Week Number 7

For this week,we are allowed to continue with our module, so,there is nothing to report and write this week. However, I would like to share about a phenomenon that we are facing right now,digital citizenship...



In the 21st century nowadays, we are living as digital citizens. We were shown several interesting videos regarding digital citizenship and the risks of being digital citizens if we were not careful enough and not thinking properly before doing something.

According to Ribble, Bailey and Ross(2004) in their writing, there are 9 elements of digital citizenship, they are:

i.digital access;

ii.digital commerce;

iii.digital communication;

iv.digital literacy;

v.digital etiquette;

vi.digital law;

vii.digital rights and responsibility;

viii.digital health and wellness;

viiii.digital security.

ISSUES FACED by YOUTHs WHEN USING TECHNOLOGY

The biggest issue is of course surface when we misuse the technology. Misuse it means we do not use something properly according to the original purposes when it was first invented. Facebook and mobile phone are two obvious examples where we could see this happens :

i. spy others

ii. medium to start a fight

iii. capture people pictures without permission

iv. reveal everything about ourselves to everyone


YOUTHs AND THE NINE9 ELEMENTS OF DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP


1. DIGITAL ACCESS: this element explains about the availability of technology to the people. Easier the access means one of the elements of digital citizenship has been successfully achieved. Students like me do need good access to technology anywhere and anytime because we do really need information and knowledge from the digital world like internet. Its accessibility also enables us to interact with each other including with the lecturers.


2. DIGITAL COMMERCE: this is quite popular nowadays as people tend to buy and sell as well as offering their services online. However, I’m not quite like to make deal via this way because I’m not convinced enough and have the faith to use it because anything can happen especially internet scam.



3. DIGITAL COMMUNICATION: facebook, Yahoo Messenger are just two examples that represent f this element. It does benefits, but at the same time could also bring the opposite. Face to face communication will be lacking (eventhough webcam can also be used) and social skills would be weakened. Real world and virtual world are two different worlds and the way we act in it is also differed, and usually, people will have more courage in virtual world compared to the real world.


4. DIGITAL LITERACY:If we know and able to use applications in the technology devices quite well, it means we are quite near to be a digital literate. We would be a laughing stock if we do not know how to use technology and it shows how important it is nowadays. However, it is still important that we know when to use it or when not to use it because to be too dependant on them will make us lazy to discover and explore by ourselves.


5. DIGITAL ETIQUETTE: this is a big issue actually in digital citizenship. As an individual, we need to aware that it is important for us to use technology appropriately and appreciate its existence. Besides, we must obey the copyright law too.


6. DIGITAL LAW: this element is related to the element before which is digital etiquette. Yes, we must obey the rules like not ‘copy and paste’ others, hacking, downloading without permission and so on. If we foloow the rules, everyone will get benefits.


7. DIGITAL RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITY: this is a big and long issue actually. The tendency to download is so high as the original ones are quite expensive sometimes. However, as a responsible digital citizen, we should respect the rights and buy the original. Not just we become responsible to ourselves, we are also responsible to others because we have helped the industry grows.


8. DIGITAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS: to be exposed with laptops for hours are not healthy. Worsen the situation, we tend to spend lots of times in front the laptop which would lead us to become less productivity especially if we are playing games instead of doing our work. We can also be affected psychologically if we are involved with illegal things such as our inappropriate picture is viewed by everybody in the net.


9. DIGITAL SECURITY: protection to our technological devices is important actually. Unluckily, most of us like to ignore this precaution. It is important that they are protected with antivirus and pen drive for instance is scanned before being used. Username and password is also useful for our privacy security.

TEACHING DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP TO THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

First and foremost, teacher must provide a good role model in themselves. Teacher must show appropriate use of technology devices. Teacher must remind the pupils of advantages and disadvantages of technology as well as make them aware what they would get if they misuse it. Teacher must advise them that they must be careful when using social network and must not everything and post everything in it. Teacher must also encourage the pupils to access academic websites and prevent them from visiting illegal websites or waste too much time on computer games. In addition, teacher should also ask the pupils to self explore their learning through the internet and share them in classroom. So, they would find out that internet is a useful medium of learning for them. However, teacher must not too depend on technology because it will lead pupils to become less self exlplorative and less active learners. So, as teachers, we must know when to use, and when not to use it.