participation in society .

5. Digital Commerce: electronic buying and selling of goods.

6. Digital Law : electronic responsibility for actions and deeds

7. Digital Rights & Responsibilities: those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world .

8. Digital Health & Wellness : physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world .

9. Digital Security (self-protection): electronic precautions to guarantee safety.

These are very broad topics and the list of resources are long and involved. But there are a few starting points worth mentioning.

Kansas State University has a great website all about Digital Citizenship.

One writer in an article in Technology and Learning On-Line posted 20 questions that students asked in an article titled, "What is Digital Citizenship?"

Last, but not least is a website named Digital Citizenship This website is authored by one of the professors at Kansas State University.

All of the materials are there, but the question that I am left to ask is how do we make all of this etiquette part of our daily life? How can teachers who don't even use technology effectively in their classrooms, let alone in their lives, be expected to teach how to properly interact in a place they fear to visit? What are the next steps for K-12 educators? How can professionals who many are not even qualified as Digital Immigrants teach how to act as a proper Digital Native? Is this something like an american teaching other americans how to interact in a Muslim villiage in the Middle East?