Digital Citizenship Approach and Teacher Profile

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse ideas about digital citizenship in Mexican teachers of pupils from elementary through to intermediate level, taking the following as independent variables: gender, age, region and the educational level taught. The hypothesis is that such variables affect what the teachers believe digital citizenship to be. This research is carried out on a group of 220 elementary and intermediate education teachers in a state located in northeast Mexico. Findings show that male teachers are more inclined to use indicators related to the improvement of academic performance, and less interested in indicators related to harmony in the group/school environment. In addition, young teachers tend to work with ideas that are more student-focused and less teacher-led, in contrast to their older peers, who favour more teacher-focused ideas over student-centred ones. Finally, elementary education teachers seek to focus their ideas on parents and the community instead of on students, while those teaching at intermediate level target their ideas more on students and less towards their parents and the community. If schools are planning to focus on the development of competences for digital citizenship, it is important to consider as part of the educational strategy how the profile of the teacher in terms of gender, age, and the educational level at which they teach influences their ideas.