Digital Citizenship: Final Reflection

Empowered. As I look back over my time in the EDLD 5316: Digital Citizenship course, this word is the perfect summation of how I currently feel as a digital user and the feeling I wish to provide others as a future digital leader. With each book, article, video, and assignment, I gained a full understanding of what digital citizenship means, its elements, its importance, and the impact it has on the present and future lives of digital users. As someone who had no prior knowledge of digital citizenship aside from a few signs posted in my school’s computer labs, acquiring knowledge in these areas was definitely the most useful and meaningful experience I had in this course as well as my biggest accomplishment.

The 5316 course taught me that digital citizenship is a set of behavior norms that promote appropriate and responsible use of technology (Lamar University, n.d.). Learning these behavior norms is crucial for all digital users because lack of knowledge while using digital devices can create undesirable experiences that affect our personal and professional lives both in the present and the future. Improper use of technology can lead to an inability to effectively access information, communicate our ideas or form quality relationships with other digital users. It can also compromise our health and security as well as potential job and educational opportunities. However, if we learn how to use the digital citizenship elements of digital access, digital literacy, digital communication, digital etiquette, digital law, digital rights and responsibilities, digital health and wellness, digital security, and digital commerce with empathy and compassion (TED, 2015) , we can create a highly desirable and beneficial digital environment in which users feel respected, educated, and protected (Ribble, 2015). This is the type of digital experience I want to create for myself and others as a digital user and spread to colleagues and students as a technology leader on my campus. EDLD 5316 has empowered me to do just that. The process wasn’t easy though.

If I were to describe the 5316 course to a friend, no pain, no gain is definitely the phrase I would use. From the books to the articles to the writing prompts, we had a workload that was definitely challenging but, at the same time, for which I am extremely grateful. Although I often wished the amount of weekly reading was scaled down just a bit, I also understood that all of the information I was learning was further preparing me to become a competent digital leader. So, I found ways to make my workload manageable. One of the best ways I did this, and a suggestion I would definitely make to other students so they can get the most out of this course, is to start reading early. As soon as the course content is posted to Blackboard, students should begin purchasing and reading the required books and articles. When I did this, it helped me make deeper connections with the content which made completing the assignments each week easier. I also think this is what helped me not become too overwhelmed throughout my time in 5316. There were several activities that also helped lessen my feeling of being overwhelmed.

The aspect of this course that was probably my favorite and resulted in some of my best work for the course was the animation video we had to create addressing the impact of technological advances on digital citizenship. Aside from the fact that I love engaging in activities, particularly video making, that provide me with a creative outlet and challenge, I found this assignment to be a very eye-opening and reflective experience. As I began researching the impact of smartphones within the frame of digital citizenship, I was able to see both the positive and negative impacts they have on various digital citizenship elements. Since I use my smartphone several times a day, I found this information to be very useful in helping me evaluate my own usage so that I can begin making changes to improve the digital citizenship elements that are currently not being properly addressed.

As I close out my DLL journey, digital citizenship will continue to play a prominent role in my daily life personally and professionally. In my personal life, understanding digital citizenship now provides me with a mental “cheat sheet” that helps guide me as I navigate online spaces and ensures that I behave in the most appropriate ways possible. Some of these ways may include offering use of my devices to family members without devices or Internet service, maintaining professional communication with coworkers outside of work and saving more informal text for family and friends, putting my phone away and on silent when I am at a restaurant or movie theater, checking for padlocks that indicate a site is secure while shopping online, and understanding how to attach documents to phones and emails. In my professional life, this knowledge allows me to share this information with my fellow colleagues and students so that they become empowered to create positive digital experiences for themselves and others.

References:

Lamar University. (n.d.). Introduction to Digital Citizenship - The Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship. Retrieved from https://luonline.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_164374_1&content_id=_5118692_1

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know (3rd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education

TED. (2015). Monica Lewinsky: The Price of Shame. [Video]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U