In the article, Developing Ethical Direction, Ribble and Bailey discuss the idea of using a digital citizenship compass to address the growing societal problem of technology misuse and abuse. The authors believe that teaching digital citizenship needs to become a priority for educators.
I think we can all agree that students need to have good digital ethics. The use of computers, technology and the Internet has a strong presence in our lives and undoubtedly is going to dominate the future. It’s not going away. Like the authors said, “Today’s students are tomorrow’s adults, and habits that are learned as a child follow us into adulthood.” We would be doing ourselves an injustice not to address digital ethics NOW!
So, whose job is it to teach digital ethics? I agree with what the article said that “teachers are not solely responsible for teaching digital citizenship. It takes the entire community.” Yes, if students are using technology in the classroom then the teacher needs to have discussions around what is okay and what is not. Also, teachers should demonstrate proper usage when using technology in their instruction. However, I do not think teachers should have to carry all the weight.
I strongly believe parents are their child’s first teacher and they are their teachers for life especially when it comes to behavior, morels and ethics. It is essential that parents are monitoring their child’s use of technology and teaching them right from wrong. After all, I would suspect that a majority of the misuse happens at home where children are less supervised and have more access to technology. Ideally educators and parents alike would become better educated on digital ethics and work together to create a better digital citizenship.
Bailey, G. & Ribble, M. "Developing ethical direction.” Learning & Leading with Technology 32.7 (2005): 36-38.
