Digital citizenship is the ability to use the internet and social media in a safe, healthy, and responsible manner, and these skills are currently being retaught to students across Union County Public Schools.
According to Mrs. Waldrup, media center specialist and digital citizenship coordinator, digital citizenship is a crucial part of our everyday lives. “It’s important because we’re all online… everyone’s on social media in some way or another, it’s how to respond to each other, how to relate to each other, and how to be safe because we know that there are people out there that don’t have good intentions,” Mrs. Waldrup explained.
In total, the course was one week long, and each grade level had three periods of instruction spread over four days. The instruction consisted of a ten to fifteen minute video covering a topic related to digital citizenship, and then a mandatory quiz for every student to take. A score of 70% or higher must be achieved on the quiz to pass.
“At some point in your life, you’re gonna come across a situation where you’re gonna need to know some of this. It may not happen right now, but it could happen later,” said Mrs. Waldrup. The intention is clear, the school wants students to pay attention and be cautious while online.
Some students, however, are displeased with the way the school is trying to accomplish this mission. Vincent Lee, a junior at Weddington High School, gives us his thoughts on the matter. “A lot of the people don’t take it seriously. The way that the school teaches it, it doesn’t incentivise people to want to care… they say you won’t graduate, stuff like that, it doesn’t make people want to become a good [digital] citizen.”
