From Safety to Success: Building Digital Citizens

Every student leaves school with a digital footprint, whether they realize it or not. For educators, this reality highlights the need to move beyond one-time internet safety talks. Schools must prepare students to thrive as safe, ethical, and capable digital citizens.

“Digital literacy is about how we equip students with the skills and mindset to succeed in the digital age. It cannot be a one-time safety talk; rather, digital literacy must be part of the entire PK12 experience,” says Tim McIlvain, Executive Director of the Learning Technology Center (LTC).

Helping students recognize the permanence of their digital footprint empowers them to pause and ask, “Is this something I’ll be proud of later?” At the same time, they can learn to shape their online presence as an asset for the future.

What Digital Literacy Really Means

Digital literacy is as much about thinking as it is about technology, and being comfortable with apps is not the same as being digitally literate. True literacy means knowing how to find, evaluate, create, and share information responsibly.

As McIlvain explains:

“A student who can trace the origin of a viral news story, verify its sources, and explain its bias is better prepared to write a history paper grounded in evidence. A middle schooler who can build a spreadsheet to analyze lab results is practicing the same data skills used in engineering, healthcare, and business.”

Students must learn how algorithms shape what they see, how misinformation spreads, and how to adapt to new tools. Key skills often recognized as part of digital literacy include:

• Information evaluation and fact-checking
• Media literacy and recognizing bias
• Understanding algorithms and data use
• Technical skills for creating and sharing content
• Digital communication and collaboration
• Privacy and security awareness
• Adaptability with emerging tools

Skills and Values Go Hand in Hand

As is evident in the list above, skills alone do not make a digital literate person. They also need a moral compass online and a guide to consistently move them in the right direction.

As Elizabeth Radunz notes:

“Empowering students to be safe and ethical digital citizens requires a continuous, curriculum-wide approach rather than a one-time lesson… Through this ongoing partnership [with coaches], the coach builds teacher capacity and ensures that digital citizenship is consistently reinforced.”

That means weaving respect, empathy, and honesty into digital lessons. Cyberbullying prevention, responsible sharing, and respecting intellectual property are all extensions of timeless principles. Classroom conversations about dilemmas such as reposting a private photo or responding to mean comments make these values real.

Instructional Technology Coaches are often the bridge between ideals and practice. They help teachers integrate digital citizenship into existing lessons, whether that involves evaluating sources in history, discussing social media in health, or modeling respectful online dialogue in English.
Coaches curate resources, train staff, and stay ahead of trends. They model positive practices in their own sessions, showing that digital citizenship is not a special event but a daily habit.

Core Skills Every Student Needs

So what should students know before they graduate? Stacie Tefft is clear: “Students need to graduate with the knowledge of how to protect their personal identity online, recognizing that once information is shared, it can be difficult to remove. They must also understand the dangers they could face, such as cyberbullying, scams, and misinformation.”

Building on that, essential skills include:

• Protecting privacy and security: creating strong passwords, recognizing scams, and adjusting settings.
• Managing a digital footprint: pausing before posting and curating a positive online presence.
• Respectful communication: practicing empathy and professionalism in digital spaces.
• Responding to cyberbullying: acting as an “upstander” rather than a bystander.
• Critical thinking: discerning fact from misinformation and recognizing bias.
• Ethical creation: producing original content responsibly and giving credit to others.

These skills reduce risk and empower students to use technology confidently and productively.

Making it Practical

Schools do not have to start from scratch. The LTC’s Building Balance Toolkit offers strategies for families and educators to promote healthy screen habits and mindful media use. Activities such as digital detox days or “pause before you post” routines help students reflect on their own habits and regain control of their attention.

Other strong resources include:

• Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum – Common Sense Education
• Toolkit for Digital Citizenship – REMC (2024)
• Media Literacy Toolkit – New York State (2025)
• Be Internet Awesome – Google
• Digital Citizenship Lessons – ISTE

These programs provide lessons, games, and family guides that make digital citizenship engaging and accessible.

Digital citizenship is a lifelong journey. As technology evolves, the challenges and opportunities grow right alongside it. Our collective role is to ensure that students are not simply protected, but fully empowered. We prepare them to lead with confidence, to use technology with purpose, and to turn digital spaces into places where they can learn, contribute, and thrive.