Digital Citizenship Education Within the Affective Domain: Shaping the Value Complex of Pre-K–12 Students

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session Seven
  In Roundtable Session: Interrogating Digital Citizenship Research in Pursuit of Truth: Changing Technological Agency for Teaching and Learning (Table 6)

Abstract

In the current age, technology is ubiquitous to a point that a large proportion of humanity is rarely but a focal shift from existing in a digital world. De Moraes and De Andrade (2015) contend that a dynamical feedback relation exists between the physical, and as such creates a hybrid identity. This amalgamation of identity requires an evolution of personal values that govern actions and interactions, in both the digital and physical worlds. For over a decade, the theory of a digital citizen (Mossberg, et al., 2008; Ribble, 2011) has grounded the discussion on this topic, especially within American P12 education. As a result, major educational organizations, like the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE; Crompton, 2017) and Common-Sense Media (James, et al., 2019), have produced standards, frameworks, and guidelines for use in schools to guide educational efforts to prepare students as “digital citizens.”

While the accepted model of the digital citizen has driven educational research and frameworks, the concept is not without critique (e.g., Frau-Meigs, et al., 2017; Cortesi, et al., 2020) with many calling for a new conceptualization of digital citizenship. Digital citizenship critiques highlight the grounding of educational practice in the area of cognitive skills, or what they “know” or are “able” to do (Crompton, 2017; Mossberg, et al., 2008; Ribble, 2011). However, one might argue that the very nature of citizenship is a matter of values. A personal evolution of attitudes, appreciations, values, and emotions from a willingness to attend to the topic to consistently acting according to accepted values is an affective shift rather than a cognitive one (Morrison, et al., 2013). Given that the end goal of creating a “good citizen” must be a change in a student’s value complex, why do educators continue to focus on cognitive skills?

This roundtable seeks to engage educational research across domains to discuss the intricacies of “digital citizenship” education, specifically focusing on a shift from the current pedagogical paradigm. The unique perspectives of educational technologists, educational psychologists, civics education and social justice researchers, and all stakeholders in exploring the shared research problems and issues on this topic. Through discussing the extant research on digital citizenship, the goal of the roundtable is to explore the relevant domains of the concept, call attention to the challenges in how digital citizenship is conceptualized and addressed in P12 education to synergistically discuss alternate conceptualizations of the construct, and brainstorm new paths of pedagogy in this domain.

Author

• Matthew L. Wilson, Kennesaw State University
  Presenting Author