If you’re an elementary school teacher, you instruct children who have had technology at their fingertips since they born. These digital natives were born well into the information age and have a strong familiarity with technology. Although their apparent technology skills might seem to be a second-nature skill set, digital citizenship actually needs to be taught in order for children to navigate the internet safely and courteously.

Just as children are taught how to conduct themselves in the real world, they need to be taught how to conduct themselves in cyberspace.  

 Keyboarding Without Tears^® does this in its digital citizenship unit. There are nine elements of digital citizenship according to digital citizenship expert, Mike Ribble. They include access, commerce, communication, literacy, etiquette, law, rights and responsibilities, health and wellness, and security.

Keyboarding Without Tears condenses the key elements of digital citizenship into four areas: digital information, digital consideration, digital protection, and digital communication. Each lesson within the unit covers one or more of the four areas. 

We give instructors the agency to teach children how to handle real-life, online situations with topics such as internet safety, digital etiquette, online navigation, and other helpful information. Lessons are hands-on, interactive, and carefully tailored for each grade level. Students are encouraged to produce works of art, participate in class discussions, and get into motion physically.

The program is available for grades K–5 and is developmentally scaffolded so that digital citizenship lessons are appropriate for each grade level. Teachers are offered a large selection of resources and support including the +Live Insights^® digital dashboard for classroom management, professional development workshops, and webinars.

In addition to digital citizenship, students learn the features of the keyboard, proper finger placement, and how to achieve overall typing fluency. Try our Keyboarding Without Tears demo for free to explore how you can easily integrate digital citizenship and keyboarding lessons into your technology classroom.