Digital citizenship presents unique opportunities and challenges for students to be safe and responsible members of the digital community.
Common Sense Media, a leading nonprofit offering digital literacy and citizenship programs, organizes digital citizenship into eight concepts. These concepts can be combined into four connected pairings:
- Internet Safety and Privacy & Security
- Relationships & Communication and Cyberbullying & Digital Drama
- Digital Footprints & Reputation and Self-Image & Identity
- Information Literacy and Creative Credit & Copyright
Discovery Education has tools, resources, and functionality that supports all facets of digital citizenship, including the Common Sense Education Channel.
SOS Instructional Strategies
The Top 10 SOS Instructional Strategies for Digital Citizenship (Canadian Subscribers) provide opportunities for students to productively and constructively practice and model digital and online behaviors.
Internet Safety and Privacy & Security
Internet Safety refers to students developing an awareness of the internet as a space comprised of people—including strangers—which necessitates the need for safe behavior when online. Privacy and Security emphasizes the importance of strong passwords, protecting personal information, and avoiding scams and spam.
Discovery Education content is educational in nature with videos, images, songs, games, and more curated by curriculum experts. Students and teachers can confidently search Discovery Education, knowing that content is accurate and appropriate.
Additionally, Discovery Education provides content that explicitly addresses Internet Safety and Privacy and Security:
- Digital Safety, Responsibility, & Awareness (9-12+, 6-8, 3-5) encourages students to consider privacy and safety when online. (Mazzarella Media)
- Lesson in Action: Super Digital Citizen has students create an online superhero who knows how to be safe on the Internet. (Common Sense Media)
- Secure Passwords shares how to create and protect strong passwords. (Common Craft)
- Account Security expands on the importance of protecting your privacy and data security when online. (Common Craft)
- Exploring the Concept of Online Privacy guides an instructional strategy in which students think critically about online privacy and the nature of the internet. (Common Sense Media)
Relationships & Communication and Cyberbullying & Digital Drama
Relationships and Communication addresses the navigation of online relationships with different audiences. Cyberbullying and Digital Drama is about strategies for dealing with negative online interactions and encouraging upstanding vs by-standing behavior.
Discovery Education offers resources and partner programming about these challenging topics.
- Protecting and Respecting Privacy: Eva’s Story shares how chatting online is different than having a face-to-face conversation. (Common Sense Media)
- Perspectives on Chatting Safely Online showcases three teenagers discussing online safety and their encounters with strangers on the internet. (Common Sense Media)
- Cyberbullying: What’s Crossing the Line? can be used to engage students in dialog around how they interact with each other online. (Common Sense Media)
- Cyber Defender lesson from Ignite My Future has students consider how to identify and prevent cyberbullying.
Digital Footprints & Reputation and Self-Image & Identity
Digital Footprints and Reputation make students aware of their potential impact on themselves and others when interacting online. Self-Image and Identity refers to understanding the differences between your online and offline identity, as well as the benefits and risks of an online presence.
Explore these Discovery Education resources about digital reputations and identity.
- Understanding the Impact of Digital Footprints shows students examples of how their online presence can have both short-term and long-term consequences. (Common Sense Media)
- The Digital Footprint displays an animated video that discusses one's digital footprint and the consequences of using the Internet. (Common Sense Media)
- The Good and the Bad of Using Different Online Personas features an activity in which students read case studies and discuss whether they are harmful online situations. (Common Sense Media)
- Digital Life (K-5, 6-8) discusses the upsides—and downsides—of using the Internet for digital self-expression. (Common Sense Media)
- Build a Movement lesson from Ignite My Future provides guidance on creating a digital movement in a responsible, respectful manner.
Information Literacy and Creative Credit & Copyright
Information Literacy addresses students’ ability to evaluate the quality and credibility of websites, as well as using search strategies to increase the quality and quantity of search results. Creative Credit and Copyright teaches students their rights as content creators, that copyright infringement is unethical and unlawful, and how to use copyrighted work in a way that adheres to fair use. Discovery Education provides dynamic citations for all resources, making it easier for students to cite Discovery Education content in their own work.
Additionally, these Discovery Education resources discuss Information Literacy and Creative Credit and Copyright.
- Improving Research Skills with Effective Keywords establishes the importance of digital media education in classrooms and the necessity of modern teaching practices. (Common Sense Media)
- Media Literacy: Media Ethics considers how media professionals make ethical decisions while presenting information accurately and quickly. (TMW)
- Respecting Creative Work (K-5, 6-8) address creative copyright and provide teacher lesson ideas and student handouts. (Common Sense Media)
- Toyota Teen Drive offers high school students the opportunity to create their own original work and consider creative copyright.
- Discovery Education Studio allow students the opportunity to create their own digital content and publish it within Discovery Education. In addition to using and citing Discovery Education content as well as content from other copyrighted works, students can include additional original content they have created, including videos, images, audio, print text.
- Resources for Student Exploration teach students how to responsibly search and curate Discovery Education resources.