Formare gli studenti universitari alla Cittadinanza Digitale

Abstract

Today digital media are configured as social environments that expand our personal, cultural, social and educational reality, therefore measuring citizens’ activities in online environments is of fundamental importance. In the last decade, different scholars have proposed different definitions of the digital citizenship and different measurement tools. Most definitions focus on two conceptions of digital citizenship, some more inherent in digital skills and others centered on critical aspects and civic engagement. In this study, we present the translation and Italian adaptation of two scales: the Digital Citizenship Scale by Al-Zahrani (2015) and the Digital Citizenship Scale by Choi, Glassman, and Cristol (2017). These two scales, consisting of a total of 72 items, were administered to 198 undergraduate students attending to the LM-85bis Master’s Degree Course at University of Palermo. We then proceeded with the reliability analysis by calculating the Alpha of Cronbach and the correlation between individual items and the total scale. The goal was to determine which profile, dimensions and digital citizenship needs characterize the participant university students. The results show that participants have good levels of digital citizenship in terms of respect and education for themselves and for others and in the self-assessment of technical skills in the digital field. Lower levels are recorded in participation and collaboration on cultural, social, political and economic issues.