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"I set out to answer these questions through a study of attitudes, which compared digitally literate students' to digitally-challenged teachers and visa versa. In this study being undertaken at Swinburne University and sponsored by the Wesley College Institute for Innovation in Education, 321 students in years 9 and 10 and 100 educators were surveyed about their attitudes to digital literacy and the use of digital technologies. The schools were co-educational independent schools with laptop programs and significant differences were observed in student and educator attitudes towards each other's digital literacy. The hypothesis, "that there is a disconnect between the digitally capable students and digitally challenged educators in schools with laptop programs, limiting effective use of digital technology in the classroom" was supported in the findings. This has repercussions for educating "net generation" students and implications for the implementation of the National Secondary Computer Fund and National Broadband Network. The disconnect was revealed in terms of attitudes towards technology in the classroom, teaching pedagogy, internet use, adoption of cutting-edge technologies and limitations placed on school laptops and networks. In this study 57 statements were provided to research participants, who were then grouped into four groups: digitally capable students, digitally challenged students, digitally capable educators and digitally challenged educators."

"In a recent post I described how Social Media is About Nodes and Connections and explained "the importance [of] the network effect, with a growth in the number of nodes (the bloggers, the contributors, the Twitter users) leading to a growth in the number of connections (the posts, the comments, the tweets, the retweets) which help in the development of new insights and new ideas". But whilst many users of social media, including those working in higher education, are making use of such network effects to support their professional activities in legitimate and ethical ways others are seeking to exploit network effects in ways which may be considered unethical."

Queensland University of Technology recognises the important role social media technologies play in enabling people not only to communicate and collaborate with each other, but also to create, share and consume content. The uptake of social media has opened up new ways of learning and teaching for educational communities to experience new ways of communicating. The rapid growth in Web 2.0 tools and other emerging technologies, often located outside university managed environments, has occurred alongside the steady growth in blended learning in higher education, with students becoming increasingly active communicators, collaborators and creators of content in a virtual community. Learning and teaching activities now take place both in physical and virtual spaces with a range of tools, including learning management systems, other university supported applications and tools, and, increasingly, a variety of public domain social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, wikis, mashups, video-sharing sites, etc.). These guidelines aim to provide guidance to QUT teaching staff and students in the use of social media that adds value to the educational experience, whilst being mindful of the University's duty of care and legal obligations.

Essential aspects of incorporating digital citizenship in education. 

Essential aspects of incorporating digital citizenship in education.

"Digital citizenship can be defined as the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use"

Critical Studies in Education: Vol 60, No 1 In this article, we attempt to define and explore a concept of 'radical digital citizenship' and its implications for digital education. We argue that the 'digital' and its attendant technologies are constituted by on-going materialist struggles for equality and justice in the Global South and North which are erased in the dominant literature and debates in digital education. We assert the need for politically informed understandings of the digital, technology and citizenship and for a 'radical digital citizenship' in which critical social relations with technology are made visible and emancipatory technological practices for social justice are developed.

Some interesting research going on in the EU on how social media can be used to inform policy: Social networking technology provides major new opportunities for policy makers (eGovernment) to engage with the community (eSociety). We will develop a toolset that allows full advantage to be taken of a wide range of existing and well established social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, WordPress etc.) to engage citizens in two-way dialogs as part of governance and policymaking processes. The tools will make it possible to detect, track and mine opinions and discussions on policy oriented topics. The tools will allow discussions to be seeded and stimulated through injection of policy discussion points into relevant communities in a secure and managed way. The tools will allow the origins, bias and evolution of opinions to be tracked to provide auditable records of provenance, guard against misuse, and ensure trust and privacy for all involved. A key feature of our approach is to allow policy makers to move away from the limitations inherent in the current practice of using bespoke and dedicated platforms (e.g. specific opinion soliciting websites hosted by government) and instead make full use of the high levels of participation and rich discussions that already take place in existing social networking communities. In this way, WeGov will develop the tools and techniques for closing the loop between policy makers and the citizens.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project finds that 80 percent of internet users participate in some kind of voluntary group or organization, compared to just 56 percent of non-internet users. And if you use social media, the percentages are even higher: 85 percent of Twitter users, for example, are group participants.

"Furthermore, the global average piracy rate for PC software in 2010 was 42 percent, the second-highest figure in the eight years the BSA has been conducting its worldwide study. Piracy rates are considerably higher in some developing markets, including averages of 60 percent in the Asia Pacific region, and 64 percent in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. And the BSA believes one of the reasons piracy is so widespread is that many users of pirated software don't actually understand that they're stealing."

The concepts of digital citizenship and citizenship 2.0 are particularly relevant in the context of globalisation and the knowledge economy. The most recent technology standards for students published by ISTE enshrine a major category for digital citizenship (ISTE, 2007). "Digital citizenship" is now being dubbed as "citizen 2.0" and in the simplest terms it refers to the ability to participate in society online and to use technology appropriately. Digital citizenship represents capacity, belonging, and the potential for political and economic engagement in society in the information age (O‟Brien, 2008). Digital citizens practice conscientious use of technology, demonstrate responsible use of information, and maintain a positive attitude to learning with technology (ISTE 2007 cited in Richards, 2010). The affordances of the recent raft of web 2.0 technologies - sharing, collaborating, networking, customising and personalization enable new forms of civic participation which are changing existing social relations (Punie & Cabrera, 2006). Social communication technologies offer new channels for political engagement, contacting officials, and discussing issues. The network effects or benefits of bringing people together online exceed the satisfaction gained by individual participants - creating what economists call "positive externalities" or spill over benefits.

Abstract: In the July/August 2011 edition of TechTrends, a group of AECT members and academic professionals explored the state of digital citizenship for students in K-12 through an article entitled: Digital Citizenship in K-12: It Takes a Village. Identified was a significant need for digital citizenship awareness by parents, educators, and students through a series of interviews, exploration of resources, reports, and surveys. In this current article, the purpose is to provide an updated perspective of the state of digital citizenship in the K-12 academic and professional environments as gathered from re-administering the 2010 survey and interviewing experts quoted in the 2010 article. Results showed the need for teaching digital citizenship at an earlier age, improved digital citizenship awareness by both educators and administrators, and a continued focus on the misuse and abuse of technology.

"This report is drawn from a national survey of Canadian youth conducted by MediaSmarts in 2013. The classroom-based survey of 5,436 students in grades 4 through 11, in every province and territory, examined the role of networked technologies in young people's lives. Cyberbullying: Dealing with Online Meanness, Cruelty and Threats (the third in a series of reports from the survey) looks at youths' experiences with online conflict, the strategies they use to deal with this and who they turn to for support."

"In Digital Age, Learning Civics Means Doing Civics Traditional civic education has required students to memorize basic facts about American government, call it the what, who, and when model for civic literacy. The primary source of information has been textbooks, a source of literacy that has not always been the most accurate or inclusive. And while books (in various forms) will certainly continue to play a role in civic education emerging digital media platforms will be key in the effort to engage, invigorate, and create an informed citizenry. The rise of digital media offers a unique opportunity to add a more experiential dimension to civic education. Digital technologies can, of course, be used to teach kids basic civic facts, but they can also serve as an entry point into "doing" civics. This happened in a Minneapolis third grade class I visited earlier this year. "

"Fear comes in many forms, and on Halloween things get creepier and crawlier than usual. But for some of us, the scariest thing of all has nothing to do with snakes and spiders - and everything to do with cybersecurity. Lax attitudes towards online accounts have led to major digital break-ins for years, which is why content security software Trend Micro realized we should all be a little bit more scared of password protection and less scared of heights and elevators. The company found that one in four of us use the same password, or a variation, for all our accounts. One in four people in the U.S. also don't bother to back up files."

The project-based methods used in the Digiteen Project are teaching students about digital citizenship by immersing then in authentic research and student-designed action projects. The DigiTeacher workshop is modeled after the principles used in the Digiteen Project and will use a wide variety of Web 2.0 research and collaborative tools in conjunction with project-based methods. Understand why this method works by experiencing it! Material for this workshop is found in the newly released book, 'Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time', by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay.

Having surveyed teenagers in 30 countries, they revealed that the number of teenagers claiming to be active on Facebook (ie. doing more than just "liking" a separate page on the web) had dropped to 56% in the third quarter of 2013, from 76% in the first. The biggest decline in active usage (by 52%) was in the Netherlands; there was a 16% fall for American teens. Where are they going instead? Not surprisingly, it's mobile chat services like WeChat, and photo-sharing apps like Instagram and Snapchat. What's truly startling though, is how quickly global teenagers are taking up the services instead:

Your students may be able to update their Facebook status in a heartbeat, but can they also write a thoughtful letter to the editor, voice their opinion on a call-in radio show, or access local media to advocate for community action? How well would parents or teachers in your community do at those tasks? In Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, media literacy expert Renee Hobbs makes a strong case for deepening digital literacy -- not only for youth but for Americans of all ages. Improving our digital and media literacy will require nothing less than a national community education effort, Hobbs argues in a position paper recently published by the Aspen Institute and Knight Foundation. Sorting through the flood of information most of us encounter daily requires new knowledge and critical-thinking skills, she says.

"This leads to an intriguing thought: that the young cyber-activists in Cairo are showing the rest of the world what it means to be a digital citizen. We, in the online safety community, have been promoting the idea and ideals of 21st century citizenship for a number of years. Simply put, we ask: How can we move the rights and responsibilities we take for granted in the offline world and move them into the online space? How can we encourage the equivalent of rushing to the scene of an accident or reporting a crime or getting involved in your local community when it comes to the online communities we increasingly inhabit? How can we promote new social norms of behavior in a seemingly rule-free, anything goes environment that much of the web seems to exhibit?"

"Words are powerful. We should use words with care. We need to help people of all ages understand the power of words, and the responsibilities we have as citizens in our face-to-face communities as well as online communities. These are conversations about citizenship, digital citizenship, ethics and respect. These are conversations we need to have in our homes, in our schools, in our churches, and in other contexts where we have opportunities to dialog and reflect about behavior."

"Mobile devices are now found in the hands of most children, and school leaders are using that to their advantage by incorporating devices that students already own into classroom lessons and projects. Concerns remain about students who are unable to purchase or borrow a device for use in the classroom, but districts might find creative ways-such as asking local businesses or community organizations for help-to provide devices in such instances, advocates of the trend say. With access issues in mind, allowing students to bring their own devices from home can offer educational benefits, as well as some surprisingly positive results when it comes to creative thinking and classroom behavior."

It's interesting that the school districts mentioned in this article are embracing "BYOT", while other schools around the world continue to clamp down on students' tech use, banning devices instead of educating about ethical use.