As we know that this is an era of internet and that’s why it is also necessary for us to teach digital citizenship to the students. With the help of teaching digital citizenship, it will be helpful for us to teach the students how to show responsive behavior in this era of internet and technology. Here, an expert writer from academic writing serviceshas shared his thoughts on the importance of Teaching Digital Citizenship Andwhat Role Parents can play in this process.
A person who is using information technology for the purpose of engaging the people in the society, politics and government is known as digital citizenship. Those people come into digital citizens who are using the internet regularly and effectively.
Here, we will discuss the importance of teaching digital citizenship and the role of the parents to make their children digital citizens.
Importance of teaching digital citizenship
Nowadays, it is a new world of education for the students because they are able to get lots of information by engaging themselves in lots of online activities. Therefore, as educators, it is our responsibility to teach the students how to develop a healthy relationship with the world around them. Importance of teaching digital citizenship is explained below;
1) Digital literacy
Nowadays, it is easy for the students to get access to the digital information just with the help of a single click. Most of the students don’t know how to get information from these online resources. By educating digital citizenship, it is easy for us to teach the students how to get access to Google, Wikipedia, Thesauruses and other dictionaries just with the help of a single click. Moreover, when students search for any keyword on a search engine, they will get millions of results. By teaching digital citizenship, it is also possible for us to teach the students how to get required and authentic information from these millions of results just within seconds.
2) Cyber bullying prevention
Due to lots of advancements in the field of technology and the internet, we are also seeing that the cases of cyber bullying are also increasing day by day. By teaching digital citizenship to the students, it is also possible for us to educate them about cyber bullying. We can also teach the students that if you are bullying anyone by using the internet, it is a crime and you will be punished. Moreover, we can also teach the students that if you are bullied by the bullies on the internet, you should show encouragement and report them. For this reason, we can also tell them some essential platforms for the submission of cyber bullying reports.
3) Digital responsibility
With the help of teaching digital citizenship, it is also possible for the teachers to teach the students about their digital responsibilities. First of all, teachers should teach the students that to gain digital experience is power and teachers should also teach them how to use this power for the welfare of the people. Secondly, teachers should also teach to their students how they can navigate themselves from the possible threats of hacking and viruses. Thirdly, they can also teach the students how they can navigate their privacy on the internet.
Responsibilities of the parents
Along with teachers, there are also some responsibilities of the parents to educate their children about digital citizenship at their homes. These responsibilities of the parents are explained below;
1) First of all, parents should try to show engagement with their children. For this reason, they should monitor the internet activities of their children on a regular basis and they should also surf the internet with them. In order to limit the access of your children from the inappropriate data, it is necessary for you to put keyword filters in your Home Wifi.
2) It is a fact that the same age children are creating the same issues for the parents. Therefore, parents should try to contact the other parents and try to share their issues with them. There is a possibility that they will provide possible solutions to these problems.
3) For the good physical monitoring of the internet activities of the children, it is necessary for the parents to keep the internet in the central place. Its reason is that while using the internet in the guidance of the elders, children will never try to involve in any kind of inappropriate activity.
4) Parents should try to stay updated with the current internet technologies and try to teach their children about these technologies.
5) Parents should also try to be a role model for their children. Its reason is that by showing responsibility, it will be easy for the parents to ask their children that they should upload data for the targeted audience.