Article Review/Summary Digital Citizenship

Article Review/Summary Digital Citizenship

Dornalie Henry-Antoine
Thomas University

Article Review/Summary Digital Citizenship

Assignment 2: Article Review/Summary Digital Citizenship

Dornalie Henry-Antoine

Students will require awareness that online behaviors can impact people within their immediate
circle of friends but also outside of that circle. (Hollandsworth et al., 2011) The preceding quote
may be the most important statement in the conversation of digital citizenship. In the news
recently, I have heard the phrase intended and unintended consiquences. The news reporters, and
guest experts, use this phrase when refeering to political decisions, but this theme is also vital to
understanding the impact of our actions on humanity. We must be innately aware of what we do
and how it effects us and everyone around us.
Now, what is digital citizenship and do we need to be good digital citizens? Must we take the
time to teach our children to be good digital citizens? The first question to ask is, What is
citizenship? According to Webster, citizenship is the qualities that a person is expected to
have as a responsible member of a community. That sounds great, however, digital
citizenship is a lot more than that. As adults, we know how to shape children into good
citizens because our parents, teachers, neighbors, and village knows how to teach
that. Do adults today know how to teach children to become digital citizens when the
knowledge needed is so new to much of us? Also, who is responsible for fostering these
digital citizens? I agree with Jones that we all are? The article made the point, Left to
their own devices and without sufficient scaffolding, student investigations may turn out to be
thoughtful and meaningful or frustrating and fruitless (Hollandsworth et al., 2011) This is also

Article Review/Summary Digital Citizenship

true for adult investigations. When the internet first come into play, many adults faced
challenges with a medium they were unfamiliar with. Some had great experiences, many had
life changing negative experiences. I can hear them now wishing someone had briefed them on
the dangers of going digital. However, the creators of the digital platforms, were investigating
with it themselves.
The article also made the point that many American youth are introduced to digital media at
relatively young ages and spend more time engaging with digital media at critical development
stages than their older counterparts did (Hollandsworth et al., 2011) Babies are using
technology. It is part of their everyday life. Now, just because something is around all the time,
does not ensure you automatically understand what to do with it and how to use it. That has
never been truer than with technology. Digital citizenship has to be directly taught and learned.
Some knowledge may came about investigating freely, and that is what we want students to do,
however with some guidance because we know now some of the unintended consequences of
free range exploring on the internet.
It is true what the author added about what Ron Clark stated: we must take a lead and become
advocates of good digital citizenship, we must know what is out there, and parents and kids must
be involved together to ensure success (Hollandsworth et al., 2011) As adults we must blaze the
trail for our students. Learn what we can about the technology we are introducing to our
students. Mind it, they may know more about it than we do, but we have the knowledge and
experience to guide them in the right direction. One thing I know about students, if there is a
possibility of finding something inappropriate on a site, they will. That is just part of life and we
cannot completely avoid this. We have to teach them how to appropriately deal with their
situations when it does arise. As pointed out in the article, the following issues are top prority:

Article Review/Summary Digital Citizenship

Plagiarism, Copyright laws, Sharing information, Safety online, and cyber bulling. One of the
issues I see in schools is if the teacher is unfamiliar with technology, the will not use it with their
students claiming that they need to be taught the old fashaned way. Many long time teachers
are unwilling to admit to students they do not understand technology. We must all work together
to get to the finish line. We cannot sacrifice education for ego.
This takes us to what we need to teach them when they do stumble on something inappropriate.
The author stated that Students will require awareness that online behaviors can impact people
within their immediate circle of friends but also outside of that circle. Additionally, student
digital behaviors can impact their own personal social dynamics, personal resources, careers, and
safety. (Hollandsworth et al., 2011) That takes us back to those dreaded unintended
consequences. The news media and social media is bombarded with situations where people are
negatively impacted by what they say or do on the internet. There are TV shows created solely
about this subject. The problem is, many students and adults feel it will never happen to them. It
may never happen, but we must make sure that the students are thinking before posting and
tagging. We also have to teach them, and they teach us, all of the new vocabulary associated with
the new technology.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), noting that 66.1% of students
use the Internet both in and out of school, while 48.8% use the Internet in school
(2010, p. 1). NCES also reports that students use the Internet, both in and out of
school, at a rate of 23.2% for three and four year olds, followed by ages five-nine
at 42.7%, ages ten-fourteen at 69.5%, and age fifteen and older at a rate of 79.5%,
with little differentiation by gender (p. 1). The National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) reports 70.1% of students use the Internet for email and

Article Review/Summary Digital Citizenship

messaging, as compared to 49.8% using the Internet for purchases and

information, 59.3% for playing games, and 82% using the Internet, both in school
and outside of school, for school assignments. (Hollandsworth et al., 2011)
These statistics are important because it shows that the internet is a way of life for many
students. However, when they come into our schools, it is a different worlds for them. We must
connect these two worlds. Students today do not know how to live without the internet and
technology. We have to bring our schools and classrooms into the 21st century and trach them
how to merge academics and technology. Not only technology, but technological media.
I am proud that all of my districts schools have digital citizen cources for our studnets. In the
past, all fifth graders participated in some internet safety education through the C.H.A.M.P.S
program. With the growing use of technology and the roll out of our countys One to One device
program, through the Learning Reimagined innatitiave. With this program, each child in the
Rockdale County School District will have access to digitsl divices to expand their learning.
With this innatitive, we know that technology is here to stay and as teachers we must do all we
can to embrace it and use it to get our students ready to compete in the global arena.

Article Review/Summary Digital Citizenship

Work Cited

Digital Citizenship in K-12: It Takes a Village - Springer. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11528-011-0510-z