ETHICAL DIGITAL CITIZEN: FUSING PEACE EDUCATION AND HUMAN VALUES IN 21ST -CENTURY ONLINE PEDAGOGY

Abstract

The digitization of learning opportunities poses a particularly challenging paradox of both democratization and the dangers of dehumanization, polarization, and misinformation. This latter point leads us to the argument made in the following chapter: those existing digital literacy paradigms, oriented around technical abilities and personal responsibility, are inadequate. By fusing the tenets of peace education and digital citizenship, this chapter outlines a new paradigm that advances the concept of an “Ethical Digital Citizen”. It is structured around the three tenets of being value-driven, peace-oriented, and critically engaged. Value-driven, as in dignity, equity, and empathy; peace-oriented, as in preventing conflict and combating hate; and critically engaged, as in identifying misinformation and bias. In it, we develop a pedagogical approach to online learning spaces centered on cultivating empathy, equity, and responsibility. It argues that digital pedagogy should be the praxis of intentionally turning digital spaces into laboratories for creating a more loving, peaceful, and just world, and that it should proceed cautiously and slowly, from disseminating content to fostering humane and ethical digital relationships.