Children’s Understanding and Self-Efficacy About Digital Citizenship Education

• In Event: Exploring Digital Citizenship Education: Comparative Perspectives From Five Nations

Abstract

The objective of this research was to gain insight into Australian primary school students' understanding and self-efficacy about digital citizenship. Digital citizenship education is now a priority within the Australian curriculum and given there is no set national or state curriculum or resources that support what teachers need to teach, this research explored how the Common Sense Digital Citizenship UK Curriculum was suited to the Australian context and student’s efficacy in learning about digital citizenship content from their classroom teacher. This project emerged through a partnership between the Australian eSafety Commissioner and a team of researchers from The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. To align with the eSafety Commissioner’s commitment to reduce potential harms and promote safe and positive online experiences for Australian communities, the project was designed to examine the requirements of Australian students regarding digital citizenship education, to facilitate the enhancement of digital citizenship competencies amongst Australian students, and to assist educators in their teaching of digital citizenship concepts. School-based programs have been found to be one way for young people to learn about digital citizenship (Weinstien & James, 2022) and this paper contributes to this limited field of research. 



The curriculum consisted of between three and six learning activities for each year level from Foundation to Year 6, organised under the following strands: Media Balance and Well-Being; Privacy and Security; Digital Footprint and Identity; Relationships and Communication; Cyberbullying, Digital Drama and Hate Speech; and News and Media Literacy. Fifteen schools were part of the trial that saw young people taught lessons from their classroom teacher who implemented the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum during a 10 week trial in 2022/2023. Data was collected via student focus groups and student quizzes across Term 4 (10 weeks), 2022 and Term 1, 2023. 



The results of this study show that students have a general sense of knowledge and understanding about certain digital citizenship topics, however their confidence levels varied with room for improvement and highlighting the necessity of such content being taught to young people. Students also expressed their preference of learning about digital citizenship topics from their classroom teacher across multiple lessons as opposed to other means that is seen across Australian schools such as one off visits from a third party or an outside school visitor delivering a lesson during the day or after school. The research concludes with a discussion about the pressing need for a more proactive approach towards the design and implementation of digital citizenship education within Australian primary schools.

Authors

• Kristy Corser, Queensland University of Technology

• Amanda Levido, Queensland University of Technology