Digital Footprint and Digital Citizenship

In this episode, we explore key concepts in digital citizenship — from managing your digital footprint to teaching cyber safety and cyber ethics in the classroom. We also unpack the growing role of Generative AI in education, and why today’s teachers need to help students use AI tools ethically and critically evaluate the accuracy of AI-generated content. 

Music by amado zapana from Pixabay

Transcript

Hi everyone — and welcome back to Digital Pedagogy in Practice.

Today we’re exploring an area that’s becoming more important every day — how to help our students become responsible digital citizens. We’ll cover managing our own digital footprint, teaching cyber safety and cyber ethics — and we’ll talk about something that’s really come to the forefront recently: the role of Generative AI in education.

Let’s start with digital footprint.

A digital footprint is the trail of information you leave online — from your social media profiles to comments you post, or even photos shared by others. The eSafety Commission says it simply: as soon as you go online, you start creating this trail.

As educators, this matters. Parents, employers, even students — they may look us up online. It’s vital that what they find reflects a positive, professional image. So — take a moment and Google yourself! See what comes up, and remember — your online presence is part of your professional identity.

In the same way, we need to help students understand that what they do online can follow them into their futures — and that’s where digital citizenship comes in.

Digital citizenship is about developing responsible, ethical behaviours when using technology — things like protecting privacy, respecting others online, and understanding how to stay safe.

When we teach this in the classroom, two key areas we focus on are cyber safety and cyber ethics.

Cyber safety is all about helping students protect themselves — managing privacy settings, recognising risks, and knowing what to do if something goes wrong online. We also model safe behaviours — for example, not sharing class passwords, and being respectful with photos or online posts.

Cyber ethics focuses on the moral choices we make online — respecting copyright, using good online etiquette, avoiding cyberbullying or hacking, and understanding how what we post affects others.

And now, let’s talk about something that’s changing the digital landscape in a big way: Generative AI.

Tools like ChatGPT and other AI content generators can produce essays, images, music — even whole websites — with just a simple prompt. These tools are powerful and they’re here to stay. But with them comes a new layer of responsibility — for both teachers and students.

As educators, we need to:

• Help students use AI tools ethically
• Teach them to critically evaluate AI-generated content
• Show them how to spot when information might be false, biased, or incomplete

Because here’s the thing — Generative AI doesn’t always get it right. It can present outdated, inaccurate or misleading information — and students need the skills to question what they’re seeing, cross-check sources, and decide what’s reliable.

So part of digital citizenship now includes AI literacy — understanding how these tools work, their limitations, and the ethical considerations around their use.

For example — if a student uses AI to help draft an assignment, do they understand when and how to properly acknowledge that? If they’re reading AI-generated news or articles, can they detect when the information might be biased or inaccurate?

These are the skills we need to intentionally teach — because AI is going to be part of their digital world moving forward.

And finally — a quick note on online addiction — something that concerns many teachers and parents. As students spend more time online — whether gaming, scrolling social media or using AI — we need to help them develop healthy digital habits.

We can do this by setting clear guidelines for tech use in the classroom, teaching self-regulation strategies, and supporting families with practical advice on managing screen time.

To wrap up today’s episode — remember:

• Manage your own digital footprint — it matters.
• Teach cyber safety and ethics, every day.
• Equip students with the skills to use Generative AI responsibly — and to think critically about the content it produces.

Thanks for joining me! In our next episode, we’ll dive deeper into building student digital fluency — and how to help young people become not just consumers of technology, but thoughtful creators and problem-solvers.

Until then — take care and stay digitally savvy!