Growing Digital Citizens - Developing active citizenship through eTwinning
What is a 'digital citizen'? How involvement in eTwinning has helped participants, be they teachers or students, develop this sense of who they are in this digital world? eTwinning publication ‘Growing Digital Citizens’ is highlighting the impact of eTwinning projects on developing active citizenship. As Anne Gilleran, Pedagogical Manager of eTwinning argues in the publication, “we can no longer divide the happening of the digital and physical worlds they are intertwined at every level and what happens in one has enormous effects in the other”. This is why we need digitally literate and responsible citizens.
The book defines digital citizenship by three main pillars: belonging, engagement, and protection. Nowadays, the term ‘digital citizens’ is not used to describe mere users of technology, but as a term for those who actively engage with technology in a safe and responsible way. This is also highlighted through the collection of projects mentioned in the publication and which were related with 2016’s theme for eTwinning – ‘Digital Citizenship’. They give ideas and explain how teachers and students have developed new digital skills and 21st century learning capabilities.
The 2016 eTwinning book is available in 26 languages. You can find the translations on the eTwinning portal.
