Digital Citizenship in Nebraska
Today’s students live, learn, and build relationships in a world increasingly shaped by technology and artificial intelligence. Digital citizenship helps them develop the knowledge, skills, and habits needed to navigate that world thoughtfully, safely, critically, and responsibly.
This page brings together Nebraska’s shared digital citizenship framework, practical resources, professional learning, and opportunities for students, educators, schools, and families.
In this video, Dr. Kristen Mattson describes digital citizenship as the intersection of technology and humanity. She explains how the Edvolve Digital Citizenship Framework gives Nebraska schools a shared foundation for this work and explores the four strands that prepare students to navigate an increasingly digital world thoughtfully, safely, and responsibly.
Schools across Nebraska are already helping students navigate technology thoughtfully, safely, and responsibly. Developed by Dr. Kristen Mattson and Dr. LeeAnn Lindsey, the Edvolve Digital Citizenship Framework provides a shared language for connecting those efforts and considering digital citizenship as more than a single lesson or technology-related initiative.
The Nebraska Department of Education and the ESU Coordinating Council use this framework to support greater coherence across the state while preserving local decision-making. Schools and districts can apply it according to the needs, priorities, and context of their own communities.
Digital Safety
Students learn to protect themselves and others by understanding digital rules, managing personal data, and recognizing unsafe or misleading online behavior.
Media and Information Literacy
Students develop the skills to search effectively, evaluate information and media for credibility and bias, and create content responsibly.
Digital Well-Being
Students learn to balance their digital lives with their social, emotional, and physical health while navigating relationships and identity in online spaces.
Social Responsibility
Students explore how technology shapes communities and equity, using digital tools ethically and collaboratively to engage, advocate, and contribute to positive change.
These Four Strands Work Together
Real-world digital experiences rarely fit within only one strand. A single situation may involve safety, information literacy, well-being, and social responsibility at the same time.
Artificial intelligence is one example. AI is not a separate fifth strand of digital citizenship. Instead, it introduces new questions across all four strands from privacy and accuracy to relationships, fairness, authorship, and responsible use.
A shared framework becomes meaningful when students, educators, schools, and communities use it to examine real challenges and take thoughtful action. Across Nebraska, digital citizenship is coming to life through student leadership, professional learning, statewide collaboration, and locally developed projects.
Nebraska Digital Citizenship Symposium
At the Nebraska Digital Citizenship Symposium, middle and high school students work in school teams to explore the opportunities, risks, and responsibilities associated with digital citizenship and AI.
Students considered questions involving privacy, trustworthy information, relationships, well-being, and ethical technology use before developing projects, plans, and resources to support conversations in their own school communities. Their work demonstrates how the four strands of digital citizenship can help students examine emerging technologies from multiple perspectives.
This video highlights the 2025 Nebraska Digital Citizenship Symposium, where students applied the four strands of digital citizenship to questions surrounding AI companions and developed ways to support thoughtful local conversations and action.
Statewide Learning for Nebraska Educators
During the 2026–27 school year, NDE and the ESUCC are excited to host Dr. Kristen Mattson who will lead a four-part professional learning series centered on the Edvolve Digital Citizenship Framework.
Each session will examine one of the framework’s four strands and help Nebraska educators consider how digital citizenship can be integrated into classrooms, schools, and local decision-making.
Webinar Schedule:
Digital Safety
Tuesday, September 1, 2026, from 3:00–3:45 p.m. CT
Media and Info Literacy
Tuesday, October 27, 2026, from 3:00–3:45 p.m. CT
Social Responsibility
Tuesday, February 16, 2027, from 3:00–3:45 p.m. CT
Digital Well-Being
Tuesday, April 27, 2027, from 3:00–3:45 p.m. CT
Participants may attend individual sessions or engage in the complete series to develop a broader understanding of the framework.
Digital citizenship develops over time as students encounter new technologies, assume greater independence, and consider increasingly complex questions about information, identity, relationships, safety, equity, and responsibility.
The collections below are organized by grade level and audience to help educators find age-appropriate lessons, professional learning, research, and conversation supports. Together, they can contribute to a coherent progression of digital citizenship learning rather than a series of isolated lessons or responses to individual technologies.
Jump to a Resource Collection:
Elementary Lessons and Learning Resources
Elementary students build foundational habits for using technology safely, purposefully, and with support from trusted adults. These resources address privacy, trustworthy information, healthy technology use, respectful communication, and age-appropriate introductions to artificial intelligence.
Middle School Lessons and Learning Resources
As students become more independent online, they can begin examining how platforms, algorithms, data collection, and digital media influence their choices. These resources support learning about source credibility, synthetic content, online relationships, well-being, accessibility, and responsible AI use.
High School Lessons and Learning Resources
High school students are preparing to navigate digital spaces with greater personal, academic, civic, and professional responsibility. These resources help them evaluate information and emerging technologies, protect their privacy, communicate ethically, consider social consequences, and use AI without surrendering personal judgment.
Resources for Educators and School Leaders
Strong digital citizenship learning depends on shared language, thoughtful planning, and a coherent progression across grade levels. Explore professional learning, implementation tools, and practical guidance that can support classroom instruction, schoolwide conversations, and locally developed decisions.
Speakers, Presenters, and Consultants
Schools and education organizations may benefit from outside perspectives that deepen local conversations, support professional learning, or guide broader planning. Begin with your local ESU or explore additional individuals and organizations with expertise in digital citizenship and related topics.
Inclusion on this page is intended to support discovery and does not represent a formal endorsement by SupportED, NDE, ESUCC, or the State of Nebraska.
Relevant Research, Reports, and Articles
Effective digital citizenship work should remain informed by credible research, trusted guidance, and emerging developments in students’ digital lives. These resources examine topics such as online safety, media and information literacy, digital well-being, artificial intelligence, privacy, equity, and responsible participation.
Resources for Families and Communities
Students benefit when schools, families, and communities use shared language to discuss technology and establish complementary expectations. These resources can support conversations about safety, trustworthy information, healthy habits, online relationships, artificial intelligence, and responsible technology use.
Resource Disclaimer
Resources and external links on this page are provided for information and convenience and include Nebraska-developed materials alongside selected examples from other organizations, institutions, and vendors. Inclusion does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, certification, or preference by SupportED, NDE, ESUCC, or the State of Nebraska, and this collection is not exhaustive. External content is controlled by its respective owners and may change without notice. Users are responsible for independently evaluating resources and for decisions or actions taken in reliance on them, consistent with applicable laws, local policies, contractual obligations, and community priorities. To the fullest extent permitted by law, SupportED, NDE, ESUCC, and the State of Nebraska disclaim responsibility for resulting decisions, actions, or outcomes.
