Digital Citizenship

The iCitizen project, by Marialice Curran, was a collaborative digital citizenship project that required college freshmen and high school juniors to think critically and act creatively as they examined cyberbullying and redefined citizenship in the 21st century (Curran, 2012).The students defined an iCitizen as someone who is globally aware and connected, empathetic, and socially responsible, wanting to make the world a better place. The iCitizen believes in social justice,  models socially responsibility, and takes action to protect and advocates for the rights of others around the world, both in person and digitally.

The iCitizen project reached the following conclusions: 

1) Engaging K-12 and college students in iCitizenship is essential for 21st century learners

2) Empathy must be modeled and taught early and often

3) Learning is social. Social media must be a part of K-12 and college curriculum and instruction

4) Student focused project based learning (PBL) is important in K-12 and college classrooms

5) Learning is a two-way street: teachers and students need to model being both learners and teachers in the classroom.

I find it interesting, although not quite that surprising,  that students who are part of the digital generation would think of learning as a social concept, and that social media must be incorporated into their curriculum and instruction. This is not really a new idea: Vygotsky’s social development theory was developed in the 1930’s and has influenced  the educational field since then. However, the theories of social constructivism have a new relevance in the digital age: what is new is that we have technological tools that can enhance social connections, interaction and collaboration in ways that were not available to previous generations, and our students are digital natives immersed in the digital world, not knowing a life without it. 

Technology has given learners access to an immense amount of information and gives them opportunities to practice 21st-century skills in communication, collaboration, knowledge sharing, critical thinking and use of technologies relevant to higher education and careers. This allows the traditional classroom to be transformed into a type of environment where the teacher is a learning facilitator within in a connected community of learners: an individual's knowledge and mastery can be constructed through his or her social interactions with the community. 

After “Googling” myself I found several positive results, including some which were content that I had posted that was meant to be shared with others. This included my Twitter account, Google+ profile, Linkedin profile, professional bio pages at my work organization (former and current), my ePortfolio, my name in a list of speakers for a conference, my time from participating in a 5K run,  presentation slideshows, including one from graduate work and one from an undergraduate course 12 years ago. I was surprised to find things that I wasn’t expecting like an undergraduate assignment and 5K participation results. I also surprisingly have the same exact name as several other people with a considerable footprint, including a CEO and a fairly prolific journalist.

Cyberbullying was defined by Hinduja and Patchin (2015) as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices” (p. 5).  Smith et al., (2008) described cyberbullying as “an aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or individual, using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself’’(p. 376), while Essex (2016) reported that “cyberbullying involves the use of electronic devices to send or post hurtful, embarrassing text or images intended to create anxiety, intimidation, or emotional distress in another person.” I think the definition by Smith et al. is the most comprehensive, but because they take into account the repeated nature of the harassment and the characteristics of the individuals who are victimized; Essex, however does make an important point by mentioning the intent behind bullying. 

According to Brewer and Kerslake (2015), children who are victims of cyberbullying are three times more likely to be bullied by a classmate than someone outside school (32% vs. 11%), while 16% experience bullying from multiple sources, and surprising 40% do not know the identity of the bully at all. While schoolyard bullies tend to be dominant and aggressive personalities, and have a physical advantage against the person they are bullying, cyberbullies often do not show these characteristics. While bullying tends to exploit more explicit power differences between bully and victim, cyberbullying tend to target those who are socially isolated and have low self-esteem. There is a correlation between cyberbullies and low levels of empathy: individuals with low levels of empathy are more frequent and severe bullies. Cyberbullying perpetrators are not personally exposed to victim distress; online bullying is anonymous, and there is no direct feedback from the victim, leaving the perpetrator with fewer feelings of personal responsibility.

Students need to be educated on the consequences of cyberbullying, both on the victim and themselves, in addition to just being informed on how to prevent cyberbullying and what to do if they are victimized by it. Many students and parents don’t see the harm associated with cyberbullying, with the vast majority disregarding and ignoring what they see online because they don’t see it as a serious issue compared to other forms of bullying. Being presented with facts, examples and case studies will allow students to know and understand the cyberbullying consequences, and develop greater empathy and responsibility for their actions towards others. The necessity of empathy, knowledge and social responsibility make the awareness of cyberbullying an important part the of social aspect of digital citizenship. Students can be shown that technology can be used for positive and constructive things, and that they can use it to actively make the world better place for themselves and others.