Comments on: Understanding Digital Citizenship

By: Karen Pegler

Karen Pegler — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:28:43 +0000

Some interesting points here Alec. I agree with your points regarding the need to ensure a broad and deep understanding of digital citizenship. I would argue that Ribble and Bailey do not ignore this in their work. Perhaps it is the manner in which their work is being interpreted and filtered in various permutations?
I would add that an understanding of digital citizenship is also about the wonderful possibilities for our children and students. Rather than focusing on the negative I think it is important to note and profile young people who are using the Internet safely and ethically to make the world a better place. For example, seven year old Charlie Simpson through riding his bike around a park in the U.K. managed to raise $300,000.00 for Haitian relief. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/25/schoolboy-charlie-simpson-haiti-bike
Craig Kielberger at 12 years of age created Free the Children. http://www.freethechildren.com/ There is so much fear around children’s use of digital technologies. Digital citizenship is about more than that-it is also about potential and the celebration of the human spirit. Not to approach digital citizenship from this aspect is to comparable to telling our children they should never cross the street because it might be dangerous! Isn’t it better to prepare them to take a thoughtful place in the world where they can contribute in a meaningful manner?

By: jangreen31 (Jan Green)

jangreen31 (Jan Green) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:43:53 +0000

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RT @mdanonbaird: [link to post] Essential reading 4 educators to understand what 'digital citizenship' really means for pedagogy

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By: mdanonbaird (Mira Danon-Baird)

mdanonbaird (Mira Danon-Baird) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:31:53 +0000

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[link to post] Essential reading for all educators if you are looking to understand what 'digital citizenship' really means for pedagogy

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By: yr6explores1984 (Yr6Explores1984)

yr6explores1984 (Yr6Explores1984) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:15:53 +0000

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[link to post] Essential reading for all educators if you are looking to understand what 'digital citizenship' really means for pedagogy.

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By: Should we teach digital citizenship? « Smart's Blog

Should we teach digital citizenship? « Smart's Blog — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:28:19 +0000

[...] Alex Couros has a post about digital citizenship in his blog, “Open Thinking: rants and resources from an open educator. The topic of his post is [...]

By: Digital Citizenship : Are We There Yet?

Digital Citizenship : Are We There Yet? — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:41:37 +0000

[...] in that context that I’m glad that this post from Alec Couros came across my virtual desk this morning. I needed to be jolted out of my complacency, and [...]

By: sandrar

sandrar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:52:34 +0000

Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.

By: Dr Panos Vlachopoulos

Dr Panos Vlachopoulos — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:22:56 +0000

Thanks for an excellent posting. Allow me some comments. You wrote “Digital Citizenship is a way to prepare students for a society full of technology”….I agree, but having just talked to my students about the concept of digital citizenship, we agreed that we need to add something which will capture the issue of ‘power’ in living in a society full of technology. I wonder, whether the below quote from Stephen Brookfield ( in the book :The Power of Critical Theory for Adult Learning and Teaching, p94) is more valid than ever:

“Have you ever seen a friend or group of colleagues behave in a way which you knew was killing them slowly and decided in the interests of friendship to point this out to them?And have you ever found that the analysis of their behavior was met with scorn or disbelief and an increased desire by your friends to celebrate, and become even more committed to, these same behaviors?…..Then what you are witnessing may be something other than willfully irrational self-destruction. Instead, it can be hegemony in action.”

So, my point is whether we need to add to the Digital Citizenship concept, the term ‘critical’, which will allow our future citizens to resist technology not only to adopt. For example, would ‘facebook’ be so successful should users knew about the exploitation of the information by the company itsself? Would uses boycott tools and technology if they were suspicious of misuse? Would people be ready to question the idea of a cloud computing generation? and so on….

Thank you for reading my blurb …just ideas from a young academic in the field.

By: Expanding the potential of social media « Youth Blog from the UK

Expanding the potential of social media « Youth Blog from the UK — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:38:25 +0000

[...] this area. I have been following the Education and Curriculum Masters course for teachers run by Dr. Alec Couros, a professor of educational technology and media at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina [...]

By: Clelie Burton

Clelie Burton — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:59:57 +0000

Thanks Alec for your excellent discussion and the other thought provoking postings. I am an Australian Digital Literacies lecturer. Media Literacy (English Curriculum) and Digital Literacy (Media Studies Curriculum) are compulsory subjects here. We too are very involved in debating the concept of Digital Citizenship and a colleague and I have set up a website to inlcude debates of this kind- Cyber safe World. On that site you will find a link to a new resource we have produced for the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM), called Cyber Safe Kids. ATOM also provides a lot of free resources on their website for Digital and Media Literacy. http://www.metromagazine.com.au/index.html
Good luck!
Lee