AI Meets Digital Citizenship: Rethinking Responsibility in the Classroom
Teaching Students to Use AI Ethically and Thoughtfully
NotebookLM DeepDive:
Digital Citizenship Week (October 14–18, 2024) is just around the corner—and this year, it’s more important than ever to teach students how to navigate the AI-powered internet with responsibility and care.
Today’s digital citizens don’t just need to recognize cyberbullying or protect their passwords. They need to understand how AI tools shape the content they see, the choices they make, and the information they share.
This week’s newsletter gives you everything you need to prepare for Digital Citizenship Week, including classroom-ready lessons, ethical discussion prompts, and tools that help students reflect on AI’s influence in their daily lives.
Let’s teach students to ask not just “Is this safe?”—but “Is this responsible, ethical, and human-centered?”
AI Tool of the Week: Nearpod’s Digital Citizenship Week Lessons
Check it out!
Nearpod offers curated, grade-level digital citizenship lessons ready to use during Digital Citizenship Week. Activities include cyberbullying role-play, empathy-building, and AI awareness—all interactive and tailored for elementary, middle, and high school learners. Perfect for diving deep into AI ethics and citizenship.
Use it to:
Kick off Digital Citizenship Week with digital-safety discussions
Trigger conversations on AI-generated content, privacy, and consent
Adapt lessons for both in-person and virtual classrooms
Lesson Plans: Elementary and Secondary Versions
Elementary (Grades 3–5)
Lesson: “Is It AI or Human?”
Show pairs of short narratives—one human-written, one AI-generated.
Ask: “Which do you think is AI? How can you tell?”
Co-create a Digital Citizenship Chart with columns: “Smart & Kind Use of AI” and “Needs Permission from the Teacher.”
Extension Idea: Have students write their own story, then revise it with AI—reflecting on what changed and why.
Middle & High School (Grades 6–12)
Lesson: “AI in Your Digital Identity”
Discuss: “How do AI-driven feeds, filters, or chatbots affect how we think?”
Students analyze AI-generated memes or news headlines—flagging distortion or bias.
Challenge: “Create a tweet or post coaching peers on safe and honest AI use.”
Extension Idea: Debrief: “How do AI recommendations shape how we see people or ideas? Are we always the ones choosing?”
AI Ethics Corner: Be an Ethical Digital Citizen
Key Principles to Model and Teach:
Transparency: Always disclose when something was created or aided by AI.
Respect: Don’t spread misinformation—even if it looks believable, check the source.
Privacy: Understand how your data is used, and ask permission before sharing.
Conversation Starters:
"If someone realized a chatbot wrote part of your post, would you tell them?"
"What rules for AI do we need that are different from regular online rules?"
AI Reading List
**What Is Digital Citizenship in 2025?** – EdTech Magazine
Features how districts teach students to use “AI for good,” not just safely.
Read it here: https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2025/02/what-digital-citizenship-2025-how-it-taught-perfconDigital Citizenship Resources for the Classroom – Virginia Ed Strategies
Highlights simple, AI-aware strategies like discussion prompts and collaborative rule-making.
Read it here: https://virginiaedstrategies.org/digital-citizenship-resources-for-k12-educators/Deep Fakes to Viral Hoaxes – AFT’s Media Literacy & Digital Citizenship Collection
A curated resource on helping students evaluate AI-generated content and spot misinformation.
Read it here: https://www.aft.org/ae/spring2025/sml
Digital Citizenship Week is more than a calendar entry—it’s a moment to teach students how to be ethical, critical, and empowered users and creators in an AI-driven world.
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