Abstract:

Digital citizenship is extensively seen as the capacity to engage actively in online networks. Since information and communications technology is crucial for societal involvement and advancement, the role played by digital citizenship is noteworthy. The study is aimed at understanding what digital citizenship is and why it matters to everyone in this era. The current research is anchored to the model of digital citizenship developed by Mike Ribble, Gerard Bailey and Tweed W. Ross. This model identifies nine dimensions of digital citizenship namely, digital law, rights and responsibilities, safety and securities, etiquette, literacy, communication, access, commerce and health and wellness, and is useful for the teachers and the students to understand the importance of the digital technology and how essential it is for everyone to make proper use of this technology. An attempt has been made to assess the awareness of the nine elements amongst the teachers and students of various educational institutions of tertiary level located in the United Arab Emirates. The method of survey by means of a questionnaire has been used to gather information about the awareness of the participants of the nine elements of digital citizenship described by Mike Ribble and colleagues. The study is also aimed towards finding the correlation between the elements of the nine-dimension framework of digital citizenship. The findings show that the teachers are moderately aware on a majority of the elements except for Digital Law and Digital Safety & Security, whereas the students group happens to be fully aware of almost all the elements except for digital commerce. The relative study shows that the students are more aware in every element when compared to the results obtained from the teacher’s group. This information can be useful to increase awareness in both the groups of participants, teachers and students, for an effective and safe use of digital media.

Keywords:

Digital citizenship, nine elements, awareness, correlation.